Vantage

We escaped to the east side this weekend to celebrate our friend Scotts 31st birthday. This required us to fill the Forester up to the brim with climbing stuff and then throw 5 bikes on it... it was like seeing Frankie drive down to the Grand Canyon all over again. Thankfully, Bernard braved the trip and the 5 of us that ventured eastward together had an amazing drive... which included a stop on the way back in Cle Elum to do a pretty awesome mountain bike ride. Here are some photos from the trip.

beautiful views from the Sunshine wall. The columbia river is just a little rather yonder

remembering how to climb... kinda unsuccessful.

Frankie with his various types of camo. amazing

on belay

Joe Killing it. First time out climbing in years and just takes his shirt off first climb.

Anyway, it was a great weekend. We camped out at Vantage and did the obligatory wolf howl form the cliffs past sunset. The first day i was just really struggling and had issues even completing a 5.9, but redemption came on sunday... I did hang a few times, but still was able to finish a 5.10b, which made me feel pretty warm and fuzzy. Really looking forward to the pass opening soon so I can get over to Mazama to start climbing. But for now, back to cloudy days and weather in the 40's.

Just on a side note... one of the blogs I have on the side is from Cliff Mass, who is the go to go guy for weather and information in the PNW/Seattle area. He had a post a week or so ago confirming that this is one of the worst springs on record. Typically between 2/15 and 4/15 you'll get (on average) at least 15 - 25 days above 55 degrees. This spring, we've had 2.