Leavenworth

Trip

Intermediate Alpine Climb - Leavenworth: R&D

A day for multi-pitch rock graduates to shake off winter rust and get reacquainted with granite multi-pitch for spring, and for first-year intermediate rock students to get a lap in on a relatively easy route

  • Sat, May 10, 2025
  • Seattle Climbing
  • Climbing
  • Rock Climb
  • Adults
  • Crag Rock Climb, Technical 2
  • Moderate

This is intended to be a day for multi-pitch rock graduates to shake off winter rust and get reacquainted with granite multi-pitch for spring and for first-year intermediate rock students to get a lap in on a relatively easy route. We will climb R&D on Icicle Buttress.

I expect participants to swap leads - when done as four pitches, the first two are pretty easy and the third and fourth pitches are a little trickier but fair at the 5.6 grade. R&D does require building our own anchors. 

After doing R&D in the morning, I'm open to input from participants on what we want to do. My expectation is to pick a single-pitch crag that doesn't have another Mountaineers group scheduled for it and do some single-pitch climbing in the afternoon until around 4 PM or so, depending on weather/mood/etc.  If Canadians on Horseback isn't crowded next door, I might ask if we want to do that - yes, it's just bolted 5.6 but I've never done it and would like to tick it off someday.

I have leader's permission turned on since this is relatively early in the year for everyone, so please fill out the request form and let me know what your multi-pitch and trad leading experience is like. For first-year multi-pitch students who will have completed their first multi-pitch field trip but not their graduation climb from the course, I will consider permission requests from people who are clearly competent based on their single-pitch trad experience at the time of registration, but no guarantees. I have also listed Ground Hog Day for Friday and would extend some preference to folks who want to do both days. 

Since this is a Saturday and there might be other groups on route, this is listed as a group of four, but I will consider expanding it to six. Fortunately it's a walk-off instead of a rappel, which helps a lot with traffic and crowding on the route. 

We'll meet at 8 AM at the 76 gas station at the intersection of Icicle Road and Highway 2: https://maps.app.goo.gl/njbr6U7nkeqfTD5KA

We'll drive to Icicle Buttress from there: https://maps.app.goo.gl/3TanDHZwNsLJvVrx5

Route/Place

Leavenworth



  • Green Trails Alpine Lakes East (Stuart Range) No. 208SX

    Alpine Lakes Wilderness (ALPS)

    Trails Illustrated Alpine Lakes Wilderness
  • See full route/place details.
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Required Equipment

Required Equipment

  • The Ten Essentials
  • Harness
  • Helmet
  • Rock shoes
  • Belay device
  • Rope
  • Personal Anchor
  • Passive protection (e.g. 1 set of nuts)
  • Active protection (e.g. 1 set of Black Diamond cams, size 0.4 to 3 or equivalent camalots)
  • Alpine draws (e.g. 6 sewn runners with 12 wiregate carabiners)
  • Self-braking belay device like Black Diamond ATC Guide or Petzl Reverso
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