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Seattle Basic Alpine SIG Field Trip - Rock Climbing - Leavenworth: Mountaineers Dome

Weekend climbing trip to Icicle Creek Canyon. One day at Mountaineers Dome, one day at Playground Point.

Karl Themer Karl Themer
March 30, 2026
  • Road rough but passable

  • The road has more potholes than in past years.  Immediately after the entrance to Eightmile campground there is a steady stream of water flowing over the road with a large pothole in the middle.

    The approach trails to Mountaineers Dome and Playground Point are short (about ten minutes each) and are both signed.  There is a good pullout with room for five or six cars a few hundred yards downstream of the Mountaineers Dome trail and another pullout immediately opposite the Playground Point/Mad Meadows trail.  There is a porta potty at the Playground Point pullout.  Campground and trailhead toilets are still locked at this time of year.

    An app like Mountain Project is helpful when looking for crags, trails, and parking.

    Both crags had dry rock and excellent climbing conditions.  The two cracks (left crack and right crack) at Mountaineers Dome have bolt anchors.  We set up another four routes using gear anchors.  All of the routes we climbed at Playground Point (seven total) had bolt anchors.

    The river has a very high flow right now, it is a raging torrent.

We left Seattle at 6 AM Sat morning and reconvened at the cafe of the Sleeping Lady resort.  Then we convoyed to the Mountaineers Dome parking, it is a pullout about 3.5 miles from the intersection of hwy 2 and Icicle Creek rd.

We set up ropes on left crack and right crack with the instructors leading the routes on trad gear.  These routes have bolt anchors, we used club quads on the anchors.  These cracks are in the 5.2 to 5.4 range

We set up another route about 50 feet uphill and to the left of the gully that is left of the first two cracks, this route had a gear anchor, I slung a boulder.  This route is pretty easy, low fifth.

Further uphill we set up a rope on "the Big O" which is a 5.9 crack with a roof that is very difficult although three members of our party were able to pull through it.  We used a gear anchor, two cams and a constriction.

Slightly further uphill is a good wall where we set up two more routes (unnamed), one of them was also harder, maybe 5.8 or so.  Both had gear anchors, a mix of cams and constrictions.  It is possible to scramble around to the top of these routes.

Students took turns climbing these routes and rappelling the lower crack routes.  Some of them had a chance to follow a lead and clean gear.

We packed up around 4, set up camp at Eightmile, then went into town for dinner at Leavenworth Pizza Company.  Then ice cream, then returned to camp for a fire and smores.  I also walked over to Tony T's group to say hello, they were also camping and climbing in the area.

Sunday morning, we broke camp, had breakfast together in camp, then moved to Playground Point.  This was my first time at Playground Point, it is a great beginner area.  We set up four ropes on slabby routes in the 5.3 to 5.5 range.  Further left we set up a 5.7, 5.6, and a 5.5.  All of these routes are sport routes although a few of them can be supplemented with gear placements when there is long runout.  Students climbed and belayed the leaders.  We wrapped up around 1:00.

We had great weather both days, over 60 F with sunshine on Saturday, mid 50s F with a mix of sun and clouds on Sunday, but we avoided rain.