Life in the Saltwater apartment in Seattle is too crowded and cluttered to take it for long. So Eric, Alex, Keith and I set out to go camping and rock climbing. We went to Frenchman’s Coulee, which is across the Columbia River from Vantage near George. Between looking for a camping permit in the off season and trying to buy some fire wood we got quite the run around. We finally found the one store that had permits at this time of year and we swiped some two by fours from a stack of broken pallets behind a building.
The coulee is pretty impressive with hundreds of basalt columns lining the sides of the canyon. We got in kind of late but managed to get in a couple of climbs on the feathers, a single line of columns with a small gap in the middle to get to the back side.
We cooked hot dogs over the fire for dinner and sorted our selves out in a small tent and the car to sleep.
The next morning we went to look for the main climbing area. It turns out that it is very popular and gets crowded on the week ends. We lost a lot of time looking for a route that was not too difficult and not being used. We eventually got a chance to climb and took turns belaying as every one got a chance to climb.
We moved to a less crowded area after that and got in one more short climb before we had to head back to Seattle to get Alex to the airport on time.
The coulee is pretty impressive with hundreds of basalt columns lining the sides of the canyon. We got in kind of late but managed to get in a couple of climbs on the feathers, a single line of columns with a small gap in the middle to get to the back side.
We cooked hot dogs over the fire for dinner and sorted our selves out in a small tent and the car to sleep.
The next morning we went to look for the main climbing area. It turns out that it is very popular and gets crowded on the week ends. We lost a lot of time looking for a route that was not too difficult and not being used. We eventually got a chance to climb and took turns belaying as every one got a chance to climb.
We moved to a less crowded area after that and got in one more short climb before we had to head back to Seattle to get Alex to the airport on time. Pictures: First - Eric is leading a climb at the Feathers. Second - I am belaying Eric in the main climbing area while Alex watches.
