Darrington
was our first stop in the Cascades this time around. We were hoping to climb
Whitehorse and East Wilmans Spire. The weather did not look good for either,
so we decided to head to Three O'Clock Rock for a day of slab climbing. We
had climbed there before and had enjoyed the climbing tremondously. For pictures
and TR for "Silent Running", "Total Soul" and "Dreamer",
click here.
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Parked
downtown D-Town.
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The
approach to Three O'Clock Rock follows a good trail and takes
about 30 minutes.
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Eric
starting the 1st pitch of "The Kone" (5.9).
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Just
above the crux on the 1st pitch.
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The
second pitch is easier but more runout.
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This time,
we elected to climb another two good lines on the West buttress, "The
Kone", a 5-pitch 5.9 and "Tidbits", a 4-pitch 5.10b. When we
got up in the morning, the weather still looked pretty iffy; clouds hanging
low and everything nicely soaked… But some blue sky was also showing, so we
waited all morning to see what would happen. We left the bus just before noon
and headed toward 3 O'Clock Rock. From the Mountain Loop Highway, it's 6 miles
of dirt road (in good shape) to the trailhead, then a 30 minute walk (steep)
to the rock. The main face was very wet, so at first we wondered if we'd be
able to do any climbing. The smaller West face looked mostly dry though.
We started
on "The Kone" (5.9, 5 pitches). Really more of a 5.7'ish route with a couple
of hard moves; pretty soft at the rating, I think, but fun! We linked pitches
2 and 3 (by Nelson's count) together. We rapped 3 long pitches on "Tidbits"
(to the top of the first pitch), and couldn't resist climbing back up that
route. We only climbed the three upper pitches as the first one was wet. Fun
moves. More varied with some crack, face, and roof moves. Stiff 3rd pitch
with thin 5.10 moves. The 4th pitch eases once past the roof, but becomes
extremely runout on 5.6ish slab. All in all, a 8-pitch day; not bad considering
we initially thought we might be rained out!
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On
pitch 3 of "The Kone", just above the 5.9 "roof"
move.
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Lucie
following pitch 4.
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Lucie
leading the last pitch (5.6?).
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Rapping
down "Tidbits", which we climbed afterward.
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Eric
starting the 2nd pitch of "Tidbits".
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On
the crux (pitch 3, 5.10b).
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Higher
on the same pitch.
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Looking
back toward Exfoliation Dome.
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Starting
the last pitch (easy with long runouts).
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Rapping
back down.
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Matt Perkins has a good
online
mini-guide to the area, including links to additional resources. A very
good topo
of Dreamer (by far the best we've seen) and its variations is also available
on his site. "Dreamer" is also described in Volume I of Nelson and
Potterfield's Selected Climbs in the Cascades. Volume II of the same
book has a good selection of routes on Three O'Clock Rock, including "Silent
Running", "Total Soul", "The Kone", and "Tidbits".
