Leavenworth Trip

June 9-10, 2001

Kris, Michael, Kim and I spent a great weekend in Leavenworth. Kim had just finished finals week, so we were really looking forward to spending the weekend in Leavenworth with Kris and Michael. The four of us climbed the R&D Route on Saturday, which was great fun. It was a popular place to be that day as we waited at just about every belay station. While waiting at the end of the first pitch we met up with Michael's friend Daniel, and two of his friends Colin and Aiden. They were climbing a more difficult route nearby. Daniel and Michael had climbed Orbit together a few weeks ago. It was nice to put faces to names.

The R&D Route is 3 pitches of cracks, corners, and faces. The cracks were exciting, the corners were interesting, and the faces were fun. This was the first time that Kim had climbed in quite a few months, but she did very well. It was windy most of the day, so communication was very difficult. With Michael and Kris leading up from the second pitch on, I had the benefit of following behind Kris, watching how she climbed the tricky parts. So I had it relatively easy, but Kim was all alone when she came up, with no one to get route beta from. But she emerged at the top of the third pitch with somewhat of a smile, so I think she enjoyed the climb! It was a real treat to climb this great route with Kris and Michael.

That evening we had a nice dinner at the Italian restaurant in town and walked around the great shops in town. There was an "Um-Pa-Pa" band playing in the park that added great depth to our Bavarian experience! Once back at our hotel, The Evergreen, we changed into swimsuits and headed for the hot tub. That was a great way to end a fun day climbing! We talked about childhood games of "Sardines", "Kick the Can", and "Snipe hunting". After hours of laughing and relaxing we took our prune bodies back to our rooms.

Sunday Michael and I got up early and climbed April Mayhem. Michael had no problem with the wet crack start, the traverse under the roof, and the 15 foot hand crack along the "Pilier de Cowboy Boot". I, on the other hand, did much battle with this great route. By the time I reached the top of the boot, my forearms felt like lead bricks and my knuckles were pretty pink. I didn't think I could continue, but with the encouragement from Michael I continued up and found the face climbing much easier than the crack.

Afterwards Michael and I drove back to the motel to pick up Kris and Kim and we all headed down highway 97 to go for a hike off the Teanaway River Road. The hike climbed up the side of a small valley with a stream running down the middle. It was a beautiful day and wildflowers were everywhere. All was well until we crossed a stream and Kim took a tumble and whacked her knee. She was in a lot of pain so we took her pack and helped her back down the trail. By the time we reached the car, her knee was purple and swollen with the deep bruise, but the pain had subsided so we had lunch on the bridge near the trailhead.