One of my major learning goals for this season was to learn how to lead multipitch trad climbs, placing protection and building belay anchors along the way.
So when the opportunity to climb with my buddy Jacob around Washington Pass came up, I jumped on it, even though it would be a weekday climb and I’d need to take a day off of work. Jacob and I have climbed at the gym together a good amount, and done some cragging on sport routes at Exit 32 and 38. He’s been boning up on his trad skills over the last couple of years, so he was really the ideal introductory teacher for me.
And Beckey route was the ideal route! There’s so much beta out there, I won’t spend much time talking about details of the climb itself, except to say that all the belays are really easy, can use trees for anchors, and have comfortable stances. And the rappel anchors were a little bit challenging to find, but when we found them, they were good!
The approach was the crux, for some reason I just felt extremely exhausted all day! Beautiful scenery though.
I led the first pitch, which was extremely easy climbing, and then Jacob led the remainder of the pitches. At one point, I suddenly started feeling dizzy and weak and felt like I was about to pass out. Luckily this happened during one of our transitions, so I stayed attached to the anchor, snarfed some food and water and waited it out. This was a great climb and perfect to do part of it as my first trad lead. Once we got to the top, we relaxed and enjoyed the views of other climbers on the Early Winter Spires, and of the mountains and valleys below.
Here’s a picture of what I believe was the second set of rappel anchors, which was a little bit tricky to find at first. You can’t see it, but you have to believe it’s there!
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