Mountaineers Forums

One of the more popular Leavenworth multipitch routes recommended for new leaders is the Tree Route (5.6) on 8 Mile Buttress, but there is not very much information about it available out there--at least not that I or some others who have looked can find. So, since I climbed it last Sunday, I have been requested to post this beta that I wrote up for someone who asked.

My memory is not infallible (duh!!), so if anyone who knows the route wants to add to this beta or contradict it, this is the place to do it.

Here is the scoop as best I can recall it:

Parking: From the entrance to 8 Mile Campground, go about 100--150 yards further up the road (away from town) and find a very small pullout on the right. If you are camped at 8 Mile, it is actually within walking distance, so leave the car at your campsite. The trail starts at the far end of the pullout.

Approach: As you follow the trail, take all the left forks. Some of them are kind of dim, so watch closely. We had a little trouble finding the route because we missed a crucial fork and went further than we needed to. The correct trail will lead to a talus field with cairns to follow. Then after the talus field, just follow the trail, again taking left forks, until it dead-ends right at the base of the climb. Look for a left-facing lieback flake heading up near the left margin of the buttress.

Gear: There are no established anchors on the route. You have to build your own with gear. Both pitch 1 and 3 are difficult to protect if you don't have big pieces, so be sure you take several in the 4" range, a couple even bigger if you have them.

Pitch 1: It's all lieback for the first 100' or so and will take the biggest gear you can throw at it. Eventually you come to a big ledge where you can build a belay anchor.

Pitch 2: Follow the line of least resistance, aiming for a dead snag visible above a small headwall, until you come to a little alcove-like area at the headwall with another short lieback leading up to the right. Build your second anchor here. This pitch is very easy compared to the other two.

Pitch 3: Lead up the lieback, around a little roof and behold the infamous off-width gaping before you. There is a pine tree visible up ahead that is the end of the route and gives it its name. There is no anchor there either; just throw a long sling around it. This pitch will also eat all the huge gear you can feed it.

Two-Pitch Variation: If you have a 70 meter rope, you can do the route in two pitches by extending the first pitch to another nice ledge halfway between the regular p. 1 and p. 2 belays, and then taking the second pitch all the way to the tree. It is possible to do this with a 60 meter also, but the top pitch will reeeally stretch it to the last inch! Also beware of rope drag if you do this option, especially on the second pitch.

Descent: The big thing to know is that you need two ropes to rap off. Supposedly there is a walk-off down some gully, but we didn't try to find it since we had two ropes. The rappel is from bolted anchors at the top of a sport route about 100 feet climber's right of Tree Route called Mr. Tremendous. The bolted anchor is out near the edge and hard to spot, but it's there (look for purple and red slings). Two double rope raps get you down. The anchor for the second rap is also a little hard to find as it's kind of hidden behind a bush as you are coming down (look for red and orange slings). It's further to rapper's right than you might expect. That deposits you a few minutes' walk back to the base of the climb to collect whatever you left there.

The approach is kind of a grunt, but the route is definitely worth it. Have fun and stay safe. :-)

Rick Brown
Everett Branch

The only thing I have to add is that the walk off is to climber's right. It is fairly mellow except for a short step which can be down climbed or rapped. People in the group ahead of us did the walk off in Tevas.

 Also, I'll second bring the big gear. The final crack will take a #5 and #6 camalot if you have them. The start takes a #3.5 (11 hex) and #4 camalot.

 The first and third pitches are enjoyable. The second pitch can be simul climbed as it was a glorified scramble IMO.
 

"I don't mean to get off on a rant", but...  In my (not-so) humble opinion, it is unfortunate that The Tree Route is being reccommended to new leaders, for the following reasons:

• it takes gear new leaders are not likely to have: new leaders are told to buy stuff "from the middle of the rack", and few of them are going to have #4 Camalots and up
• unless one has said big gear, the first decent piece of protection at the beginning of the first pitch is a chockstone you sling a good 15ft off the deck.  Granted, runouts are good for character building, but I have to question whether non-trivial climbing with a runout straight off the ground is a good confidence-building experience for new leaders.
• the narrowing chimney that is the top half of the second pitch is rather awkward to climb and it isn't entirely obvious how to protect it (I remember using TCUs in the roof)
• many (most) of beginnig leaders in the Mountaineers will not have climbed off-widths, so the off-width on the third pitch is likely to be a thrash fest (though the slab angle is low enough that it is possible to climb that section as a slab climb using the edges of the crack for holds)

I personally would like to see us (as a club) come up with a list of alternatives to The Tree Route for the beginning leader.  I've heard good things about GroundHog Day as a first lead...

Page 277 of Rock Climbing Washington By Jeff Smoot has an ok description of the climb if I remember right.  That is the big yellow book, which a look on the interweb shows there is a new edition coming out soon....

It describes 2 variations for the first pitch.  Both go up the lay back (I think it is only 20 feet max, not 100) then you can strait up into a "chimney" or go right to a blocky section.  The chimney section was rated easier, but I think you can protect the blocky section better. So there are alternatives to the chimney. I was up there with some crag students in May and another group came up and when they saw our group, went around the corner to climbers left and climbed there.  I asked them about the difficulty and it sounded similar.

I think this is an ok climb for new lead climbers.  First off, a new climber should read/gather beta and find out if a climb is going to need any special gear. But this doesn't always happen. A few years back we were there again with a group of Crag students and just beat a group of Tacoma Mountaineers Intermediate instructors/students to the start.  We climbed the route, and then walked off and part of the group was still at the base because they didn't have enough big gear to lead the climb. I loaned them a couple of large pieces of gear (they were Mountaineers, and I knew where they were camped) so they could do the climb.

Ground Hogs Day is nice, but the anchors are bolts, so a new lead climber isn't getting to build their own anchor. And if you have more than 2 parties on the climb it gets to be a mess since you rap the route.  I heard a story about their being 8 or more people on the climb at one time earlier this year. I do agree that it would be nice to have some more multi-pitch in the 5.5-5.6 range.

Thanks everyone for the supplemental information. Yeah, we had read the Smoot description, but didn't find it that helpful.

But let me clarify one thing that I said... 

Wayne:

Both go up the lay back (I think it is only 20 feet max, not 100) then you can strait up into a "chimney" or go right to a blocky section. 

 The initial flake is only 20 feet, but I considered the "chimney" part of the lieback I descrilbed, since it is so low-angled that it is easier to climb with that technique than to squirm up as a chimney--at least that's the way I remember it. But you can wedge yourself in it to place pro.

 And about the route's appropriateness for new leaders, the only comment I will make is that I followed a new leader up it and she did just fine.