Flyboys

I even feel like a Flyboy now.

This climb was SUCH an adventure. Multipitch is always an adventure. There are so many more factors that go into rope climbing than bouldering. Safety being number one, heights, time spent climbing, gear, and weather being some of the other main things to think about.

Flyboys is 18 pitches of 5.9 climbing. My partner and I heard about this route from the man himself Bryan Burdo in the fall of 2016. We had the pleasure of meeting him at the crags in town when he told us about the progress on Flyboys. Immediately we were sold. Having just finished climbing Prime Rib, one of Bryan’s other instant classics we couldn’t wait for this to open.

Skip forward to two weeks ago, my partner and I on the same day at different times found out that the route was open and had already decided we were going for it. Looking at the route information on Mountain Project we noticed right away that the pitches were long, frequently seeing 14-16 bolts per pitch. We needed more gear! After a trip to REI each we ended up having plenty of quick draws, I got myself a new helmet and harness.

I need to take a second here to talk about helmets. I had not tried on any other helmet other than the one I bought first…I only ever tried on that one actually and said “it fits” and called it good. WHAT A MISTAKE! Try on different styles! I started with a Black Diamond half dome, and wore it for 3 years. I always kind of felt like it didn’t quite fit my head right and would slide back off my forehead often. I also thought that I just had a weird shaped head and that helmets do that. Wrong. Try on different brands and styles, its amaaaazing the difference.

So, new year, new gear, it’s time to send it! We left for Mazama Friday evening after work, right about 6PM. To avoid traffic we went over Snoqualmie Pass then Blewitt to Wenatchee. Finally heading east on Highway 2 until Winthrop, then just 13 miles down further is magical Mazama. The drive going that way is super chill, there aren’t any super steep hills or obnoxiously windy roads. If I’m traveling in the dark I think I will go that way every time. In the daylight I don’t think its worth missing Washington Pass, those mountains are just something else. Arriving at the pull out for Flyboys around 11PM we had everything already set up and were able to crawl right back in the back of the Subi and into bed almost immediately.

5AM wake up! Rough life for both us just coming off 3+ days of 12+ hour shifts, but we’re stoked! Get all geared up and ready to go, decided to hike up in our harness’ so that we wouldn’t have to leave much if anything at the base of the climb.

6:20AM were at the base of the climb. It took minimal route finding to get there, I did find the tips on MoPro to be helpful. Already geared up we just had to change our shoes, un-flake the rope and go!

6:30AM we start our first pitch of Flyboys. I am belaying first, rather than climbing which is fine by me, I’m always a little anxious at the start of a rope climb. It takes a little while for me to warm up to the feeling of being off the ground and being able to focus on more than one thing and really enjoy myself in my surroundings takes a while for me to adjust to as well. I’m still pretty afraid of heights, I manage this by trusting my gear and my ability to the fullest, but I tell you it does not come naturally. Our plan was to flip flop lead climbing to be as efficient as possible, we are both more than capable of every move on this route.

First pitch through the third were very straight forward, nothing too crazy. The start of the fourth pitch was the first time(definitely not the last) that I thought to myself “Well, you asked for this”. My partner saw the look on my face while gearing up to lead and asked If I wanted him to do it, I looked at the route, looked down over the ledge and said “Nope, I’ve got this”. For the first time the route became fairly exposed, I could see 5 or 6 bolts leading out onto a bulge traversing left and up for about 15 feet. Looking down I could see the start of the route now too, there was a large party gathering to climb. I believe I was also the first person they could see on route I could tell I was being watched. With nothing left to do, I methodically started climbing. Stepping out onto a bulge with a very slight left facing ramp, I am now for the first time very exposed. After getting 3 or so quickdraws in place I get to a point where I have to reach out and around this small arête to clip the next bolt. I’m slightly perched on my left foot without much else to move to. I tried a few different things but I couldn’t manage to find a way to  safely reach out an extra 6 inches or so and get my rope into the wall so, I skipped it. And the next one. I moved my way up some crimpy blocks in a crack and then made my way out left and over the two bolts I missed. I’ll admit, it was a little spicy. The climbing itself was not hard but I was feeling scared. Leading a traverse you know in your head that If you fall you will be swinging, and having several hundred feet of rock and valley below you really gets your blood pumping! I worked my way up the rest of the face a little slow, but with grace. I was pretty proud of myself for just doing it, and especially glad to get a spicy lead out of the way early. I know it wont be the last, we’re only going up from here.

I’m really sad I didn’t take more on route pictures, I was pretty focused on making it up the climb I didn’t really stop to mess with it. In hind sight, there was definitely time.

Pitches 5-13 were all very good. I don’t think there was a single pitch that wasn’t good climbing. I printed out the route info form Mountain Project and referenced that in-between pitches to give myself an idea of what was coming up, and how many quickdraws were needed.

We found out on pitch 7(pictured above) that its easy to pass belay stations on the short pitches because you are so used to long ones, that’s a recipe for not having enough draws. Like a champ my partner ran it out and got us to the anchors for pitch 8.

Standing at the bottom of pitch 14 looking up at this monster rock had us both laughing with WTF.

I was supposed to lead this pitch and to be completely honest, I bitched out. It looked very intimidating and I was waffling. My partner was as excited as I was “oh, man” so I let him take it. There is about 20ft of a blocky ridge that you cross before going into this huge pocket that looks almost like a big ass Hershey kiss was removed from the ridgeline. Once you work your way up to an over hung flake, you pull into a layback that for the first time has you leaning way back pretty exposed to the big gully below (or at least I think, I did NOT look). Once you reach the top of the flake you throw a left heel over and cowboy up this thing right into a chimney. The chimney would be nice however, it forces you to shimmy up and out towards the outer lip, the LAST place I waned to be. Bitching, moaning, groaning the whole way I made it in one piece. After the fact, that pitch was SO much fun! Definitely the most different and exciting pitch of all the ones prior.

My next lead was pitch 16 “Step across the abyss” I’d been waiting for this one. For whatever reason when I read that for the first time weeks ago I just knew I was going to end up leading it. I hate stepping out/around/over things when I’m climbing. It’s always scary. I wanted to do this because I didn’t want to do this, If that makes any sense. I try to challenge myself as often as I can to do things that feel impossible. When I first approach this route, it feels impossible. So I reel it all in and think my way through it. Looking a the rock I could see that it was all there. Basically, a jug ladder up this bulgy arête to some face climbing, and then up and over to the anchors. Man oh man the “abyss” they spoke of, is a HUGE gully that sits just left of the route. On this pitch in particular your entire left side is exposed to a very large gap with a very big drop. I was completely incapable of looking past my feet or beyond my left elbow for fear of getting the wobbles or being sick. Doing things like this has become so important for me. I am in this situation that inside my body feels out of control. I’m scared, I’m tired, my legs want to tremble. But I can rationalize with myself to get through it. I look at the route and can see that I am physically capable of doing this. I look at my shaking leg and I tell it out loud, “YOU’RE FINE. Stop it.” and I take that anxiety and put it all in the back of my mind and use it to focus on nothing but the thing I’m doing right now. I look at the rock I’m going to touch and that rock only, I watch my foot touch the spot I’d picked out I reach and climb and then, its over. It’s amazing how our brains and bodies can execute things perfectly when you really focus. Climbing has been the only thing I have ever done with that much focus. It’s as if nothing else exists in that moment, and it truly doesn’t.

Staring up at the last pitch I read out loud “3 consecutive 5.9+ bouldery problems lead to exposed finish.” We both kind of giggle with excitement. Last pitch. It’s technically my lead however we’re both so exited it only seemed fair to leave it up to chance, so we Rock-Paper-Scissored for it. I won! This pitch was SO good. I ended up counting like 5 bouldery moves but whos keeping track? You start on a little bulge with a small ridge, you’ve got to hug the ridge and pull up and around it a few times making your way with the boulder moves over a larger bulge that is the base of the last pitch. It is pretty damn exposed! I didn’t spend a whole lot of time looking down until I reached the top but the unmistakable feeling of vast open space behind you is 100% present. Slapping the last quickdraws into the anchors I let out a quick “YEEahh!!” and told my partner to “Come and get me!”.

The View from the top was amazing. I love the Methow Valley, it changes with the light throughout the day and I think gets more beautiful as the day goes on. I’m thankful to have the ability to stand at the top of this climb, and look down. I made it all the way up here with my own two hands and feet and I’m proud of that. It took a lot of focus, determination, and team work. I knew that we were 100% capable of this climb but to have actually pulled it off makes a lot more things feel possible.

Rappelling, THE WORST. I hate rappelling, always have. When you’re going up you don’t have any reason to need to look down…when rappelling you must. We were warned to leave 3+ hours to rappel back down to the car via the separate, parallel rap route. It took us 3.5 hours to get from the top of Flyboys back to the car, 10.5 hours car to car.

The rappel route is very nice. It is easily located next to Flyboys and is differentiated by the presence of  chains. The rap route however, often drops you down unclimbable terrain. This means; dirty-mossy rock, scree filled ledges, and suspended rappels. The entire way down was very stressful for me. I do not like going down at all. I was a little shaky, and everything has to move just a little slower for me. It’s also really important to stay safe on the way down. Unlike going up, there is a good amount of time spent not being physically attached to the rock which can easily lead to fatal mistakes. I am always highly focused on the way down, I need to move carefully and concisely making sure I’m not missing anything.  Any time there is a suspended rappel I have to talk myself over the ledge. I hook myself into the rope, stand there for a while and check all the systems. Look at my feet and the rock planning the next few steps that I can see. I take a few deep breaths and literally will my legs to move, telling myself out loud “You’re fine.” All in all the rappel route was very nice. There were 12-15 raps I believe, I wasn’t counting. All possible with an 60 meter rope.

Flyboys was a fricking AWESOME start to my rope climbing season. It’s rekindled my love of rope climbing, shown me there is always room for improvement, and reminded me that I’m strong enough to overcome any of the obstacles ahead of me. Just give it a little grit.