FREEWAY GUN SHOW (I, 5.9) The Far Side, Exit 38, Washington

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Topo

It is hard to imagine that one of Washington's best slab climbs would be found among the chossy cliffs of Exit 38, but it's true. Climbers driving west from Snoqualmie Pass have seen the cliff: A long, angling slabby buttress not far above the freeway, enticing but with no apparent access. I parked alongside the freeway once back in the 1980s and hiked up to check out these crags, as did others, but after finding the rock very rough and blocky and the brush nearly impenetrable, I dismissed the area as worthless choss. But after Bryan Burdo opened up The Far Side, it seemed only a matter of time before someone would blaze a trail over to this slab, and finally it has happened, with impressive results. The route, Freeway Gun Show, climbs 120 feet up the roughest rhino rock around, easily the best rock at any of the North Bend sport climbing areas, rivaling the best friction pitches in the state. Like I said, hard to believe, especially if you've climbed at The Far Side before, but absolutely true.

Once you arrive at the base of the route, the line is as obvious as they come. Just follow the bolts up the long slab. The route is conveniently divided into two pitches for those with a single rope, 5.9 to the first anchors, 5.8 to the top. (You can make the route 5.10 if you purposely avoid using one particularly chiseled-looking hold. Maybe the rock just broke out that way during cleaning, like some of the other nice edges along the way.) With a 60m rope a leader can lower from the upper anchors to the lower anchors then rappel or lower to the ground. Bring lots of quick draws; if you climb the route as a single pitch, you'll need 18 of them assuming you clip all of the bolts. While climbing, enjoy the sounds of nearby freeway traffic, and if you're lucky, gunfire from the quarry across the valley. Getting to the route is the hard part. The shortest path follows a trail of sorts, but the trail doesn't materialize until you are fifty yards off of the main trail. The other way is to hike down from the top, along the Eastern Bloc crags, then find a side trail leading down under a rotten cedar log. Until the new guidebook comes out, you probably won't be able to find your way there. After it comes out, you probably will have to wait in line to climb this route.

The route would get four stars except for the fact that it has a few too many bolts. At times you seem to be clipping a bolt every time you make a move. This lack of meanginful runouts doesn't mean the climbing isn't excellent. It is. But if the route had a fear factor - a requisite for a classic slab route - it would be that much more fun. There's room for two more quality lines on the slab, one on the far left and one on the far right edge. Hopefully when the crews come to develop other routes on the slab they will make the runouts a little more sporting. And hopefully they won't squeeze in too many routes. The slab is fun to climb, but if it ends up grid bolted the quality and character of the more natural lines will suffer.

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