GIVLER'S CRACK (5.8) Givler's Dome, Icicle Creek Canyon, Leavenworth

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Sean Courage jamming up Givler's Crack

Until 1989 there was no guidebook to climbing routes in the Icicle Creek Canyon, but even so, Givler's Dome, or rather Givler's Crack, was one of the most popular routes in Leavenworth. Every weekend from March through October, climbers trudged up the hot, dusty canyon wall and waited in line to climb it. Givler's Dome sits high on the east wall of Icicle Creek Canyon, and it takes about half an hour to hike there, steep, strenuous hiking, hardly worth the effort for a two-pitch 5.7 route, right? Some climbers think so, but for most it is well worth every laborious step.

Givler's Crack splits the dome from bottom to top, a fine, rough, weathered crack that runs the gamut from thin to wide, parallel to flaring.

Chris Gentry leads up Givler's Crack

A short, awkward 5.8 jamcrack at the start can be avoided by hiking around to the ledge above. An intimidating, marginally protected face move off the ledge gives many climbers a moment's pause, but one step above begins the crack, a thin, shallow flare at first, soon widening to accept hands. The route can be done in a single long pitch from the ledge, but it is customary to belay atop a wide flake just above the crux. From here, you can watch while your second considers the face moves into the crack, a good photo opportunity. Above the flake, it is all meaty finger and hand jamming in the coarse crack that runs all the way to the top of Givler's Dome.

Givler's Dome

If you don't want to waste your time hiking so far just to climb a one pitch 5.8 route, don't worry. Givler's Dome has much more to offer. On the hike down from the summit, consider Bo Derek (5.10a) ***, a striking thin flake; Bondage (I, 5.10d) *, a wildly leaning dihedral; or the incredible Never Never (5.12d) **, an overhanging, flaring finger-to-fist crack that seems to defy reality. Or if cracks aren't your idea of fun, there are several friction routes, including the classic Wilson-McNerthney (5.10c) ***, the best of the bunch. Or, if you don't like 5.10 runout slabs or steep 5.10 cracks, you could just climb Givler's Crack again, and again, and again.


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