ON LINE (III, 5.10b) Static Point, Washington

back to classics

---

On Line

Static Point is a large, slabby granite buttress hidden in the Spada Reservoir watershed east of Seattle, so remote that it was actually discovered by airplane. The first climbers to visit Static Point struggled through brush and across streams, down one side of a canyon and up the other, just to reach the crag. Logging roads continued to encroach, as they so often do, and with a suprisingly well-constructed trail, the approach hike now takes about twenty minutes. As soon as you reach Static Point on your first visit, your first impulse will be to rack up and get on the clean granite slabs. And right there, a stone's throw from where the trail meets the rock, is Static Point's classic route, On Line.

On Line Route

Static Point climbing is very distinct. It is almost entirely friction climbing on low-angled but practically featureless granite, with widely spaced bolts for protection. "Sporting" runouts of thirty and forty feet are not uncommon here. Crack systems are so low angle that 5.8 is about as hard as they get. There are no distinct, continuous crack systems at Static Point anyway; it is a friction climber's paradise, and On Line is a splendid initiation.

The route begins with a deceptively long 5.7 pitch with only one bolt; simul-climbing is required to enable the leader reach the first belay anchors. Pitches of 5.7, 5.9 and 5.8 follow, leading up to the crux pitch, a long, smooth slab pitch with four bolts. The crux is adequately protected, but like most Static Point pitches, there are ample thought-provoking runouts between the bolts. After five pitches, the angle eases and the climbing becomes absurdly easy. In keeping with truest Static Point tradition, because there is no difficult climbing on the sixth pitch, there is no protection either.

Once done with On Line, many climbers rappel down to Tombstone Ledge for the first pitch of American Pie (5.10a). This pitch typifies the best of Static Point climbing all in one pitch: clean rock, continuous, runout friction climbing, with crux moves at the end of the pitch twenty feet out from a bolt above the lip of an overhang. As they say, it just doesn't get any better than this. You may not agree, though, until you've clipped the anchors.


back to classics