Given how fast it’s warming up, combined with the fact that there’s still too much snow to do much at Washington Pass right now, Jen and I decided to head more or less straight through Washington on the way to Canada. We did, however, stop over for about a week of climbing in Index. This little town rests at the takeout to one of my favorite rivers to guide back in the day, but I barely ever climbed there. Basically because I wasn’t good enough at the time to do much.
Index is known for two things… steep granite routes and super sandbagged grades. You’ll find plenty of each. This is not a place to go if you want to feel good about your climbing ability. But if you want to try some absolutely world-class trad climbs with extremely unique moves, then this is a great place to spend your time.
We were extremely lucky to have more-or-less splitter weather every single day. Then, right as we were thinking about moving on, it rained all night with little sign of letting up any time soon. So, we ate breakfast, had some coffee, started the van, and drove north toward the border.
