Amazing sport climbing unlike anything else in Washington, roofs, techy, steep, powerful: Gneiss at it's best.

20 minute hike from Hwy 2, 1 mile West of the Rest Area on East side of the pass.

An access trail has been blazed in the last couple of years that eliminates the private property issue.

I owned land within 1/2 mile of the area for 3 years and did a fair bit of developing.

The reticent locals thought I put my bolts "too far" apart, I found out later via an e-mail threat to add 20 bolts to my routes. Sortly thereafter, the communal "list" we had all been adding to disappeared.

There are at my last check (over 2 years ago, BTW), over 40 routes from 5.10 to 5.12, and tons more to develop.

My pride and joy is "Rufus" an .11c I put up with Glacier and Alpinfox over a period that pulls a 5-foot horizontal roof with multiple .11 cruxes. Also, Gunstone, in memory of a good friend .11b, Airborne Ranger, .11b, and the "Mod Squad Wall", which Alpinfox and I developed one wonderful spring, sporting some "moderates"

Thanks to Alpinfox, Glacier, Skyclimb, Distel and Wirlwind for your time, help and excitement during this fun development!

Go get sum.

Erik

ps you can hassle all these people plus trogdor the burninator for the exact location

WOOHOOO!

Miss ya E.

Lower crux of Rufus:



Pulling the ruf:





Mod Squad Wall:



Tuna in the cave:

Maybe not so fast... I don't know for sure--I haven't been to Nason since early '06--but someone told me the alleged "Forest Service" property with the trail is posted now, and that access is as sensitive as ever.

ya, the property with the new trail is posted with 'no trespassing' signs.
its too bad about the original trail. the landowners were some super cool folks that had no problem with people walking the trail. apparently some douchebag pissed them off due to rudeness/lack of respect while on their land and they said 'no more'.
regardless of whatever differences the original route developers have with your routes, you gotta be stoked they opened the place up for everyone to enjoy. i havent done any of your routes (mr e) but the other routes that have been put up are top notch.

Huh, this is a funny one, the access issues have always been very sensitive, that's why NR has never been made public.
What exactly has changed to make this a public area?

Well, I thought the issue had been resolved with the new trail. Apparently that is not the case?

I'll check it out.

There are definitely private property signs in the immediate vicinity of the new trail. As long as this thread is still around, the trail starts just right of the ~5 mail boxes at the pullout. Flagging starts maybe 15 ft off the rd. You do not ever need to walk up the driveways....

At least this way people dont have to tramp around the developed property to find the crag. If the gods that prevent threads like this from existing on cc.com deem necessary, feel free to delete this info.

yes, the sign is posted right in front of the new trail, not on the driveways. it seems as if the message was 'this trail is on private property, and you will have to walk right underneath this sign in order to use it'.
because of the concerns of the property owners and access issues, some people had asked other people not to spill the beans about the area. 'word of mouth' usually seems to work out better than 'spray of net'.

Secret areas are bullshit.

I've seen people put "no trespassing" signs on public land before, there are several DNR roads in Tenino that people try to barricade or close. I usually just tell 'em to call the sheriff and we'll let them sort it out, but they never push the matter. Probably get myself shot some time...

Well, I hope the access issues are/get resolved.
I've been lucky enough to sample the pleasures
of Nason, and it is gneiss!

Thanks for the tour Eric!

I tried to look up the ownership based on the area description, but wasn't able to. Maybe someone who knows a little more than me about Chelan's GIS can figure it out. Most counties in Washington have a really nice system (I use them to figure out RE tax deductions a few hundred times a year), but Chelan county's system kind of blows. Rather than give you the information they actually refer you to Lighthouse...a pay site.

3 weeks ago when I was climbing there, as stated above, their were some new "No Trespassing" signs right over the trail that was made to keep people away from people's houses. We went anyways but just kept a real low profile. Coming out, right before the mailboxes, a guy stopped and stared at us a while like he was going to call the cops.
Luckily worse case scenario, it looks as if someday if the need arose, someone could make a trail a mile or two up or down from the crag that gained elevation and then traversed to the climbing.
I'm fairly new to Nason but I would say that the access is as sensitive as ever and perhaps the moderators should delete this post until it gets sorted out otherwise tomorrow morning we will see drones of folks crashing around in people's backyards as thy try to find the crag.
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The area is awesome and is perhaps the only area where you don't have to have any footwork skill or endurance to climb hard.

geez Jens....they certainly will after that last sentence.

I say that this thread should be dumped until we get the thumbs up from the access fund.

I say that this thread should be dumped until we get the thumbs up from the access fund.

What a great area for climbing. I was privlidged to hang out with mister E and AlpinFox, and climb at this beautiful area. Obviously a lot of time, effort, and money was put in by these gentlemen to create a place for great sport climbing at a higher elevation near Seattle.
Thanks guys!

why censor the discussion?

a quick look at the usfs map shows all the land bordering the north side of the highway between the merritt turnoff and nason creek rest area is privately owned. it's unlikely that any land trades have occurred to change this. provided this is true, a trail starting from the highway about 1/3 mile west of the merritt turnoff that beelines for the west 1/16 corner of section 3 might cross the least private land (maybe 100' or so).

an alternative route, all on public land, from the microwave station on round mountain would add too much bulk to your spurt climbing legs.

there is a boatload of that rock on dirtyface mountain as well.

chelan county's document site (icris) generally blows unless you know the name of the grantor/grantee.

No,crowded areas are bullshit.

with routes from 5.10 to 5.12, chances of being crowded ever = 0%

I predict this cliff with basic sport-tug routes will be crowded once everyone is in the know.

If I see photos of everett mountaineers toproping it in gaiters, i will change my mind

I haven't been there but disagree on principle.

There's a lot of gneiss in EWash.

he didnt say it was 'the best' just at its best.

unscrunch your panties.

no one is kicking the sand out of your sandbox.