Outer Space 

It would be great to have more info about that rap route on the site-- it's the first I've heard of it.

All I know is you can rap Iconoclast with 2 60s, if slings are in place. Haven't done it myself, though. Anyone out there rapped it?

Slight correction to the above description: Pitch 4 is a right facing dihedral rather than left facing.

Stellar route!! Well worth the approach and the descent.

We didn't think the descent was particularly horrible. No fun, but not too long and not life threatening. My partner led the last pitch, and we simul-climbed for a while to get him to the top. He was stuffed butt-first into a bathtub, giving me a hip belay (it's okay, we do that all the time). Behind him was a mountain goat billy! He hung around watching us for half an hour or so, but never approached us to mooch or threaten. Very cool.

5.9 seems like a bit of a stretch for the final pitch. I guess the first few moves are, but the rest of the pitch is 5.7, no more than 5.8. Beautiful stuff!

Amazing route, great location, and don't forget that once you get to the top of the cliff you can hike (5-10 minutes) to the very top of the cliff and get a great panorama of the area. The decent wasn't all that bad; but I was very glad when it was over. Beautiful Alpine route that shouldn't be missed.

anybody willing to divulge some information on variations of outer space? or submit other routes on the formation?

Snow creek wall has over 16 routes on it ranging from .8 to .11c. You should pick up Viktor Kramar's Leavenworth Rock 2nd edition, worth the money, with 1000 climbings in the area

We did this route and followed the first three pitches of Remorse. I thought it was a very good alternative to what the entrance pitches had to offer on Outer Space. The second pitch of the alternate on Remorse had a very nice and balancy 5.8 undercling.

Regarding the walk down as opposed to the rap. We walked off and it only took about 30 minutes. Not an easy walk off, but you'd be hard pressed to rap down that quickly I think.

Watch you head on the knobs, I almost knocked my self out. Hit my head so hard I don't remember when I did this route, just with my cousin who is not really a climber.

When I did this route I did a nice direct start. 5.6 scrambling leads into a dihedral directly below the belay at the bottom of the third pitch, with one 10b or so move (with a cam at your chest) at the top. Great start to an even better climb. you do not want to do the descent in your rock shoes, like I did

Amazing, amazing route! We did this on (roughly) Aug 20, 2010. A few notes:

1) Expect an hour on the snow lakes trail (at a leisurely pace - could certainly be done faster) before the turnoff and another 20-30 minutes to the base of the wall. The herd path to the base of the cliff starts maybe 30ft to the LEFT of the first stream crossing as you face the wall. It's certainly possible to wander around yourself and get up there, but using the trail makes things easier and better for the environment; if you cross the stream and go up and left, you'll find a relatively heavily trodden path.

2) The 5.9 crux traverse is solid 5.9. Nobody talks about it much, but there's some business to it, and that business involved pulling fairly hard on a thin, hollow flake. Solid 5.9, IMO, for sure - the gear's good, but if you're not a consistent 5.9 leader, expect difficulties.

3) The pitches on this route are LONG - we did this with a 60m rope, but having a 70m would have been nice for the first and last pitches. It's easy to miss the traverse left on the first pitch (I missed it, for one), and getting to a good belay ledge in that case happens at the absolute end of the rope with maybe 5 feet of simulclimbing. The last pitch can be hairy on length as well. My partner, shooting for the top, climbed past the top of the crack and onto a slabby section (easy climbing, no gear), and ran out of rope. With me standing just below the last pitch crux, he was able to get a couple of cams into a good seam. A 70m would have been hugely helpful here, especially if we hadn't had radios.

Rough pitch lengths, following the original Beckey description:

1st: 60m
2nd: (we did this in two thanks to some routefinding confusion) estimate it would be 50-55m
3rd: 40-50m
4th: 55m
5th: 50-55m
6th: 65m

While the total vertical gain on this climb may be 800ft, the total climbing distance is assuredly nearer to 1100ft. The 500 foot length listed here on MP is most definitely incorrect. Bring a 70 to make life easy, and given the pitch length and wind up high, consider bringing radios as well.

I would have to agree. Just from rough rope lengths this climb ascends at least 700 ft with much more actual climbing length to it. DO NOT descend this puppy in the dark if it can be avoided. My fiancée and I got caught behind some slow parties and ended up getting to the top in the dark with only one headlamp. The rock cairns helped us get past the initial steep stuff but they eventually led us astray and we ended up way to high. We raped twice off of trees and that after some dangerous traversing. I had done Outer Space three times before but this was the first time in a few years. I knew to go lower than one thinks but without a good range of sight it was hard to tell where to head left.

Climbed this yesterday via a pretty fun three-pitch semi-direct start. Pitch 1 - start about 60-70 feet left of the original start and angle up and left along ramps with occasional 5th class moves, headed in the direction of the prominent corner at the left margin of the roof under the left side of 2-tree ledge. About 12 feet right of the start of the corner there is a solid 2-bolt belay anchor with many slings. I think this is the first pitch of RPM, and the 5th class moves are maybe 5.8. With all the traversing the pitch ends up being 180 ft or so. Pitch 2 -- Traverse left and a little down into the corner -- 5.8ish with an ok cam behind a flake -- and then jam and layback up the beautiful 5.8 corner. At the top of the corner, instead of breaking right through the roof at 5.10 -- the line of RPM -- head left around the corner (a large knob appears for a foothold just when needed; use a double-length sling on your last piece in the corner) and hand traverse out along a line of juggy flakes. The flakes thin out into a crack which provides good gear, and then a spicy move (5.9/10a-ish) left on knobs leads to a sloping sandy ledge. Up and right a few moves to a better belay. 120 feet or so. Pitch 3 -- up a big flake into a corner, then up under or over a chockstone into a chimney at the left edge of 2-tree ledge. 5.4 or so. I think this joins up with Pitch 3 or Remorse. 70 feet. This variation allows you to climb the really nice RPM corner but escape the roof at a lower technical grade, and the airy traverses are a nice warmup for the very airy traverse right above 2-tree ledge. With all the traversing and belay exchanges, it probably takes longer than the original start, but allows for more actual rockclimbing. The rest of the route is stellar -- I thought the right-trending traverse off 2-tree was the highlight of the climb, even better than the 300 foot splitter above.

Just did this route on June 12, 2012. Very crowded even for Tuesday, but great route. I'll add some beta here so I hope this helps:

Approach:

Drive 4.2 miles up Icicle road to trail #1553 in a pullout on the left and park. Hike the main trail for about 30 minutes steep uphill and look for the obvious huge wall begin to appear across the valley and on the right. As you come parallel with this wall, start looking for a nice big cairn with a stick in it on the right. Once found, look for the next cairn on a log crossing the creek. Cross there, and follow cairns, and the trail to the base of "Outerspace".

Route (just the direct start):

We did the direct start, a nice, but committing 5.8 left traversing lead. P1 climb low 5th slabs to where you will need to start traversing left and belay here somewhere. P2 head left across a 5.7 slab to gain a flake undercling traverse (about 15 feet below the huge roof). Keep traversing left (5.8) until you can scramble up to the big ledge at the base of the left facing dihedral. P3 climb the dihedral (5.7) to a ledge at the base of the classic P4 right angling traverse. This is where the alternate easier start leads to from the right. You'll probably just following a line of climbers up this whole route anyway.

Descent:

We rapped the route in 5 double rope rappels. First rap station is visible from the topout of "Outerspace" about 80 feet left and down the slab a bit. (I had someone belay me to it, but probably not necessary). As you rap, stay on the main head wall angling climber's right as you go. Eventually you'll reach a rap station at a small tree about 240' up the wall. You can either rap to the 5.0 slabs and downclimb the last 40', or look for another rap (I am told) about 40' below the small tree so you can reach the ground.

Cool knobs.