Home - Destinations - People - Partners - Forum - Photos - What's New
 ADVANCED
Vantage (Frenchman Coulee)
Make this area a Favorite 
What's New in this area
Best Routes for You in this area
Photos > Recent | Best | Popular

Show routes:
Select Area...
Ball's Wall 
Feathers, The 
M & M Wall 
Middle East Wall 
Sanctuary, The 
Sunshine Wall 
Zig Zag Wall 

Vantage (Frenchman Coulee)


3 people found this page useful
Submitted By: Luke Stefurak on Jan 30, 2006
Administrator: Peter Franzen
Views: 26,503 page views

Add Area  Add Photo  Add Comment  Add Event 
Discussions available in the
Pacific Northwest
Message Forum
 Printer Friendly View

:)


Description 

Vantage is one of Washington's great winter crags. The columnar basalt creates a great balance of sport and trad routes. The sport routes stick to the faces and range from 5.5 - 5.12+ and the cracks are found in between the columns and are of similar grades. All of the faces are out in the open and will get sun at some point in the day.


Getting There 

Head East on I-90 from Seattle. Follow this over the columbia river past Vantage, WA. After a big hill take the second exit. At the bottom of the exit ramp take a left. Follow this road under the highway and take the first left. This will wind you down a canyon and you will see vantage on the left after about 10 minutes.


The Classics

Mountain Project's determination of some of the classic, most popular, highest rated routes for Vantage (Frenchman Coulee):
Seven Virgins and a Mule   5.7     Trad, 1 pitch   Sunshine Wall : Stems and Seeds Area
Party in Your Pants   5.8     Trad, 1 pitch, 90 feet   Sunshine Wall : Twin Cracks Area
Satan's Little Helper   5.8     Sport   The Feathers : The North Side
The Uprising   5.8     Sport, 1 pitch, 50 feet   The Feathers : The North Side
Clip 'em or Skip 'em   5.8     Sport, 1 pitch, 90 feet   Sunshine Wall : Stems and Seeds Area
Pony Keg   5.9     Trad, 1 pitch   Sunshine Wall : Stems and Seeds Area
Ride 'em Cowboy   5.9+     Sport, 1 pitch   Sunshine Wall : Twin Cracks Area
Desert Shield   5.10a PG13     Sport, 1 pitch, 50 feet   The Feathers : The North Side
Sex Party   5.10a     Trad, 1 pitch, 80 feet   Middle East Wall
George and Martha   5.10a     Trad, 1 pitch   Sunshine Wall : Stems and Seeds Area
Air Guitar   5.10a     Trad   Sunshine Wall : Stems and Seeds Area
Hakuna Matata   5.10-     Sport, 75 feet   Sunshine Wall : Stems and Seeds Area
Dance of the Shaman   5.10b     Sport   The Feathers : The South Side
Satan's Wagon   5.10b     Sport   The Feathers : The North Side
Easy Off   5.10c     Sport, 90 feet   Sunshine Wall : Twin Cracks Area
Stems and Seeds   5.11a     Trad, 1 pitch, 80 feet   Sunshine Wall : Stems and Seeds Area
Jihad   5.11a     Trad, 1 pitch, 85 feet   Middle East Wall
Red M&Ms   5.12a     Trad, 1 pitch   Sunshine Wall : Stems and Seeds Area
Browse More Classics in Vantage (Frenchman Coulee)

Featured Route For Vantage (Frenchman Coulee)
near the start...

Stems and Seeds 5.11a  WA : Vantage (Frenchman Coulee) : ... : Stems and Seeds Area
Awesome stemming route especially if you have long legs. The book claims anyone over 6' can drop a letter grade, make what you want of that. placing gear on the left seemed best to me. Hard part is seeing what you place. Eventually move left to a bolted anchor or top out. ...[more]   Browse More Classics in WA


Photos of Vantage (Frenchman Coulee) Slideshow Add Photo
Sunshine Wall, as you first see it when coming out of the "hallway".

Sunshine Wall, as you first see it when coming out...


Comments on Vantage (Frenchman Coulee) Add Comment
Show which comments —
By ScottH
Feb 4, 2006

There is free camping available at Vantage, limited to the area on the south side of the Feathers. If you are climbing for the day or camping, please note that you are required to display one of the yellow Fish and Wildlife Deparment stickers on your vehicle. There is a fairly substanstial ticket if you are caught without one. You can pick up the stickers many places in Seattle, and Fred Meyer in Ellensburg sells them as well.

By Bryson Slothower
Jun 3, 2007

Avoid the Coulee on Spring concert weekends if you like sleeping.

By Joey Wolfe
Aug 15, 2007

What is the story behind the name Frenchman Coulee?

By mcarizona
From: Flag
Aug 24, 2007

I used to live out there near the coulee and on a topo you can see that the area is called the frenchman hills. Maybe thats why they transferred the name. The canyon is a result of the big flood of glacier park way back when (discovery channel has an engaging history about it if you have time on a rainy day to sit on the couch). Who knows what its like to camp behind the feathers these days? It was getting pretty trashed last time I was there.

By kimmo
Oct 11, 2007

ok then

By John Calder
From: Spokane, WA
Oct 23, 2007

Frenchman Coulee is actually the large coulee you can see from the camping area. Sunshine wall is in Echo Basin.

By Scott W
Apr 24, 2008

This area is also known as Exit 143.

By ben kenobi
From: Portland, OR
May 12, 2009

Camping Update:
Camping is only allowed on the south side of the feathers (the area with the bulletin board and the trailhead for the hike into Echo Basin).

There are currently NO TOILETS. The old sani-cans were getting hammered by concert-goers. The company that cleaned them kept finding syringes, rocks, etc. in the toilets, and decided it wasn't worth it. Can't blame 'em. Anyway, the Frenchmen's Coulee Climbing Coalition is currently raising money for a permanent toilet structure that is badly needed. They need the money and the go-ahead from WA Dept. of Fish and Wildlife.

So do your part: bring wag-bags or your own shitter system, or drive into George or back to Vantage and use their toilets. Do not dig catholes! The place gets too much use to take this type of waste. This could quickly turn into the sesspool that Indian Creek is trying to deal with. Let's not let that happen.