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Static Point

Washington > Central-W Casca… > Skykomish Valley

Description

Update August 2020! The Online Sector has been fully rebolted, and a rappel descent added, making ascents with a single 60m rope possible. More information including new topos can be found here: LINK. 

Fantastic slab climbing reminiscent of Toulumne, but less featured than nearby Darrington. One of the first granite domes in Washington to be established with battery-powered drills with the first route being climbed in 1983. The approach used to be only about 30 minutes, but over the years, the old logging road used for access has become impassible, adding time to the approach. So now you'll likely be the only team climbing there if you make the effort, surrounded by beautiful alpine peaks.

The comprehensive guide to Static Point is only found in one out-of-print guidebooks: 20 routes from 5.8-5.11+ are detailed in "Sky Valley Rock" by Darryl Cramer (2000). Three of the most popular routes were picked for "Select Climbs in the Cascades, Vol 2". Seven are in the "Weekend Rock - Washington" which is currently in print by The Mountaineers Books. Be aware that none of the guidebooks have the current approach conditions correct.

Pitch lengths commonly are +40 meters in length, requiring a tag line or a second rope to be brought for descents. Bolts tend to be old 3/8 with SMC hangers, but that's slowly being replaced with new hardware as of 2018 / 2019. Expect to see a mix of both.

6 quickdraws, 4 shoulder slings, a set of stoppers to #4-10, and a set of cams 0.3-1 should do you fine. Pitches typically feature 1-5 bolts for protection with scattered opportunities to place protection. Anchors are 2-3 bolts. Bold run-out's are quite common.

On Line, (described here), also features rappel rings and/or chains and has become the principal descent route.

The walls are roughly south-facing and thus can be quite hot on sunny days.

Getting There

1.5 hours from Seattle. Drive US2 from Monroe to Sultan. On the east edge of town and up a slight rise is the last traffic light for Sultan Basin Road - turn left. Drive 13 miles north and east along this windy road to Spada Reservoir. Check in at the self-check-in station, then continue further to the fork. Take the right fork, which goes down around the southern tip of the reservoir. At about 2 miles, cross an obvious bridge and park in the first turnout on the left (lake) side - directly across is an old blocked-off logging road (that you used to be able to drive up, as the guidebooks state). Start hiking this old, eroded, overgrown road, passing numerous ravines where there had once been culverts. At about 45-60 minutes of easy, largely level hiking, and just before a large and often dry riverbed, you'll find the first cairn and a view up the riverbed to slabs and Static Peak. Continue across the riverbed, and about 100 feet further is a another cairn placed on top of an old culvert, and marking the departure from the road. The trail turns left up the hill, following alongside the riverbed before bearing upwards and right. 20-30 minutes of steady climbing leads to the bottom of the dome, and the start of On Line.

Routes from Left to Right

5.8 5b 16 VI- 15 HVS 4c PG13
 2
Black Fly
Trad
5.10b 6a+ 19 VII- 19 E2 5b PG13
 18
Online
Trad 6 pitches
5.9 5c 17 VI 17 HVS 5a
 11
Lost Charms
Trad 5 pitches
Route Name Location Star Rating Difficulty Date
Black Fly
 2
5.8 5b 16 VI- 15 HVS 4c PG13 Trad
Online
 18
5.10b 6a+ 19 VII- 19 E2 5b PG13 Trad 6 pitches
Lost Charms
 11
5.9 5c 17 VI 17 HVS 5a Trad 5 pitches

Photos [Hide ALL Photos]

Culvert & cairn at your turn uphill ( 47.9342, -121.5994 ), just past the big rocky wash where you can first see up to Static Point
[Hide Photo] Culvert & cairn at your turn uphill ( 47.9342, -121.5994 ), just past the big rocky wash where you can first see up to Static Point
Looking up the big rocky wash to your first view of Static Point.  The approach trail is just past this by the culvert and cairn at 47.9342, -121.5994
[Hide Photo] Looking up the big rocky wash to your first view of Static Point. The approach trail is just past this by the culvert and cairn at 47.9342, -121.5994

Comments [Hide ALL Comments]

Curt Veldhuisen
Bellingham, WA
[Hide Comment] Static is a fantastic crag and hopefully activity on MP will spur a revival up there. Thanks to all that contributed to the rebolting project! Sep 9, 2018
[Hide Comment] Curt's right: "Weekend Rock Washington" is still in print, with good topos to introduce you to the area. If you want to find out more, find a copy of Sky Valley Rock for the comprehensive description! Apr 14, 2019
[Hide Comment] As noted by other commentators here, Weekend Rock by Whitelaw (2005) is still roughly accurate, EXCEPT that you need to park on the South Shore road (NF-6129 on some maps), which adds at least a mile to the hike. Also, if following Whitelaw's description for the location of the climber's trail departing uphill from the road-grade (which does indeed occur at a large section of culvert in the road bed), don't get fooled by the several *other* sections of culvert in the road grade along the way. Simply put, you can't miss the climber's trail, because the trail on the road bed ends when the climber's trail cuts uphill. No route-finding required. Sep 6, 2020
Josh Martinell
Seattle, WA
[Hide Comment] Trail is brushed and pretty clear as of last weekend with the exception of a couple downed trees that were too big to clear with the tools we had. Couldn’t hurt to bring a machete or a pair of clippers if you would like to do a little sprucing up. One note: We found there are a significant number of ropes that were left at the base after the re-bolting effort. We sorted and hung ropes from trees to dry and packed out what we could, but it would be awesome if anyone who ventures up could pack out a rope and dispose of it. May 28, 2022
Daniel Heins
Seattle, WA
[Hide Comment] Went up today - the steep leg of the trail is much better than I expected in terms of clarity / clearness. The old overgrown road would benefit from machete but is perfectly passable and we cleared out a bit to make it more so. Trail is pretty straightforward, but nonetheless added a GPX and flagged the key coordinates.

We packed out the sad sunbleached rope by the tool station, but left the prybars and such. Jun 9, 2024