Wallula gap

Watch out for the crazy old man who will call the sheriff on you if you trespass. Unfortunately due to the recent fire it's impossible to know if you do get on the wrong side of the fence line.

The gentlemen you're talking about is a well known survivalist (Curt is his first name) who's driveway is north of the climbing area. I have dealt with him many times while putting up routes and climbing at The Loo. He is one of the main people responsible for getting the Twin sisters closed to climbing years ago. His property is actually tucked away a long ways behind the cliff bands, and while he will make it seem as if you are trespassing on his property, it is actually the dividing line between federal land and Whitman College land that runs through the climbing area. Both agencies allow climbing and hiking on their land.

The sheriff's have a good relationship with climbers, and are aware of the individual in question. If you feel harassed in any way, please call the sheriff yourself to continue building the file against this gentlemen.

I've lived in the Tri-cities for most of my life and climbed for the last 17 years and never really heard about the "loo" climbing area before. I see that there is a pretty good route guide PDF online for the lower wall. Is there a guide out there for the upper wall? The PDF mentions 10 longer sport climbs on the upper wall but it is always nice to know exactly what a route is rated before leading it for the first time. Any help would be appreciated.

Hey guys,
I am going to be in Walla Walla for work sometime in the next couple weeks and will have a free afternoon and would love to check this place out. Not sure of my schedule yet but it will likely be a weekday the week of October 5-9 and I likely will have some flexibility in scheduling it. So if you have free time on weekdays and would be interested in climbing, please let me know. Thanks!
-Bill

Hey Jimmy,

Glad to see this little crag getting some use. Has anyone been climbing the trad routes? Several of the better lines out there (IMO) are actually gear climbs.

The upper cliff is accessed by hiking up the drainage south of the lower wall. I haven't been back in town for a year or more now, but when I was living in WW the hardest route up there was 5.9. The lower cliff is colonnade (slower cooled lava , generally sturdy and better for climbing) while the upper cliff is entablature (more viscus lava, generally heavily fractured, often "chossier" than columnar basalt). The climbing up there is generally a lot more "adventurous" due to the quality of the rock. Its definitely worth bringing a helmet and checking it out. Who knows, with extensive cleaning it could turn into something like this at vantage

I think we started calling (wallula) The Loo one day after commenting on how shitty the rock can be up there. It was either that or a professor who called me out when I "skipped to the loo" one too many times...