PRINT: Rock Climb Roger's Corner, Index

Roger's Corner

5.9, Trad, 120 ft (36 m),

Avg: 2.7 from 385 votes
FA: Greg Donaldson, Roger Johnson, Richard Mathies, 4/1967. FFA: Bob Crawford, Don Harder, 9/1974
Washington > Central-W Casca… > Skykomish Valley > Index > Lower Town Wall > (C) Main Wall, left side

Access Issue: Warning for the Great Northern Slab and Sonic Slab areas on the west (left) end Details

In late Nov 2023, there was a significant rockfall encompassing the GNS, Sonic Slab, and Roger's Corner areas. There is still a ton of rock on the upper section that will very likely come down in the near future. This rock includes small and very large boulders. Please respect closures and avoid this region for the foreseeable future. For more information or updates please refer to the Climb Index! facebook page.

Description

This is a fun route and a nice way to approach Breakfast of Champions. An initial wide layback crack leads to some broken block climbing. There are chains about 60 feet up that I just clipped and continued on up all in one pitch. The upper corner involves really fun stemming and great exposure. The pitch ends at the obvious tree.

For a belay anchor and rappel point, use the chain anchor with rap rings on the wall next to the tree. A 70m will get you to the ground. It's recommended to rap to the first set of chains if you have a 60m and do it in two raps.

Location

I approached this by walking towards Princely Ambitions (which is found by heading right on the approach trail when it forks). Right before the Lower Wall is reached you can scramble up a well-traveled path (class 3) to a large, dirty ledge. Roger's Corner is directly above and can be identified by the wide layback corner.

Protection

Double TCUs-#3 Camalot and nuts. Long slings helpful if you do it all in one pitch.

Fixed biner lower-offs on both the mid-way anchor (~20 m) and the top anchor (~35 m). (A big thanks to S. Richards for adding these, summer 2022.)

Photos [Hide ALL Photos]

Rogers Corner in its entirety

Break time. This crux is physical and I found it a bit awkward. It may be because I was so out of shape, but felt a bit stiff for the grade!

The final corner.

On top of Roger's Corner

Michael Guzman enjoying this beautiful corner

Climber getting into Rogers corner

Roger's corner minus the opening wide crack.

Comments [Hide ALL Comments]

Geoff Georges
Seattle, WA

5.9

FA: Greg Donaldson, Roger Johnson, Richard Mathies, April 1967.
FFA : Bob Crawford, Don Harder, Sept. 1974.- which means they did it free with hex's and nuts.
A fun challenge is to do this and Breakfast of Champions as one pitch, place 5 pieces in this and save cams needed for BOC. Aug 5, 2014

JRD	[Hide Comment] Easy to do in one pitch - I used a double runner to clip a bolt on the intermediate belay station and then back-cleaned the last piece I put in before the intermediate bealy and finished without noticeable rope drag. Aug 24, 2015

Sean Maher
Salt Lake City, UT

We rapped the whole route from the tree belay with a 60 m yesterday. Rope stretch and a swing off to climbers left got our feet on the ground, but just barely. Knot your ends and use your head! May 13, 2016

BrokenChairs 88
Denver, CO

5.9

How does this route have 3 stars? Did anyone who gave it 3 climb Godzilla? This thing is terrible. The only reason to do this route is to get to BOC. The route is littered with loose blocks and obviously created from the blast work of the Robbins Company leading to un natural weird climbing. The routes only saving grace is the last 15' giving it the one star it deserves. Climb with caution after the opening blue C4 crack and chimmney it don't pull on the blocks. If you place pro use nuts as every block is hollow and probably only held in by dirt and could be dislodged by SLCD expansion. Jun 19, 2017

Eggplant Alpinism
Seattle, WA

5.9

Felt pretty stable to me. Jul 18, 2017

Hank Thompson
Leavenworth, WA

The lower section looks like a house of cards with a bunch of precarious blocks held together by dirt. A friend also pulled off a large piece right above the midway anchors recently and took a very nasty fall onto the sloping ledge. Aside from the last 30 ft of the climb (the only good part) the rock quality on this route is dubious. Mar 8, 2019

Patrick Beeson
Portland, OR

5.9

This route was just OK. The section directly above the mid-way anchors was not great. Felt like pulling on broken cement blocks. The last section before the top anchors was better with some fun movement. Aug 19, 2019

sean w
Seattle, WA

First little section of climbing is good, then things are a bit loose and dirty (but never super dangerous if you're mindful of what you pull on and where you place pro). The final 15-20 feet in the dihedral up to the belay ledge with the tree is quite physical and fun. You should certainly climb Breakfast of Champions if you do this pitch. Aug 6, 2020

Devin Bishop
Granite Falls, WA

Nowhere near the quality of Godzilla, Princely Ambitions or Toxic Shock. Apr 6, 2021

Stig gles
Seattle

You take that back! Roger’s a nice corner... good corner. We love you, Roger (the corner). Apr 7, 2021

Kyle O

5.9

I found this route enjoyable. Yes, there are a couple of dubious blocks making this a "dirty" route by Index standards, but I still thought it had some interesting moves and good pro. Aug 10, 2021

Harry New
Olympia, WA

5.9+

Hardest 9 I’ve tried at Index by far. Granted we were climbing in 90 degree weather, but the upper portion was awkward and super pumpy for me. I have a feeling I should’ve been stemming more or that I was missing something but I just barely made it to the tree at the end even after taking a few times. I’ll have to go back and try it with better friction (and endurance) but overall didn’t enjoy it nearly as much as some of the other climbs in the area. Still gotta get up and try BOC as well!

As far as rock quality I didn’t find it to be too bad, maybe compared to typical Index you should take care here or there, but I didn’t feel sketched by anything in particular compared to other areas. Sep 11, 2021

Steven R
Snoqualmie, WA

To the first set of chains is pretty nice, nice parallel crack to jam in, feels like 5.7. Crux on the upper portion to the second anchor is pretty fun definitely felt like 5.9, got pumped under the block.

There is a semi-loose block to the left of the first anchor as you begin up the 2nd part of the climb, be careful to not pull on it. Jun 30, 2022

Nick Brune
Seattle, WA

Fun climb. Several loose blocks on this one, be careful. Apr 7, 2023