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Rattletale
5.10b,
Trad, 3 pitches,
Avg: 3.8 from 430
votes
FA: Dave Anderson, Cal Folsom, and Phil McCrudden
Washington
> Central-W Casca…
> Skykomish Valley
> Index
> Lookout Point Area
> Rattletale Wall
Description
This is one of Index's finest hand cracks and well worth the approach hike. Has three short, but athletic, pitches.
P1: Start on some broken face cracks trending up and left to a nice right-facing corner. Crux is low in the corner. End at large ledge.
P2: Prominent hand crack in a right-leaning, right-facing corner. Crack which starts as perfect hands and finishes as wide hands (or layback).
P3: Deep corner slot, also right-facing, with two cracks. You can do a wide stem and jam the thinner, right crack. The crack widens at the top, but you can reach in deep for hand jams. The top is an incut edge, bordering on the forest.
Lower from the P3 bolted anchor and have your follower clean the anchor and then lower back to the P2 bolted anchor. A single rap with double 60-m will reach the ground. (Or, walk a short distance up and left to get to the classic Zipper pitch.)
Location
At Rattletale Wall. All Belay stations are bolted, there is a two bolt anchor with chains on top of P3. Pitches are short and can be linked, one 60m rope is enough for rappelling.
Protection
A set of nuts and cams, with double or triple hand-size (i.e. #2 and #3 C4 Camalots).
[Hide Photo] Lisa leading Pitch 3, RattleTale. This route is uber awesome crack climbing! It may be 10B in a few spots, but there is always a great jam, and you can totally sew it up. I'm just barely a 5.9 Inde…
[Hide Photo] Staying positive through an unplanned OW experience- be warned that the right handcrack might be slimey (it was on 11/1/19) my follower decided to try and jam in it anyways and slipped out
[Hide Photo] seth hobby on second pitch just perfect hand crack of tattletale. short, yes. awesome, yes. shot in 2008 i think. photo by bissell hazen
[Hide Comment] Great route! Cheers to whoever put the P1 and P2 anchors in - not so sure how long the fin/boulder with slings on P1 and the sling covered bush on P2 would have supported the route's well-deserved popularity.
Jun 12, 2009
[Hide Comment] This route is well worth seeking out. P2 is pure, burly crack climbing at its finest. P3 is a fun stemming/crack finish (if you've got any gas left in the tank for overhanging crack, that is.) P2 uses only #2's and #3's(though you can plug a #4 in to protect the exit onto the dirty ledge).
Aug 8, 2010
[Hide Comment] Super fun, I loved pitch 3! didn't need any tiny cams (nothing smaller than .4 and .5 woulda been fine) rapped from the chains at the top of pitch 3 to top of pitch 1 on a single 70, we still had plenty of rope left, i bet a 60 would make that as well.
Jun 14, 2016
[Hide Comment] Stellar route! The beautiful P2 splitter is literally a baby version of the Enduro Corner pitch on Astroman. The last pitch has 3 different options. 1 is to stem the lower part of the chimney, placing gear in the thin right crack. 2 is to lieback as much of the crack as possible, with some solid jams coming higher. 3, stem up 6 feet and force yourself into the wide crack on the left, battling and struggling your way up the steep off width as burly as any I've ever climbed before (this way is more advisable after first establishing a TR). Either way, this route rocks. Go do it. Do it.
Jun 30, 2016
[Hide Comment] Such a fun route! P2 and P3 are classic. P2 is deceptively steep from the photos and approach. I'd bring 3 #2s if you want to protect it well. We just had doubles of 2/3 and my partner had to back clean. There is now a fixed 4 in the top out of P3, outer lobe is bent.
Aug 29, 2016
[Hide Comment] there is no longer a #4 in 3rd pitch, but as a whole the route is cleaner as of Sept. 2016. I did some scrubbing from top to bottom. The upper ledges are still loose. just too much to clear off, probably will continue to erode and stream dirt down route, but at least the top outs are not as bad. The 1st pitch is completely scrubbed, but will always collect needles and leaves.
Sep 9, 2016
[Hide Comment] Thanks for the hard work if that was you Geoff, cleaning all the dirt off the mantle on the 1st pitch was very nice. Last time I kicked some rocks on my belayer there. Getting that fixed #4 out does make for nicer climbing on the finish, it was right where my feet wanted to be before.
Sep 27, 2016
[Hide Comment] Pitch 2 is amazing! FYI there's a fixed x4 0.75 cam on the first pitch that was wiggling like it might come out with some effort.
Jul 5, 2017
[Hide Comment] Absolutely fantastic - even the first pitch would be a classic at the grade (8ish), and the upper two are sustained and beautiful. As of 8/14/17, there's a fixed #3 about 1/2way up P2.
Aug 15, 2017
[Hide Comment] As of 4/27 the fixed #3 was still on p2 and p3 was a little wet but manageable and oh so fun. Also as of 4/27 I think I left my shoes at the base of the climb. If anyone found some TC pros there I can describe them to confirm and would provide beer for their safe return! pm me if you have them, thanks
May 4, 2018
[Hide Comment] the fixed #3 is still on pitch 2 ..its like the crack ate it. Pitch three was wet (this was in November) Pitch two is super pumpy and kills the toes haha, such much fun though
Dec 26, 2018
[Hide Comment] There is now a second stuck #3 on P2. It was still wiggling a bit so someone may be able to get it out, but it was pretty far back in the crack.
May 13, 2019
[Hide Comment] Sounds like with all the #3's getting stuck in the second pitch that folks are not minding the rope drag which is pulling the pieces deep into the crack after you top out the second pitch. So maybe that's some good beta, unless you want to leave #3's as offerings to the Index gods?
Jul 2, 2019
[Hide Comment] After climbing this route yesterday and observing the comments here I think it’s worth noting that the crack on p2 is pretty tight for #3 camalots! #3 only really fits near the top of the steep section where the crack widens ever so slightly. Ideal rack for p2 would be 3 or 4 #2s and 1 #3 (no other cams will fit anywhere on this pitch).
P1 and p3 both protect well with a single rack to #3.
Aug 8, 2019
Here’s a video of the climb for anyone interested in additional beta. Not perfect form (note the decent fall at 3:43 in the video) but what an awesome route. I love the lines and the perfect granite!
Aug 25, 2019
[Hide Comment] P1 was actually super fun, it just gets overshadowed by the even more awesome climbing above. If you're sewing up P2, you can plug a BD #1 somewhat early off the deck then #2s most of the rest of the way until a #3 at the exit. P3 is excellent, and felt pretty chill for the grade. Go grab that easy 10- final pitch. Shorter folks or people with short legs may disagree though.
Top of P2 ledge is a little bit dusty still form the recent work to relocate the anchor (thanks for doing that awesome excavation Douglas!). There were a few fist sized rocks sitting atop some of the dusty spots on the ledge, they'll probably come down shortly after a rain. If anyone is going up soon bring a small pack and carry them off the ledge on your way down or toss them if it's quiet below. I would've but wasn't sure if anyone else was down there last night and didn't want to hit someone on the noggin.
Aug 27, 2020
[Hide Comment] If you have Wild Country Friends, the #2 is larger and fits much better than the BD C4 #2 where P2 starts to widen and people keep getting C4 #3's stuck.
Sep 7, 2020
[Hide Comment] Climbed on the 6/23/21, two fixed #3s on P2 but only one was clippaple, the other was buried and destroyed.
The second pitch is more overhanging than the pictures lead you to believe. This pitch grades like Indian Creek - easier if you have #2/3 hands, prepare to stack or layback otherwise.
Jun 28, 2021
[Hide Comment] If you are breaking into the 10b grade or are a squeamish climber, you could easily place four #2s on pitch two of this climb. Pitch 1 + 3 could be lead on a single rack + nuts.
Jul 24, 2023
[Hide Comment] Finally got the send on this. 100% don't plug those BD #3s on pitch 2 all #2 on the left side of the harness if you are going to straight jam. I used a #1 at the bottom to protect moves off the deck, then all #2s. #4 works really well to protect the wide moves at the end of pitch 1. First failed attempt was trying to use #3s and it was garbage. Did use one #3 at the end of the last pitch when it gets to one move of cupped hands.
Aug 21, 2023
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Las Vegas
MT
WASHINGTON
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Modesto, Ca
Kent, WA
There is now a fixed 4 in the top out of P3, outer lobe is bent. Aug 29, 2016
Seattle, WA
I did some scrubbing from top to bottom. The upper ledges are still loose. just too much to clear off, probably will continue to erode and stream dirt down route, but at least the top outs are not as bad. The 1st pitch is completely scrubbed, but will always collect needles and leaves. Sep 9, 2016
Kent, WA
Getting that fixed #4 out does make for nicer climbing on the finish, it was right where my feet wanted to be before. Sep 27, 2016
Seattle, WA
Seattle, WA
Bellingham
Seattle, WA
Wa
Bozeman, MT
P1 and p3 both protect well with a single rack to #3. Aug 8, 2019
Here’s a video of the climb for anyone interested in additional beta. Not perfect form (note the decent fall at 3:43 in the video) but what an awesome route. I love the lines and the perfect granite! Aug 25, 2019
Seattle, Wa
Seattle, WA
If you're sewing up P2, you can plug a BD #1 somewhat early off the deck then #2s most of the rest of the way until a #3 at the exit.
P3 is excellent, and felt pretty chill for the grade. Go grab that easy 10- final pitch. Shorter folks or people with short legs may disagree though.
Top of P2 ledge is a little bit dusty still form the recent work to relocate the anchor (thanks for doing that awesome excavation Douglas!). There were a few fist sized rocks sitting atop some of the dusty spots on the ledge, they'll probably come down shortly after a rain. If anyone is going up soon bring a small pack and carry them off the ledge on your way down or toss them if it's quiet below. I would've but wasn't sure if anyone else was down there last night and didn't want to hit someone on the noggin. Aug 27, 2020
Seattle, WA
Boulder, CO
The second pitch is more overhanging than the pictures lead you to believe. This pitch grades like Indian Creek - easier if you have #2/3 hands, prepare to stack or layback otherwise. Jun 28, 2021
Joshua Tree
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Portland, OR
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