[Hide Comment] This is an excellent route; lots of physical crack climbing with amazing positions and exposure! The style reminded me of the Rostrum but easier. I felt the 5.11a Psychopath pitch was more like 10+ after taking the knob exit left. The "overhung blocky face" on P4 is pumpy but has rests. More traffic could really clean this beauty up, some lichen but nothing serious. Great description Blake! Get some!! Sep 30, 2009

[Hide Comment] A few suggestions. Beta alert! Don't read if you don't want move beta...

Psychopath: I would avoid moving all the way left onto the knobs. Just grab the first knob with your left hand and keep climbing up. This avoids a barn door and awkward move back to the crack.

P4: We climbed the steep wall right of the corner. Great climbing. Protects well. Highly recommended. Use lots of long runners.

Pressure chamber: We climbed this in one long pitch to just below the final roof. I had terrible rope drag. Runner this pitch well too. Blake's description of the pressure chamber move is spot on. I'd go left side in for the move out of the chamber. Using the good face holds to reach out to the other wall. Don't try to squeeze. Practice your stemming before this route ya'll.

The "foot ledge" Blake describes is about 2 inches wide. It's about 7' below the final roof just left of the corner. It's very small. I found the belay is best here with a #2 Camalot and some medium/large nuts. Very exposed belay.

Gear: I never placed a #4 camalot and would not bring one again. Not to say you couldn't but I never needed it. One #3 seemed sufficient. I'd bring 3 .75's next time. It seemed like I always needed another. This route accepts bomber nuts. Bring a good size stopper rack. Tiny to big and lots of runners. Next time I'd bring 20 runners. Might seem like a lot but on the 40m pitches you'll be glad you've got them.

Best route I've done in Icicle creek. A great warm up for the Valley. Sep 11, 2010

[Hide Comment] Thought I would add some pertinent information. This route has a lot of loose/suspect rock, especially after the “death block”. I wouldn’t be surprised if it sheds again like the rock fall scar next to the death block-(WHICH IS SCARY!!!) Please climb this route with care to avoid trundling rock down the face..I wouldn’t stand below this route! There are soccer sized blocks residing in some of the cracks and smaller blocks are plenty. There are flakes that can pull off or sound hollow. Careful were you stand/pull/place pro. Just aware.

With that said, there is some beautiful climbing on this route, especially when adding the psychopath pitch. We followed Blakes description and recommend belaying just below the exit moves if 10d++ isn’t your OS level. One recommendation is to brake-up the pitch after the death block into 2.

Never needed the #4, doubles of #2 and down, single #3, aliens work great. Lots of runners

Very sustained route, has full on alpine+index feel. Jun 3, 2013

[Hide Comment] I did this route in 1999 - 00 can't remember which but I remember thinking the same on the two pitches after psychopath pitch . Sounds like this climb is in need of some TLC. Jun 6, 2013

[Hide Comment] I accidentally pulled off the hollow flake anchor above the pressure chamber pitch yesterday. Sorry to all those below, thankfully no one was hurt. Small gear would be needed for that anchor now, or a #4 would be nice for the crack to the left, but not absolutely necessary. A powerful reminder that conditions change over time with accumulating freeze/thaw cycles. Hell of a route with one less loose rock. May 17, 2015

[Hide Comment] Took advice in the description and built a hanging belay just below the final part of the pressure chamber (end of pitch 6 I think). This belay can be built with a medium size nut and a #3. Then lead up through the pressure chamber and built the belay it on the slab. you no longer need a #4 there as the flake is gone, now takes .75-#2.

The yellow wall isn't much harder than the corner and rocks. I would almost give that pitch a PG13 rating given the less than decent gear and loss rock/flakes in the upper half. Still thought it was great fun though. Be aware that the bolted anchors at top of P5 are there for a reason...

Route could definitely use some care, but not sure how to do that with the train of folks coming to this rock to climb outer space.

One final note. On approach pitch to the ledge from which the psychopath pitch starts, there is fixed cam with a orange thumb loop. Be careful clipping it, there is a wasp nest inside the crack... Jul 27, 2015

[Hide Comment] A couple things I'd like to share that might help future hyperspace climbers:

The cracks are dirty, the slabs are covered in lichen, and there is actually a fair amount of exfoliating rock to be found as well.

There are loose blocks all over this route. Do not take this lightly as they really are quite prevalent. As in, don't follow another party up, and be mindful of where you place your belayer for each given pitch. The 11b pitch is definitely dangerous. The loose looking blocks for the first few moves are not the problem, the flexing horns that make up the jug holds for the top 20 ft are the problem. I suggest avoiding this pitch all together.

Don't do the 70m pitch one as described. There's no reason to make delicate and insecure slab moves with 60 m of rope drag. Belay on a comfortable dirt ledge ~30 m up.

The pressure chamber pitch as described here is a very gear intensive pitch. Consider the hanging belay below the pressure chamber (which would gice the added benefit of splitting the rope in half to haul a pack) or consider placing sparse gear on the double crack/chimney section. There is a nice fixed stopper in the pressure chamber that helps the gear situation though.

No need for a #4 now that the flake has been pryed off the belay above the pressure chamber.

Overall, I thought there were 3 good pitches on this route, the rest were mediocre, inconsistent, loose, and dirty. One of the best multipitch routes in Washington eh? Jul 29, 2015

[Hide Comment] This route is awesome. The rock is generally excellent and there are some loose blocks and features on the way up to the pressure chamber. It seems like you could also climb around them to the left and avoid it as well. The pressure chamber, while stout, is really 10d when you look at it in the right light. In the wrong light it is much harder.....One of the best 5.10 routes in Leavenworth for sure. Leave the number 4 at home. Sep 20, 2015

[Hide Comment] Is the massive hatchet shaped block still present or did it fall off? I heard conflicting reports, and I wanted to determine which one was true. Sep 23, 2015

[Hide Comment] Loose rock, lichen, exfoliation? This is a Cascadian classic. Guess RMNP is a little more manicured..... Oct 4, 2015

[Hide Comment] Attempted Aug 27th. Thought it pertinent to comment.

My "classic" rating comes solely from the Hyperspace pitches. Psychopath is a very cruxy but short 10c, got it first go on my third outing in 10 minutes. Indeed a pure face climb, use the one knob on the left but never move left. It is a fun, pleasant pitch, but somewhat unremarkable after Hyperspace. Tall people win here :O) Same goes for the "yellow" section of the fourth pitch, a very typical gym 10c, no need for wide stemming, I onsighted it. Plenty of choices for pro, I sat on the "night stand" to place!

The business, the fun and the essence of the line come from the three final pitches - Hyperspace proper. Do not let the ratings fool you, those approach "11"-s are nothing compared to what's next. The first pitch of Hyperspace proper is not a sandbag but a good 10c, a sign of things to come. Don't know where the 40m for the P6 comes from, perhaps a direct rappell length from the top of it to the tree at the beginning? There are no twin cracks as one would naturally imagine, Blake said chimneys - they are. The line draws you along the left side and transitioning right is not trivial - start looking for that right away. I woke up at the sticker bush and traversed right at that spot. The crack slowly widens into a huge chimney/chamber that saps your energy and eats gear - leave a #2 or #3 and a couple of medium cams for the PC. The huge chamber peters out, and spits you out, then widens into the Pressure Chamber (PC) - the crux: getting in, squirming through, exiting. So much is mentioned about the airy stemming above that, but the Chamber is the one hard and desperate. Once the Thank God fixed nut is clipped with a loooong sling and the Thank God handhold is used to exit the Chamber, look for good feet to the right, it is scary but not hard, stem, do not layback the thin crack. I placed green aliens and a small nut. Get to a sloping 2x2 ledge. It is not over yet, the "20 foot corner" above is stout too. It is a huge dihedral with a crack in the corner, but not a classic jam or layback, the gear is tricky, fall - very consequential. The "belay ledge to the left" is a 4 inch horizontal crack running to the edge of the left side of the dihedral, there is a very distinctive, concave depression for the anchor, save a #1 and #0.75 for this, but there are other options. Traversing from the dihedral corner to the horizontal crack is also not trivial and very dangerous because it is 10 feet out and a fall would slam you into the right wall. Balancy, no crimpers!!!! Again, tall people get it easy here.
Last pitch is the left corner of the humongous roof above, and it's only 10a, so should be no problem, right? Save a #0.75 and #1 for this!

Agree with the #0.75 comment, even 4 would not go to waste, but not 20 runners though :O) Only fixed gear is the nut in the PC.

Overall, the two pitches 5 and 6 make this climb, and they are stern, severe, and that's their beauty and the attraction in my view. 11b minimum. Aug 30, 2016

[Hide Comment] It is a nasty sandbag to rate Psychopath 5.10c. It's 5.11 for sure...I'd say 5.11a/b. Super technical and HARD even now knowing exactly how to approach it. It was a huge achievement for me years ago first time I led this pitch; still feels that way every time. It's intimidating to boot. Sep 1, 2016

[Hide Comment] Sussed out the moves on Psychopath, guilty! I was just startled at the disconnect between ratings of the lower portion and the Pressure Chamber which completely shut me down. Did not intend to sandbag anybody, sorry.

If there is any more pertinent info from me - the Hyperspace is definitely worth doing and repeating so exhilarating, addictive and satisfying it is! Sep 1, 2016

[Hide Comment] I've watched several very good climbers fail to onsight Psychopath. To me, it's definitely an 11. I also think the Iconoclast corner on pitch 4 (i.e., going left of the Yellow Wall, as well as the Iconoclast exit variation on pitch 5, if you bail that way) are harder than any pitches on Hyperspace, other than Psycho and the Pressure Chamber. If you are weak, like me, belay below the Pressure Chamber and do it as a short pitch. I found getting into the Pressure Chamber the most difficult. Wound up french freeing a lot of it (which, surprisingly, was not that big of a deal, compared to the descriptions in trip reports I reviewed). I noticed in Blake's book there is a picture of somebody stemming their way in at the very beginning of the PC, which seems super committing to me. The alternative seems to be a desperate grovel in a groove (left side in being best?). Would love to hear more beta suggestions on this rig. In any case, this is an absolute classic route. I can understand why John does it so often. Sep 6, 2016

[Hide Comment] Loved this route.

I would do P1 as one long pitch. Place thoughtful gear and use slings to avoid drag, it's not that bad. Will simul-climb a few feet.

P2 - stellar, takes good gear, fairly sustained

P3 - there is no "tree" to belay at, as Blake's book says. Continue up slab past the wide cracks to a giant bulge-y flake. Currently red webbing there.

P4 - avoid rope drag. really fun, sporty climbing on steep holds

P5 - felt a bit soft for the grade? Good for people with thin fingers.

P6 - pressure chamber is committing. felt more .11b. managed to go straight up the flare with stacked hands and a desperate left foot. (TR'd, but used same beta as leader)

P7 - run roof move that's slightly exposed. Good for leaders breaking into 5.10.

Descent beta: the trail is very well caired currently. no raps are necessary. will take you back to the base from the far north side of the gully. Sep 12, 2016

[Hide Comment] Amazing. Every pitch is memorable, including the Iconoclast pitches. Everyone makes the Pressure Chamber sound so intimidating but don't let that deter you. It's short and extremely well protected. 30 seconds of grunting and groveling gets you into the chamber, and some awesome wide stemming gets you out. No offwidth skills necessary. Above the chamber is no harder than 5.9, chimney with a finger crack.

The amount of loose rock and lichen is standard if you've climbed anything in the Enchantments. Easy to work around and doesn't detract from the climbing one bit. Sep 26, 2016

[Hide Comment] I climbed this yesterday and was reminded just how fun and physical this route is.

Regarding the pressure chamber pitch, if you run the pitch from the belay on top of the chockstone all the way through the pressure chamber and flaring corner that follows, all the way to the small stance on the left, in my opinion makes the entire pitch solid 5.11. 55 meters of bar fight. May 24, 2020

[Hide Comment] Note that it would be easy to rappel from the top of the psychopath pitch. If you're taking someone up outer space, it would be a worthwhile detour to climb the psychopath pitch, rappel back to the one tree ledge, and climb the pitch on the right side of the ledge to join outer space. Jun 29, 2020

[Hide Comment] Rap the psychopath pitch if you trust that detached pillar that vibrates when you knock on it. I don't even trust it for bodyweight to be honest. But who knows? Maybe it is more solid than it looks/feels.

It's one of those 'at your own risk' raps IMO. Jun 29, 2020

[Hide Comment] This route was not what I expected it to be.

It had more face climbing protected by small gear than expected. I didn’t throughly read the comments before, and on the Psychopath pitch I did go more left than recommended before returning to the crack, but nevertheless, not sure how easily I could have simply used only the first left knob. I sussed out the options and all of them felt difficult for a short person (I’m 5’2). I onsighted multiple 5.11 trad pitches in WA the past week and I’ll agree w/ hummerchine that it’d be a mean sandbag to call Psychopath a .10c. Also on P4 I went up the steep face (Yellow Wall option?) instead of the corner w/ the fixed cam cause the corner didn’t have much for gear options and was licheny/mossy. The P4 face option has steep face moves on small gear with a sloping wall beneath that I didn’t feel stoked about falling on.

Then the choss. I skimmed the comments before choosing this route and convinced myself the choss situation would be better than mentioned since it had been 5yrs since the last mention. Nope, still chossy AF, especially on P4 and the start of P5. Kind of fucked tbh as you have to pull on these holds. It was chossier than most routes I’ve done in the alpine.

We were really not stoked on the route and the choss, so we ended up going right after the start of P5 to go over to Library Ledge; I think this is P6 of Iconoclast. For those considering this option, after the bolt on the face, you can get a few cams in if desired, then you turn the arete and there’s ~40ft of easy-ish knobs between you and a bolted belay w/ a bolt in the middle and a placement for a 0.3 btwn you starting the knobs and the lone bolt. My slung chickenheads were useless, with the knobs often being rounded at the top w/o much of an indent - maybe you’ll have better luck slinging some.

Overall, my climbing partner and I were so surprised this route is considered 4 stars. To the previous comment saying it’s a great warm up to the Valley, I’d say I cut my teeth as a trad climber in the Valley, progressing through all the classics of the grades I could climb, and this is FAR from what climbing in the Valley is like. P1-4 (i.e. 2/3 of the route) were kind of meh. I’ve experienced some good and even great climbing in WA, but I’d have to agree with some commenters above that this is not what I’d call a classic. Sep 20, 2021

[Hide Comment] Soooo...you're giving a difinitive opinion on Hyperspace without having climbed Hyperspace. Interesting.

'Climbed Pine Line on El Capitan and was totally underwhelmed on the Nose route. Slick rock weird pro. So we bailed after Pine Line. Just don't get all the hype of The Nose.' Sep 21, 2021

[Hide Comment] And complaining about choss! Go back to the Valley, leave WA to the choss lovers. Sep 21, 2021

[Hide Comment] sounds like they climbed the majority of the route and decided it was not classic based on the majority that they did.

which is a bit different than doing pine line and saying elcap sucks... Sep 21, 2021

[Hide Comment] I've seen a lot of people off route on this thing the entire season. Which may be the cause of some of the comments about dirt/choss. Without good beta and/or route reading skills, this route can definitely not be fun (bad belay stances, not taking the best line where there are multiple options, not breaking down pitches well). This route isn't perfect but its a great and physical day out!

Lots of folks get off route on the long pressure chamber pitch. Belay for it in the alcove after pulling the chockstone roof. DO NOT GO TO THE TREE that is left of you. Tons of people go to the tree then end up climbing other features, eventually leading back to the pressure chamber. If you want the goods, chimney straight up out of the alcove and continue straight up the gigantic steep corner all the way through the pressure chamber. Then up the flare, traversing left as face holds apper when you're slightly above the amazing hanging ledge. belay here.

Re: Natalie's comment. Having a bad time because of underpreparednes/the route being of different character than one expected and deeming it "chossy AF" after climbing half of it is lame. She climbed iconoclast and in fact did not climb Hyperspace. Her comment should be on Iconoclast's page. The very long and sustained Pressure Chamber pitch is what defines this route. The exposure on the step out from the belay and roof on the last pitch are also super classic. I definitely agree there are plenty of sections where you have to pay attention to what you use but over all its not really an issue at all and there is always good pro. This route is far from choss. Jul 19, 2022

[Hide Comment] The currently 75 ratings avg 3.7 stars speaks for itself. It's got a bit of suspect rock but it's far from chossy, it's got some incredible climbing, it's exciting, burly, and always a great pleasure. Ive done this many times but it's been some years and got on it yesterday thinking it would be a breeze given the many times Ive done it. I obviously forgot how this route goes.. another hyperspace smackdown in the books! 11h c2c, some day I will send but I don't know if I'll ever not feel somewhat terrified in the pressure chamber Jun 2, 2023

[Hide Comment] I've been a bit confused about the end of pitch 5 (hatchet block pitch before pressure chamber) each time I've climbed this route. Does it finish in the clean corner/chimney on the right with the chockstone at the top, or the finger crack/arete feature to the left? It's not very clear in the pitch description here or the guidebook topo.

I've always finished via the left option, ending up to the left of the tree at the base of the pressure chamber pitch. Wondering if I'm climbing this wrong and missing out on better climbing to the right.

This climb is classic. Jul 11, 2024

[Hide Comment] I think it's either/or. Both options are doable. I've always finished on top of the chockstone to the right, which perfectly situates you for the next, PC pitch. Jul 12, 2024

[Hide Comment] The above descriptions for the belay at the top of p3 are a touch vague (I suppose if you're an idiot). Just belay at the top of the sweet, obvious low angle hand crack below the big bulge. Don't be distracted by a 2 bolt anchor to the left or look for a better stance elsewhere. You could also belay from above the bulge/chockstone but its a lil less comfy.

And def try to haul a bag through the pressure chamber pitch if you can. the pitch is about 40m from the chockstone alcove as blake notes. Even dropping a loop for the pressure chamber moves at the top is nice. Amazing, physical climbing as others have said. Well worth a day. Tons of jamming! Jun 13, 2025