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Albinestone

5.11d, Sport, 80 ft (24 m),  Avg: 3.5 from 11 votes
FA: Jens Klubberud, Eric Gratz
Washington > Central-W Casca… > Skykomish Valley > Index > Cheeks > (1) Upper Cheeks > (c) The Beach

Description

Pull off the ground on slightly gritty rock. After a few moves, the rock quality improves and becomes some of the whitest at Index. Several stem and balance cruxes guard the chains. A crux for shorter climbers comes lower and a crux for taller climbers comes higher on the route.

Location

Technically on the Upper Cheeks. This sport route is the bolted line immediately left of Apes and Ballerinas.

Protection

8 bolts to chains.

Photos [Hide ALL Photos]

Michal Rynkiewicz on Albinestone
[Hide Photo] Michal Rynkiewicz on Albinestone
Fantastic position!
[Hide Photo] Fantastic position!
Looks really good
[Hide Photo] Looks really good
Stamati just after the opening boulder problem
[Hide Photo] Stamati just after the opening boulder problem

Comments [Hide ALL Comments]

Ol Toby
CA
  5.11d
[Hide Comment] Quality! Keeps comin' at ya with the Index trickery. May 14, 2016
Dan Bookless
Bend, OR
  5.11d
[Hide Comment] The rock is pretty gritty (cat litter); however this climb is really unique with three hard 5.11 cruxes. Its on the verge of being a four star classic. Nov 6, 2019
Jeromy Markee
Leavenworth, WA
[Hide Comment] Only the first 5 feet of the climb are slightly scaley. The rest is absolute perfect rock. Jan 29, 2025
Ryan Hoover
Index, WA
[Hide Comment] There is a couple loose blocks as you top out this climb. The terrain is easy, but they are ready to peel, I moved one to the flatter ledge as it was a busy Saturday and didn't want to toss it.

If some one gets on this soon, I would recommend bringing up a pack to haul them down, a haul bag would likely be best but a mid size pack would likely do the trick. May 16, 2025