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Velvet Elvis
5.8,
Trad, 375 ft (114 m), 4 pitches, Grade II,
Avg: 3 from 81
votes
FA:
Trevor Nelligan, Leland Windham May 10th, 2024
Washington
> Central-W Casca…
> N Bend & Vicinity
> Exit 34; Middle…
> Golden Hour Wall
Description
A fun, well protected, and varied trad multi-pitch that shares the first pitch of Solar Storm. The rock quality is stellar and the final pitch is for sure contending for top moderate crack pitch in the Snoqualmie Valley. Most of the climbing is quite moderate but joyful with a few crux-y sections, especially on the final pitch.
- Pitch 1 (5.7) climbs Solar Storm as normal, but aims to join the left line of weakness at the top. It works fine to belay from either of the Solar Storm anchors or to link it directly into the anchors far left on the ledge. 13 bolts, but an be useful to have more in order to traverse left along the ledge in one go.
- Pitch 2 (5.4) climbs up the crack to a moderate 4 bolt protected sequence that can sometimes be a bit seep-y
- Pitch 3 (5.7) continue up the crack until coming upon a single bolt protected slab going right. Continue up past some rappel anchors to a ramp that ends in belay anchors.
- Pitch 4 (5.8) the money pitch. Climb straight up the incredible crack and quartz dike features to a beautiful view of the middle fork valley.
Generally linking pitches 2 and 3 works well, as long as you are comfortable at the grade and extend your pieces.
(Grades listed are relative to typical Exit area grading)
All the rappel anchors have chains on them. From the top, make 4 rappels trending right after the first. Use a 70m rope (could be possible with a 60m, but haven't tried it. You need a 70m for Solar Storm regardless, so its strongly recommended).
Location
Start as for Solar Slab and branch off left.
Protection
A single rack from .1 to 2 and nuts does the trick. Bring a 70m rope
[Hide Photo] Leland and I on the FA
[Hide Photo] Rough outline of the climb from the base. White dots are the belay locations (I linked pitches 2 and 3). There are two other anchors we passed going up the 1st pitch of Solar Storm not shown here
[Hide Photo] Last bit of climbing before the anchor on the last pitch. (Ignore my gloves they are not necessary for this route!)
[Hide Photo] The King himself
Seattle, WA
Seattle, WA
Boulder, CO
Seattle, WA
Seattle
Seattle, WA
Seattle, WA
Brought up a #2 but didn't end up using it. Bring multiple small cams (black Totem, #00 and #0 Metolius Ultralight Mastercam, or similar) for P4. Aug 15, 2024
Snoqualmie, WA
Some gear beta:
Need more than 13 draws to protect the traverse, or skip a bolt on P1.
Placed a single orange totem (bd #2) on P4, nothing larger. Mostly used black totems, .3, .4, .5, .75 and a couple 1s, did get a couple dmm offset nuts in as well. Aug 29, 2024