Condormorphine Addiction
Location: Condor Buttress, Leavenworth, WA  

Elevation:

Route: Condormorphine Addiction
Grade: II
Class: 5.10b
Topo Map - Somewhere in this area
 
Date: April 25, 2004
Number: Chris, Tony, Doug
 
Route Map
Other Notes: Alpine Sport route
The approach hike was quicker then I expected. It only took us 1 hour to the base of the climb. it helped that Doug has been there before. The route is labeled as 7 pitches but the longest pitch is 80 feet. it is designed for a single rope rappell. We decided to link up pitches. This meant we needed 24 quickdraws if we were to clip them all. We decided I would lead the first 2 pitches, Tony would get the 3rd and 4th and Doug would get the 5th and 6th crux pitches.
At the start
Doug and Tony on Pitch1
Tony on Pitch 1
I had just bought a new pair of Mythos and they were sticking to the rock well. There is a lot of fricton moves between good holds. I started the climb off with "I had friction climbing". The line was said many time by me that day. The first pitch was a good warm up. Took a few moves to get into the groove of climbing. The first anchors came up quick. The crux on the 2nd pitch for me was a high right step. It was off to the right and there really wasn't much for your right hand. I had to rock my weight onto my right foot in a quick motion because you lost your good left hold half way through the move. It took me a couple of attempts before I commited to it. When you did the move you had all your weight balanced on your right foot with little in the way of handholds. The pitched eased off to the 2nd set of anchors. I belayed Doug and Tony up at the same time. We used half ropes and set up the reverso in auto-lock mode.
Tony on Pitch 1
Tony leading Pitch 2
Doug working the crux
on pitch 3
Tony took the lead for the next 2 pitches. There was a bunch of easy climbing with a couple of tough moves thrown in. Doug got to the crux pitches. He has climbed it before and Tony and Ididn't feel like trying to lead it. Doug got to crux quickly and then spent some time working the first 10b crux. You couldn't see much from down below. When I came up next, I had to hang a couple of times before I could figure out the moves. I couldn't figure out the 2nd 10b section and ended up pulling on a couple of bolts to get past it. Tony got the last 20 feet of easy climbing to the top.
Great belay view
Tony working pitch 3
Doug belaying on pitch 4
Panaroma from the top. Dragontail and colchuck in the middle
Close up of Colchuck col.

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