Time-distributed tweetup? What's that?

So it looks like various twitter people are going to be passing through the Pacific NW at various times this summer!  @patrickgensel, @expandoutdoors, @jrmontag, @cdnrockiesgirl, any more?  And of course quite a few of us live here. Since everyone is on a different plan and schedule, I don't think everyone's going to overlap, hence the "time-distributed" part.

Locals (where exactly? got a spare couch?):

• @mtsquirrel (Seattle) I'm taking some time off from work Jul-Sep, so this means one of 2 things: I will have plenty of time to climb and I may not be around for large chunks of time

• @nwskiclimb (Seattle) Have a couch, and cool roommate @kg.  Will be around most of the summer, planning on heading up to Squamish July  14-17th for Squamish Mountain Film Festival.  Have Friday-Saturday off every week may change to regular weekends later in the summer!  Always down for a trip to Leavenworth, and will probably take a group of friends up Adams at some point this summer.  Hoping to tag most of the Volcanoes at some point this year so let me know if you are game.

• @tiffanymroyal (Bremerton, west of Seattle) I'm an hour ferry ride away from Seattle proper, and I live five minutes from the ferry. Have a couch for crashing and a front porch for relaxing! My weekends are pretty open this summer. (I'd be definitely down for a trip up Adams too).

Visitors (when are you going to be here? what are your plans? need climbing partners/beta?):

• @lizzy_t Aug 6-12? I'm coming from Summer OR for a friend's wedding (on the 6th) and sticking around to visit some friends and maybe (hopefully?) climb. I will definitely be headed up to Leavenworth to see friends, but I've climbed there a lot. I would be down to go up to Squamish (and stay through the 14 or 15th) if anyone else is interested.

Events (climbing? gelato? chocolate factory tour?)

Quick and dirty beta braindump (feel free to add to this, anyone)

Weather

"Summer" in the Northwest is July through September. It does not rain. Seriously! You can expect one or two weekends to be rained out in the mountains, otherwise it's really nice. Generally, both the Cascades and Olympics have a rainy side (west) and drier side (east).  So if you really want to get rained on, go to the West side of the Olympics (this is an actual rainforest. Have you seen Twilight? it actually is that mossy). If it's raining where you are drive east over the Cascades until it stops.

If you're interested in the "mountains" category, the snowpack is heavy this year. This is generally good because it is easy enough to walk on the snow, underneath it is usually talus, bushes, blowdowns, swamps, etc. Anything in the "cragging" category below will not be affected.

References

• Cascade Climbers: http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/ubb/cfrm
• Washington Climbers Coalition: http://washingtonclimbers.org/
• Climbing Washington: http://www.climbingwashington.com/ 

Cragging

OR:

Smith Rock: you have probably heard of this place. rhyolite tuff and basalt. whatever kind of climbing you want: 5.4-5.14, single pitch, multipitch, cracks.  Nice camping (smith rock state park bivy: no fires, no sleeping in vans, yes flush toilets and showers; skull hollow: yes fires, yes sleeping in vans, no flush toilets and showers; cost is similar depending on # of people)

Trout Creek: you may not have heard of this place. all trad, rock is still kind of sharp, splitter cracks and stem boxes. Most of the fun is 5.10-5.12.

WA:

Exit 32: diorite, mostly overhanging sport routes at the World Wall. If you want 5.14s this is your spot! Also lots of good moderates (the fun starts at 5.10) and everything in between.  Close to Seattle (32 miles...)

Exit 38: diorite, similar to Exit 32, lots of variety in the lower/mid grades. fun for 5.7-5.11, a few trad routes, but mostly sport (some stuff is topropable). the rock gets better with elevation gain. (38 miles from Seattle, see the theme?)

Index: if you like granite crack climbing this is the place! There's also bolted stuff, but that kind of starts at about 5.11 so I don't know much about it. The trad stuff starts at about 5.9. There is one really nice multipitch 5.7 (Great Northern Slab) and one fun 5.8+ (Aries) that you might as well tell yourself is 5.9 (unless you are really good at polished flaring chimneys).

Mt Erie:  

Vantage: columnar and entablature basalt. sport and trad. this is usually not the best place in summer because it is the desert and really hot. Go to Tieton instead. If you insist on Vantage there is some shade. Free camping but the bathroom situation can be grim.

Tieton: actually a bunch of different areas spread out on the Tieton River. columnar and entablature andesite/basalt (similar to Vantage), sport and trad climbing, ecosystem varies from shrub-steppe to pine forest, elevation ranges from 1200-5000 (meaning you can find shade or sun when you want). good dispersed camping. there are some choss-fest adventure routes to the top of stuff too.

Leavenworth: granite, trad, bolts, and mixed (most of the bolted stuff is slabby in nature). quite a few moderate (5.6 and up) multipitch routes. it is sometimes really hot in summer (we are wimps in Seattle, we think 85F is really hot) and because of the nature of access many routes are south facing, but you can find shade.  This is where the Snow Creek Wall (Outer Space, Orbit, Hyperspace...) is.

Mazama: similar climbing as Ex 38, similar range of grades. cool mountain town setting. close to Washington Pass, so a good basecamp for "alpine cragging" there and Plan B if you get rained out (it is often dry there when raining in WA Pass). There are a few long multipitch sport routes.

BC:

Squamish: you have probably heard of this place. it has the Chief! Also bouldering, trad cragging at Smoke Bluffs and Murrin, and sport cragging at Chekamus

Skaha: I haven't been there, people say it's fun

Bugaboos: you have heard of this place

Mountains

Snow slogs: there are four big volcanoes in WA: Rainier, Baker, Adams, and Glacier.  Rainier you may have heard about. Baker is similar to Rainier but a bit lower elevation and easier. You have to hike a lot to get to Glacier.  Adams has a non-technical route.

Dirt/ash slog: Mt St Helens is cool but I don't recommend doing this in the summer. There is a crazy permit hassle and it's just an ash pile in the summer. Do it in "spring" (Apr-Jun).

Alpine technical rock and/or scrambling and/or hiking: way too much to list here. Some (justifiably) popular places: Mountain Loop Hwy/Monte Cristo (Granite, Vesper, Sperry, Pugh), Enchantments (Prusik, Dragontail, Colchuck), Washington Pass (Liberty Bell, SEWS, Silver Star), Cascade Pass/Boston Basin (Eldorado, Forbidden, Sahale), Teanaway (Ingalls and Stuart)

Ice

Yes you can ice climb in the summer. The seracs at the foot of the Coleman Glacier on Mt Baker melt out and are fun for playing around on, easy to toprope, etc.  http://www.flickr.com/photos/laurelfan/sets/72157601585122937/