Luke Distelhorst on Luna Park, 5.11a/b, Newhalem.
Photo by Kris Taylor.
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Ownership/Management:
Ross Lake National Recreation Area, managed by the National Park Service (NPS).
Land Manager:
Roy Zipp, Natural Resource Specialist
North Cascades National Park Service Complex
7280 Ranger Station Road
Marblemount, WA 98267
(360) 873-4590
Current status:
All crags are open, but there is a voluntary moritorium on new route development and cleaning boulders (see below). Access to bouldering area may be blocked by road work on Highway 20.
Access considerations:
The NPS is expecting to begin work on a climbing management plan for the Skagit River Gorge. Until the climbing management plan is completed, climbers have been respecting a voluntary moratorium on: 1) developing new routes that involve fixed anchors and/or cleaning; and 2) cleaning boulders to allow climbing. Please respect this moratorium.
Please do not park illegally in Newhalem or along Highway 20.
Other resources:
Weather forecast
For discussion:
West Side Crags forum
Although climbers speeding along Highway 20 have cast wondering glances at the cliffs of the Skagit River Gorge for years, the largely crackless nature of the cliffs, a lack of easy parking and access, and a general lack of information all conspired to keep the area largely undeveloped.
In the late 1990s, however, climbers began exploring and establishing routes on two cliffs close to Newhalem and one at the far end of the Gorge, near Diablo Lake. Soon after, a bouldering area was discovered partway up the Gorge. To date, more than 20 sport routes have been established, ranging from 5.9 to 5.13. There are also more than 40 boulder problems from V0 to V10. The potential for much more climbing exists. A partial online guide to one of the cliffs can be found at Newhalem online guide.
Newhalem's rock is Skagit gneiss, a metamorphic rock that resembles granite. Although there are occasional loose flakes, the rock is generally sound and high-quality. Many walls are consistently overhanging. The walls are also deceptively large, growing in scale when you reach the base. There are very few cracks.
All the Newhalem crags are located within the Ross Lake National Recreation Area, which is administered by the National Park Service. In the summer of 2002, the NPS determined that an evaluation of environmental impacts from climbing needed to be undertaken to look at impacts to vegetation and possible cultural resources (e.g., historic rock shelters). Once this evaluation was completed, a climbing management plan would be developed.
An NPS resource manager contacted the Access Fund. Local climbing activists agreed to voluntary refrain from further route and bouldering development until a climbing management plan was in place.
The NPS completed “scoping” of the environmental analysis in late 2003. However, due to a number of circumstances (including a massive washout of Highway 20), work on the climbing management plan has been delayed. The NPS is now planning to develop a climbing management plan as part of a renewed general management plan for the National Recreation Area. The WCC is working with the Park Service to try and speed up the process.
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