Leavenworth Climbing

This digital Leavenworth climbing guidebook gives you GPS navigation, verified topos, and beta for hundreds of climbs. Explore classics and hidden gems with offline access to maps, directions, and beta videos. Whether it's your first visit or fiftieth, KAYA makes your Leavenworth days smoother, safer, and more dialed.

The small tourist village of Leavenworth is nestled at the edge of the granitic Wenatchee Mountains, on the eastern edge of Wenatchee National Forest. Bizarre festival weekends, a cornucopia of kitschy gift shops, and an abundance of overpriced hotels make this faux Bavarian village in the middle of the state Washington’s second-biggest tourist destination. Visitors to Leavenworth who don’t appear horribly out of shape are probably there to sample many of the outdoor recreational activities available in and around the town.

Each weekend brings groups of helmet-heads to Le... Show more

This digital Leavenworth climbing guidebook gives you GPS navigation, verified topos, and beta for hundreds of climbs. Explore classics and hidden gems with offline access to maps, directions, and beta videos. Whether it's your first visit or fiftieth, KAYA makes your Leavenworth days smoother, safer, and more dialed. The small tourist village of Leavenworth is nestled at the edge of the granitic Wenatchee Mountains, on the eastern edge of Wenatchee National Forest. Bizarre festival weekends, a cornucopia of kitschy gift shops, and an abundance of overpriced hotels make this faux Bavarian village in the middle of the state Washington’s second-biggest tourist destination. Visitors to Leavenworth who don’t appear horribly out of shape are probably there to sample many of the outdoor recreational activities available in and around the town. Each weekend brings groups of helmet-heads to Leavenworth to climb moderate trad climbs in the Icicle and Tumwater Canyons, and in recent years, hordes of boulderers eager to sample the area’s bounty. Leavenworth’s bouldering had been locally well-known but underappreciated for many years until the early 2000s, with most people seeming to equate it to much of the area’s roped climbing: off-vertical, sandy, and not especially exciting. Even John Sherman wrote in Stone Crusade that “Swiftwater Picnic Area is one of the few spots with enough problems to constitute a circuit, and even then one must hunt around in the woods for some of the boulders.” The venerable Verm must have donned an awfully thick pair of beer-goggles for his visit, as Leavenworth’s canyons are literally lined with a diverse array of pristine bouldering areas! In addition to Little Bavaria’s well-traveled classics, the area is home to many newer problems that are steep, high, or hard – or all three. For a good sampling of the bouldering here in Leavenworth, make an attempt to check out all three major areas in this guide: Icicle Canyon, Tumwater Canyon, and Mountain Home Road. Each individual area within this guide sports a unique blend of stone, a pleasant setting, and at least one problem guaranteed to make your day. So go and explore for yourself – who knows what you might find? FROM THE WEST Southern Route From I-5, take Exit 164A for I-90 east. Follow I-90 over Snoqualmie Pass and take Exit 85 for WA-970 N near the town of Cle Elum. Stay on Route 970 for 10 miles until it becomes US-97 N. Follow Route 97 for roughly 35 miles up and over Blewett Pass until it intersects US-2. Turn west onto Highway 2 and follow it four miles to the eastern edge of Leavenworth. This route is best when coming from downtown Seattle, Sea-Tac, Olympia, and other places along Puget Sound. Northern Route From I-5, take either Exit 171 for Lake City Way / WA-522 or Exit 175 for NE 145th St. / WA-523. Follow either until they join Route 522 at the northern end of Lake City, following 522 east through Bothell and a few other suburbs until it crosses under I-405 and becomes a two-lane road. Reach the town of Monroe roughly 22 miles from Lake City. Follow the exit for Highway 2 east and follow it 85 miles over Stevens Pass to Leavenworth. On the way, you’ll pass climbing/bouldering destinations in Gold Bar, Index, Skykomish, Stevens Pass, Smithbrook, and Nason Ridge. This route is best when coming from points north or east of Seattle (see below). Bellevue etc.: When coming from the east side of Lake Washington, this route is best accessed via I-405 N. Take Exit 23 onto Route 522 and proceed as above. Bellingham/Canada: When coming from Bellingham or the Canadian border, it’s best to take Highway 2 directly from I-5 in the city of Everett. Take Exit 194 off I-5 (about 25 miles north of Seattle) and follow Highway 2 100 miles through Monroe and over the pass to Leavenworth. FROM THE EAST Southern Route The easiest way to get to Leavenworth from the east is to take I-90 west to Exit 106 in Ellensburg for US-97 N. Follow Route 97 north for 51 miles over Blewett Pass to the intersection with Highway 2, turn left, and follow it four miles west to Leavenworth. Northern Route When coming from Spokane and other points directly east of Leavenworth, it’s sometimes nice to take Exit 277 off I-90 and follow Highway 2 west.