The Coethedral

Wy’East, Steel Cliff Gullies (Mount Hood)

Go back to Oregon Cascades page.

Summary

Bewitched
Bewitched.

…after getting back from Alberta on Saturday evening and picking up Blondie from the sitter on Sunday morning we were flipping through the local guidebooks looking for something quick and easy nearby. Our fingers walked us right on over to the new-ish climbing area SE of Estacada called The Coethedral – bolted, multi-pitch conglomerate rock climbing. I’m usually a skeptic when it comes to “new” and especially “secret” climbing crags (most have been a lame disappointment) but I did think Coethedral looked interesting in the cascadeclimbers trip reports. And so we found ourselves hiking down with another party of three young climbers at the crack of noon. We climbed the Bewitched Direct route (3P, 5.10-) to the summit of The Witch, a semi-attached spire sticking out of the parent cliff. I gotta say it was a fun climb: tightly bolted and probably no harder than 5.8 or 5.9 but the modular knobs were exciting (nothing popped off on us though). The guys who opened up this area really put in some hard work! Back home early enough for an afternoon bbq.

Photos

Coethedral
The Coethedral. Our route of choice, Bewitched, climbs left of center to the summit of a spire protruding from the face (Old Witch Pinnacle; July 2014).

Coethedral
The girls hiking down to the base of the Coethedral (visible on left; July 2014).

Coethedral
Blondie settling in to wait for us at the base of the Coethedral…well out of the way of any earth-bound nubbins (July 2014).

Bewitched
Starting up Bewitched…guess we did what would be called Bewitched Direct (i.e. straight up that mini roof at the break in the face above).

Bewitched
Shirley on pitch 1 of Bewitched Direct (July 2014).

Bewitched
Topping out on pitch 1 (July 2014).

Bewitched
Looking back at Shirley from the beginning of the looong pitch 2 of Bewitched (July 2014).

Bewitched
Bewitched – top of pitch 3 (July 2014).

Bewitched
Shirley topping out on pitch 2 of Bewitched (July 2014).

Bewitched
Dragon’s Spine Pinnacle from somewhere on Bewitched (July 2014).

Bewitched
Shirley at the 2nd belay on Bewitched (July 2014).

Bewitched
Choss dance: keep your weight distributed on at least 3 points of contact at all times. Pitch 3 of Bewitched (July 2014).

Bewitched
Pitch 3 (July 2014).

Bewitched
Nearing the summit of the Old Witch Pinnacle (July 2014).

Bewitched
Bewitched.

Bewitched
Shirley absolutely adoring the Oregon sport chossaneering as she tops out on Bewitched (& the summit of Old Witch Pinnacle).

Bewitched
Looking up at the Old Witch Pinnacle from the notch on the way down (July 2014).

Coethedral
Another shot of the Coethedral from near the trailhead (July 2014).

Go back to Oregon Cascades page.