Elevation Gain: 1,517m
Distance: 13.8km
Total Time: 12 hours 34 minutes
Date: July 25th, 2026
Washington Pass was home to my very first alpine climb and it’s been the site of countless memorable trips since. The approaches are all stamped out and the climbing and setting are almost second to none. It’s rare to have so many type 1 alpine options packed into one zone. After 1.5 years of staying North, it was time to dip my toe across the border again to take advantage of the only good weather within striking distance. Alex had made a compelling argument to go climb Chianti Spire and it’s long been on my list. We wanted to climb it via Rebel Yell; a 5.10 route some immaculate looking cracks and an aesthetic summit top out. I had done Burgundy Spire two years prior with Brayden and I knew I’d come back eventually. Joining us would be Alex’s partners brother: Aryton who had made good company on a recent Squamish outing.
On a late Friday night, we found ourselves winding down the familiar Washington Pass switch back and fumbled into a tent site nearby. The next morning, we rose at a reasonable hour and drove a short distance to the trail head which was already lined with 8 or so cars. We were unlikely to be the only ones with Rebel Yell in mind, but hopefully we’d be the first! I had a false start from the car after forgetting my helmet, but 15 minutes of running later the situation was rectified.
After that mishap we found the trail to be quite minted as expected and we made great time to tree line. There we caught glimpse of three parties on the Pasaino buttress and two others on their way up. We passed one party who was heading down after turning back from the Rebel Yell approach due to insufficient snow. It seemed no one else was ahead, so we pressed on with our fingers crossed and reached the pass at the base of Burgundy spire. On the other side was indeed a chossy gully, but nothing to hellacious and we took our time scooting down to firmer ground below. From there we traversed across sun cupped snow and up on to the south west side of Burgundy. A final bit of rock and snow hopping took us to the base of the left-hand variation of Rebel Yell. Or so we thought. After more careful examination we realized we went too high up and climber’s left of the route and had to descend some steep snow in runners to get to the route proper.
Alex wanted the wide 5.10 pitch so to balance out the cruxes we had worked out that I would climb the first three pitches and he would take the last three. That meant I was up first. After transitioning in some awkward kitty litter grooves, I was roped up and set out for the first lead. I followed a nice low angle dihedral up to a horizontal crack with a committing move to get above. Here the rock was friable and a precarious in spots, but I found my way to the base of the large roof move. Good feet and an excellent hand jam above lead allowed me to pull through without too much hassle to the first anchor. This pitch felt more 5.10a then 5.9, but it was also the warm up. Alex and Aryton came up and then I set off for pitch 2; a splitter 5.10b corner to the base of a chimney.
I pulled through a few superb hand jams to get out of the steep section above the belay and then entered into corner. It looked a bit daunting from below, but as it turned out there were fantastic feet on the wall and the jamming and laybacking never felt desperate. This ended up being a fairly block buster pitch on clean rock.
The final act was a chimney with an airy traverse out climber’s right. I squeezed my way into the back where lots of pro could be found and even a few jams. After the requisite amount of writhing was achieved, it was time to see what this airy move was all about. I place a #5 at the top of the chimney and then cut my feet out into one of the more epic alpine moves out there to a a sweet heel hook and traverse out right. I can’t emphasize enough how fun that move was!! Do bring the #5 to take some sting out of the tail though. Above that the terrain was easy low 5th on some crumbly rock.
Alex came up and now it was time to relax as the second. He cruised up the face above and then made the tricky blind move around the corner to an anchor. Aryton and I both followed and indeed found it to be a hard move. The fifth pitch was the next block buster and Alex made it look easy climbing through steep fists and even a touch wider in spots. The upper splitter aside, the lower climbing was actually my favourite. Interesting 3D climbing where hand jams would appear just as things started to look questionable. Excellent all around movement. Now Alex lead one final pitch to the summit up an even wider crack and then another wide bear hug section above. I found this part tricky, but I’m not a connoisseur of the wide.
That final pitch landed us just below the summit block. Across the valley we could see some rain coming in, so with some urgency I set off to set up the rope on the final summit boulder. A nice 0.4 totem fit in the crack below the top and then a few 5.4ish moves got me up to the top. I down climbed off and Aryton went up next with Alex in the tail to down lead it.
Based on our research someone had created a fully bolted rappel line and the first set was immediately underneath the summit boulder. I went down first to an awkward bolt station and the rest of the crew joined. We did a second rappel to an even more awkward hanging stance and then a third offered some standing reprieve. The rest is a bit of a blur but virtually every rappel station was awkward to hang from or awkward to get to. I’m thankful for the bolted line and I’m sure lots of thought went into it, but it left something to be desired that’s for sure.
At the bottom we grabbed our stashed gear and booted back around to the pass and made a fast descent back to the car. We we even made it back it to Sedro-Wooley in time for some Mexican food at our favourite spot: Lorenzo’s. An excellent outing all around.
Great photo in the Chimney