Eric and I climbed Guye Peak by the Improbable Traverse, a route highlighted in the recent new edition of Jim Nelson's Selected Climbs guidebook. We parked in a pullout across from Ober Strasse off Alpental Road at about 8.30am and were soon swimming in loose scree below the slabs at the base of the west face. We simulclimbed for almost two ropelengths up and left before my nerve gave out and I belayed Eric up from a tree. The climbing up to this point was on slabs, blocks, dirt, and vegetation -- not difficult but with little protection (I placed two pieces). Eric continued left and then up a steeper wall until rope drag became annoying, stopping about 20 feet below Lunch Ledge at the start of a wide right-facing crack.

Interesting climbing began with the crack, with some fist jams for 30 feet (large hexes and a #4 Friend work well here), then past Lunch Ledge, to the right, and up to narrow ledges with good face holds. A few more feet to the right and down is a decent belay alcove just before the traverse. Just as I popped in few cams for the belay, the sun wheeled around and melted away our pleasant shade.

Eric got to lead the exciting traverse, the namesake of the route. The first ascent must have been an adventure for the leader, since there are few good cracks for pro. Eric tied off the three fixed knifeblades and clipped a fixed sling bleached white as a bone. Around the corner and up he found two more pins to belay from. I followed (fun moves!) and led straight through, up the 200' ramp of 3rd/4th-class slab to trees.

From there we unroped and scrambled up and right, around a buttress overlooking the west face, then back left for a while, dropping down at one point instead of scrambling on steeper rock trending rightward. From the summit, it looked as though Rainier were just over the next ridge, the sky was so clear. A few snow patches still lingered up high, but nothing to justify the snowshoes strapped to the pack of the hapless dayhiker we met on our way down the trail.

A single gulp of warm water, tasting of plastic, was the only medicine for my thirst when we reached Eric's sunbaked truck at 3pm. The largest cherry slurpee in North Bend still left me parched, so I downed four glasses of water as soon as I got home. Summer would be the perfect season for climbing if it weren't for the heat. Get an early start on this route and enjoy the shade on the west face!