Vantage, according to Whitman geology professor Kevin Pogue, is a “dumpy little town seven miles from a great climbing area called Frenchman Coulee.”

Frenchman Coulee, located about two to two and a half hours from Walla Walla, lists about 450 routes in its guidebooks for sport and traditional climbing. Basalt cliffs 90 to 100 feet in height make for steep face climbing on outside columns, or if one is interested in putting their cams, hexes and nuts to use, there is “beautiful jamming” in the great cracks between the columns. Pogue said there are some really hard sport climbs that are “dead vertical.”

Along with the more difficult steeps Frenchman Coulee has “a lot of really nice, moderate sport climbs” according to sophomore Ryan Leary. Pogue also noted Frenchman Coulee as not being ideal for top rope climbing. Compared to Spring Mountain in Ore., Frenchman Coulee might not have as much variety in the style of climbing, but according to Pogue it is “the place to climb” in the spring.

“The best things about Vantage,” said sophomore Leary, “are the weather is much better than anywhere else in the area and the climbs are fairly long, exposed and steep.”

“Climbing on the basalt columns at Vantage gives you much more of a sense of place in eastern Washington,” said sophomore climbing instructor and geology major, Kelly Dundon. “This entire region sits on massive basalt flows, but in Vantage the basalt is exposed, providing a direct connection with the land and the forces of nature that formed the entire Columbia plateau.”

Frenchman Coulee boasts a great deal of south-facing black rock, so at least one weekend a winter Pogue has been able to wear short sleeves for a day of climbing because it gets so warm. There is an abundance of north- and south-facing cliffs, so there are cool spots in the late spring and warm spots in the late winter and early spring.

Pogue has set 37 climbs since he began climbing at Frenchman Coulee in 1990. He has also created a Web site dedicated to climbing in the area with first-hand information about various climbs all over Washington and Oregon which can be accessed through the Outdoor Program Web site.

By and large the most common complaint about climbing at Frenchman Coulee is the crumbly basalt rock which can range from “shady to sketchy to chossy to really loose,” according to Leary. Pogue advises visitors to always wear a helmet because rock fall is possible on newer routes, but popular routes have had extensive amounts of cleaning and use, so they are much safer.

Frenchman Coulee is about dead center between Walla Walla and Seattle, so the area sees a lot of what Pogue calls “refugees from fog and rain.” “When the weather sucks in Seattle, everyone in Seattle shows up to climb at Vantage,” said Leary; “in spring and fall the popular climbs are particularly busy.” Also, visitors should know that they need a sticker to park at Frenchman Coulee. Such stickers may be purchased at the K-Mart on Isaacs Ave.

“While nothing beats struggling up the climbing wall in a fantastically flattering harness in front of half of campus,” said sophomore Julia Nelson, “Vantage is a close second.”