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Sehome Hill Bouldering Guide
Sehome Hill Arboretum is located in Bellingham Washington, just East of the Western Washington University Campus. The 180 acre city park provides some very "interesting" sandstone bouldering and toprope opportunities. By interesting I mean sandstone cliffs and boulders up to 35 feet tall that range from soft as styrofoam to pretty damn hard, huecos, slopers, tiny edges, a little bit of slab, and some highball problems to test your commitment level. This area is prone to contriving many of the routes, but nonetheless leads to some fun problems. By no means is Sehome Hill a destination for the climber looking to head out for the weekend. It is more of a locals area, providing a few hours of entertainment for the overworked college students that live literally all around and on Sehome Hill. Sehome Hill's climbing history goes back to the 1950's, and was a local crag to Yosemite legend Chuck Pratt who attended high school in Bellingham.
About the Guide
This guide will be a continuing work in progress. Information about routes, First ascents, ratings, and such is quite a mystery for this area. To start this guide I will not be including route names, only numbers. (Unless I have confirmed beta for the route) I will also leave out the FA information. If anyone has information as to route names or those who have the FA on routes please let me know along with the source where you got the information and I will give credit to those who deserve it. There are a few other online guides floating around currently but the route names used are usually just made up by those who frequent the area. I may add names later but for the time being I am just gonna go by numbers and generic cliff names.
Etiquette
Sehome Hill is a very beautiful area that is home to many deferent plants and animals. It is important that we as climbers do what we can to preserve the area and keep it in a healthy state for all to enjoy. Just a few things to keep in mind while climbing at Sehome Hill. Don't forget to pack your trash out with you, if you are feeling ambitious bring a small garbage bag with you and pick up any trash that you see. Stick to obvious trails. The vegetation in the park is fragile and we need to do out best to keep it healthy and alive. When climbing use as little chalk as possible. Many of the rocks are visible from trails or the road, so we don't want people to start complaining about chalk being an eyesore. Just a little word on brushing, the sandstone at Sehome is rather soft, so go lightly on the brushing. Aggressive brushing is not needed as it will change the holds. If you happen to break a hold, and it changes the rating of a route please contact me and alert me to make the change in the guide. If you are scouting a new route, do a little bit of checking for holds before clearing patches of moss, and when you find holds only clear what you need, no more. If the route is good people will climb it and it will clean off with traffic. Be curtious to the other users of the park, you will most likely get asked if the bouldering pads are beds. I have almost every time I have gone up there, refrain from being a smart-ass, and politely explain what you are really doing. Sometimes it's fun to joke with them, but know where the line is. You will probably see the University Police either driving or on bike. So far they have never hassled us, but if they stop you be respectful and polite, being an idiot is the quickest way to say good-bye to climbing at Sehome, plus they are trying to do their job to keep the place safe, despite what the graffiti on the rocks say.
Safety
Sehome Hill is a lot of fun as long as you don't get hurt! These are just a few things to keep in mind when climbing there. The rock can be soft in places, and this means holds can and will break. Many of the problems are highball problems any where from 15 to 30 feet tall, and to make matters worse the landings are sloped in a lot of places. If you fall stacked pads will most likely slide. Aggressive spotting is a must at several areas. To make things even more hairy the topouts are usually quite slabby and smooth, and can easily be the crux of the route. Some problems are V0 all the way to the lip then it's V3 just to topout, so be aware of that.
(Click either Lower or upper Sehome to get route info.)
Directions
1.
From I-5 Take the Samish Way exit (Exit 252) to Bill MacDonald Parkway.
2. Continue up Bill MacDonald Parkway until you reach the edge of Western
Washington University.
3. Turn right on the road just before Buchanan Towers (across from the
Washington Archive Building).
Additional info about Sehome Hill