What may have been the first new Cascade alpine route of the 2009 summer season came on June 26, with Wayne Wallace and Steph Abegg climbing Twin Needles in the Southern Pickets (Thread of Ice, III AI3). On July 22 Kurt Hicks and Forest McBrian did a new route on Formidable, climbing the direct/complete Northeast Buttress (III+ 5.9) in a 15-hour roundtrip. Mario Moreno, Sandy Weil, Keith Luther, and Seth Pollack climbed a new route on Middle Challenger, the South Ridge (1,100', 5.7), on August 5. The next day, Luther and Pollack established Birthday Route (east ridge, six pitches, 5.9) on West Challenger.

A great deal of Washington crag climbing goes unreported, and the AAJ does not contain a complete record, even of significant climbs, but one of the longer crag routes of the year was established on Squire Creek Wall, near Darrington, by Chris Greyell (the Holy Grail, III 5.10c).

December 2009 was unusually good for ice climbing, and climbers flocked to waterfalls around the state. Many had not been previously explored, and many hadn’t seen ascents in years. On February 21, 2010, Wayne Wallace and Rolf Larson climbed a new route on the northeast face of Pyramid Peak, with eight pitches to the summit (III WI5, plus a point of A0). On March 7, 2010, Daniel Jeffrey and Tom Sjolseth made the first ascent of the long-sought Assassin Spire, a satellite of Lincoln Peak in the Black Buttes area, via the Shooting Gallery (2,000', IV WI4+), on the northwest face.

Matt Perkins, Northwest Mountaineering Journal, AAC