Psyched for Smith

This Friday we’re heading down to Smith Rock in Oregon for our first overnight climbing trip of the year. Its been a while since we were last there. In 07 when we discovered it we probably went 4 or 5 times, but last year we didn't make it out there at all. I really like Smith, but its old school bolting can give it a fairly intimidating feel and there is not a lot of moderates to warm up on. I haven't really done anything hard at Smith, I've onsighted or flashed a bunch of 12a's there and flashed a 12b, but it seems like anything harder than that seems really intimidating. I would like to send some 12+'s, but this is probably asking a bit too much for a weekend trip. We’ll meet Nick and Scott down there and Jimmy, Jared and maybe Jeremy are coming down as well (anyone else from Olympia want to come?). Unfortunately Micah can’t make it cause he has to move that weekend. I really want to get on some new routes so I've been doing a bit of research on areas at Smith that I haven't really explored yet. Here's a few areas I'm keen on checking out:

Picnic Lunch Wall - This was the last area I climbed at at Smith, I only did one route, Five Easy Pieces, which was really good, and had really interesting rock. I remember the routes to the right looked really fun. This online guide shows there being a few good looking 10's and 11's there to the right of it on big heucos, so I definitely want to go back here.

The Red Wall area is up the hill and to the right of Picnic Lunch Wall, away from the main areas, I found this updated topo online. It looks pretty good, it has a bunch of good 5.10's, and I might even bring my trad gear to do Super Slab, which is supposed to be an amazing 5.6 multipitch trad route. It also conveniently tops out at another crag I want to check out Easy's Playhouse.

Easy's Playhouse (pg 178 in the guide) is somewhat of an obscure crag at Smith but it sounds really good, the guidebook describes it as 'overhanging, closely spaced bolts and athletic moves'. It has an 11d, 12a, 12c and 12d. My friend Daniel has done the 12a here, which he described as a 'bolted pull up contest' which sounds pretty good to me.

Another area I'd like to check out is the upper area of Shipwreck Wall, there have been some (semi) new routes put up there, including Tsunami a 15 bolt 12c jug haul that goes through 3 different roof systems. Sounds like an amazing route, and the type of route I did well at in Europe over the summer, there is also some 10, 11's and easier 12's to try there as well.

As well as these new areas, I'm sure we'll end up at the dihedrals like we always do. If I'm feeling brave I might try Full Heinous Cling, I've flashed it to its first chains which is 12a, but its a long way to the second chains and its run out. While I'm here I might try Chain Reaction again, its THE classic route at Smith, I've tried it before but it felt really awkward then, so we'll see.

I'd also like to go back to Cocaine Gully to do the classic route 'Vomit Launch'. At 11b this is one of the few moderate classics I've yet to try. Right next to it is Chicken McNuggets a 10b that everyone says is really good, so I've got to get on it. And to the left of Vomit Launch is a 12a called Freebase, which I've never really looked at but the guide makes it sound pretty good, so maybe if I have time.

And if anyone else has any recommendations for routes I should try, especially 10's and 11's I'm open to suggestions. The ticklist above is pretty ambitious, but I'll just try to do as much as possible. Even if I don't get around to trying many of these routes I know I will have a great time just being there and hanging out with friends. I'm sure I'll get on a lot more different routes than these, it seems like each time I go to Smith I end up on coming back with more projects than I left with. Below are some photos of past smith trips to whet the appetite.