Smith

This weekend we finally got out on a climbing trip down to Smith Rocks, Oregon. We were debating cancelling the trip when we heard the reports on some weather sites forecasting a 90% chance of precipitation on Saturday (FYI, when checking Smith weather, weather.gov is way more accurate than weather.com). But our faith was justified with dry and and at times sunny weather. Laura, Jimmy, Jeremy and I all crammed into our Honda with all our stuff on Friday after work. We were pleasantly surprised to wake up on Saturday morning to no rain, so we made the most of it and got out to the park early, we left Skull Hollows campsite before 8am, which is a new record for me I think. We met up with Nick and Scott at the parking lot, it was great to see them again they are always fun to climb with, it had been too long since we had last gotten together. We headed down to Picnic Lunch Wall which we had all to ourselves. We started out on a 10a and 10b that go up huecos and a slab, they were a lot of fun. Jimmy got tired of waiting for his turn to climb, so he hopped straight on Five Easy Pieces a 5.12a I had done previously and recommended to him. He proceeded to cruise it onsight, showing how much he had improved since last time he was here. Jeremy also made an impressive start to the trip, it was his first time at Smith and only his second time climbing routes outdoors, he got straight on the sharp end with an impressive flash on Teddy Bear's Picnic the 10b, which even I found a little scary. Scott toproped both the 10a and b clean for a good start to his trip. I tried a 12a to the right called Appian Way. It looked like a lot of fun, it had a bouldery start which you could protect by stick clipping the high first bolt, then it looked like easier ground to the top. It turned out to be a lot harder than I expected though, and I ended up dogging through the start. Its a great 12a to try if you like pinches and laybacks, and its very safe.

Walking into the park on Saturday morning

Jimmy onsighting Five Easy Pieces

Once we were done with that area, we decided to chase the sun so moved over to Morning Glory Wall. I repeated a few of the classics lines like nine gallon buckets (10c), cool ranch flavor (11b). Laura did really well on cool ranch flavor on TR, she did the crux with a lot more style than any of us guys could muster. I wasn't feeling the vibe to try anything hard really, I was just happy to be out on rock in the sun. We drifted over to the Dihedrals, where I decided to give Chain Reaction another try, I had tried it once before, but it just didn't click then. This time I hung and figured out the moves, with helpful beta from Nick and Ryan a local climber, it felt a whole lot more doable. I even figured out a different sequence after the lip, where I heelhooked the 'monkey bar' jug and rocked over to the finishing jug. Its really powerful though, so I didn't really have it in me to give it a good redpoint burn. But now that I know the beta I feel pretty confident for next time.

See it was sunny for a while

Nick on Chain Reaction

We finished off the day doing some fun moderates on the Pheonix Buttress, I really like the rock here, it is sharper with good holds, and some fun pocket pulling. I egged Nick and Jimmy to do a run-out 10d there, they both did it, but thought it was way scary. I then wished I hadn't recommended it when it came my turn to lead it, but I managed to keep my cool and finished it off, I think it was one of my favorite routes of the trip. All in all I got 9 and a half routes done that day, which I'm really happy about considering I was worried about not being able to climb cause of the rain. That night we returned to the Skull Hollows and finished off the day with a few cold PBR's around the campfire.

Laura on Bunnyface

Scott on the sharp end at the Pheonix Buttress

The next morning we rolled up to Smith and it felt a bit colder with a bit of a breeze, a local climber Teagan offered to show us around Northern Point, a smaller area with basalt sport routes that is sheltered from the wind . This crag has a totally different feel to the main areas at Smith, because of the different type of rock, and the style of the routes. It was a really beautiful place to climb, with tan and gray streaked rocks. It reminded me of the sport routes at Vantage, but of a much higher quality. I did a couple of 10c's and an 11a which were really fun before the drizzle started. Jimmy managed another 12a onsight right when it started raining. We decided to pack it up and head back up the road a bit earlier since it looked like everything was getting wet. But Northern Point is definitely somewhere I'd return to. We stopped off at a Mexican place in Madras before we started the long drive back. It was great to get back down to Smith. Although I didn't get to check out a lot of the areas I had hoped to, it was still great to be outside climbing with friends again. I'd really like to make it back to Smith at least once more before the summer heat comes. There's certainly enough stuff there for me to try now.

Me at Northern Point on Sunday