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| Smith Rock |
I just got back from three days of fun at Smith Rocks. It was just Me Laura and Chris this time. Everyone else was put off by the thought of November weather at Smith, but it was actually some of the best conditions at Smith I've experienced. Temps were pretty much perfect, it was cool, but never cold enough for my fingers to go numb, and we never had to worry about chasing the shade.
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| Chris headed up the awesome Heresy |
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| Laura on the long sustained Morning Sky (10c) |
On Saturday after an early morning drive we warmed up, then headed straight to Chris' project, Heresy. A short but very stout 11c. After a couple of falls on the last the move it didn't look good, but after figuring out some crucial foot beta, he sent it on his third go of the day! We finished up the day catching the last of the afternoon sun or morning glory wall, where we all led up Morning Sky, an awesome long 10c. Its hard to believe, but that was Laura's hardest send at Smith, it just goes to show how hard the smith routes are. We celebrated the day with some awesome food and beverages at the pumphouse in Terrebonne.
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| Me about to tackle the steep crux of a 12a route |
Sunday we got a full day in, with the new guidebook we were able to get on some new routes, and figure out whats what in terms of some old routes we thought we'd done previously. I did a bunch of new routes from 5.8 to 12a, including a flash of the ridiculously thin Zebra Direct by headlamp after dusk. Yesterday, Chris wanted to make use of his trad rack that he'd been hauling around with him, so he led up Moonshine Dihedral a classic 5.9 corner crack. I probably wouldn't have done it if he didn't get on it, but I'm glad I did because it was so much fun. It gave me a taste of trad climbing and I liked it. So I decided to get on Wartley's Revenge the classic hard trad test piece at Smith, it used to get 11b, but in the new guidebook (which is awesome) it gets 11a. I had seen some people on it before so I knew some beta, I found it to be pretty manageable, I got bomber gear in and cruised through the steep crux. I felt really smooth on it, and before I knew it I made the last big throw and was clipping the chains. It felt really good to tick the climb, my hardest non-prepracticed trad route to date, but it felt even better getting it with the ease that I did. There was no sketchy-ness or panicking like my last hard route at Leavenworth. I felt like I still had some power left at the end and could climb harder. And to make it even better, a photographer from the Bend Bulletin took photos of me on it and I made the
front page of the newspaper today which is pretty cool. We finished up the trip with an ascent of the awesome long 10c Nine Gallon Buckets. It was a great finish to an awesome trip, I can't wait to get back out to Smith in the spring now, thanks Laura and Chris for such a fun trip!
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| Chris starting up Moonshine Dihedral (5.9 trad) |
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| Me on Wartley's Revenge |
