Shangri-La

I check out a new area at Exit 38 called Shangri-La with James yesterday. There's some information here and here about this new crag. I had heard tales of this rock being amongst the best quality at 38 and comparable to Index, with long routes and even some trad. So we went with high expectations, and we were not disappointed. The routes are long and very involving, and you need your full bag of tricks for them.

James at Shangri-La. Its hard to get a good photo of the crag.

We warmed up on a 10cish climb called Crouching Tiger, it was a really fun technical route on grippy slopers. Next up was History Book a 10a corner crack. I had to do a bit of gardening on my way up (its much cleaner now), but it was still pretty enjoyable, despite my at times questionable gear placements. My favorite route on this wall was Hidden Dragon, a long and devious 11c or so. I had to use every inch of my 5'8" +1 reach on a couple of spots. It was so much fun to be climbing pure onsight, with not a dab of chalk on the route, figuring out moves and improvising beta on the fly. The most challenging route I did was Hypertension, which starts up a V4ish boulder problem start that involves a painful pinky jam, that I finally figured out after using an excessive amount of tape. Its not over there though, it makes you think all the way to the chains, where I opted to reach out left manteling bad slopers to lunge for a thank god jug, I normally climb quietly and efficiently but this route required a couple of power screams, I'm glad I didn't blow it at the end. This route gets 5.11+, but it'd be one of my hardest ever 5.11's. I think 12a may be more appropriate.

James follows up Small Arms Fire

We checked out the rest of the routes there, some of which look very good, some of which need a lot more cleaning, there is potential for even more routes there. We finished up on a fun 10b Small Arms Fire, which is a rap in-climb out, route, a great way to finish off the day.

My 100th 5.12 and Monkey Space

The weather in Washington has been pretty bad this summer so far and I was getting tired of climbing at Little Si. So Chas, Jimmy, Lisa and I headed down to Smith Rock on Wednesday night seeking some better weather. I've never climbed at Smith in the summer before, but this week was unseasonably cool, and in the shade the temps were perfect. I checked out some areas I hadn't been to before; the lower gorge, upper shipwreck, mesa verde, and the monkey face, and was not disappointed by any of them. At the lower gorge I managed to climb the amazing stemming route Pure Palm on my second attempt (note to self don't climb at the gorge in the blazing AM sun). At upper shipwreck I surprised myself with an onsight of Undertow a very fun gym-like 12b. According to my scorecard that route marks my 100th ever 5.12 or harder. Starting with my first one back in September 2005, I've climbed 52 12a's, 22 12b's, 17 12c's, 6 12d's, and 3 13a's. Pretty cool huh?

Lisa manages to climb Pure Palm without all the whining

Jimmy shows us how not to climb Smith 5.11s

Lisa making 5.13 look cool but hard

The highlight of the trip was definitely climbing Monkey Face though. I had often admired the 350ft free standing pillar before but had never gone up it. Chas who had been up via the Pioneer Route, encouraged me to go for the all-free Monkey Space route which is named for the super exposed 11a pitch which traverses out into a scary position high on the face. The first couple of 5.8 trad pitches were a lot of fun, we each took a lead. When it came time for me to go for the airy third pitch I was prepared for the worst. The holds which started out great soon turned pretty bad, but I took solace in the not-too-badly spaced bolts. The crux involves pulling over a bulge on sloping holds with awkward feet, I looked down to try to get my feet placed well, but seeing all the air below me made me a little queasy so I focused on my hand holds and managed to pull through. I guess the pitch is technically mixed, but I didn't read the description very closely so was forced to run out the 20ft flake to the mouth of the cave, since I didn't bring gear for this pitch. It was awesome! Once we were in the cave Chas tried to send me up what he was "sure" was our next pitch. I started up it, but the lack of chalk and crappy bolts led me to think this wasn't it. After checking the guidebook later, we found out the route was a sketchy 5.13 project, I'm glad I didn't get much further up it. Instead I took a look up the other side of the cave where I found a well chalked line of holds that looked a lot more like the 11b that we were supposed to go up. Although the hard climbing on this pitch only lasts for 3 bolts, it packs it in there, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't think I was going to fall. But I pulled it out, latched the victory jug and romped up the final 5.4 section to the top of the Monkey Face. Success! It was a great trip with Chas, Jimmy and Lisa, and it has me excited for upcoming Fall trips back down there now that I know what some of the other areas at Smith have to offer.

We should have read the description a little closer before heading up

The view looking up from the base of Monkey Face

Chas getting sunburned while waiting for me to follow him up pitch 2

Starting up the airy 11a pitch. Its hard to tell, but I'm actually very scared.

After the crux, holding on to a huge jug.

Chas following the 3rd pitch. This photo doesn't do the exposure justice.

Chas and I on the summit of the Monkey Face.

Propaganda

I had an amazing day of climbing today at Little Si. It was one of those days where everything just clicks, and you are so grateful that you are a climber. I knew it was going to be a good day when I made it up the hike in without getting totally out of breath and with minimal sweating. Nick was back in town, it was great to catch up with him, and feed off of his motivation. Nick was psyched to get on Propaganda, he had all the beta mapped out on a piece of paper (which he left in the car!), so after a quick warm up on Aborigine we hopped on it. On my first go I got schooled, I couldn't fathom the crux, and was pulling up on draws the whole way skipping over hard sections. Nick helped me figure out a few moves, so that on my second go I managed to come up with a way that got me through the crux. It involved a heinous fully extended double gaston move where you then had to hike your feet up and stab for another gaston. I can't believe it worked, but it did. I still struggled a lot on the rest of it, I think I probably 6 hanged it that go. After Nick had his go on it, and did considerably better than me, and I rested some more, and tried again. Somehow my crux beta worked, and I was up at the no hands rest. I was stoked to make this much progress, and I figured I better try really hard on this attempt since I might not make it up there again.

This time I climbed it much more efficiently and even figured out some better beta on the fly. Next thing I knew I was at the chains. WOW! Did that really just happen? I went from flailing all over it, to the send so quickly. Unfortunately Nick didn't get the send even though he probably deserved it more than I did, but I can tell he took a lot of pleasure from my send though. As for the grade, I don't know, but when I was working it, it felt so much harder than Gerbil Killer the 13a next to it. As an added bonus, I ran into the extremely talented and very friendly climber Jonathan Siegrest again and got to see him get the second ascent of Wide World of Fitness 14b/c!

I'm headed back to Little Si Thursday, and I've got a good vibe about it already!

Two Weeks in Tensleep

I’m back from Tensleep Wyoming, it was such a fun trip, I feel that I can’t do it justice by just writing a few paragraphs about everything we did here, but I’ll try. We took our time getting over there, stopping to climb at Post Falls Idaho and in Montana so Chas could attend a wedding. On the way over we could see the extent of the flooding that has affected large areas of the country, the raging rivers overflowing onto the floodplains were pretty incredible.

This is real America, the Tensleep (pop. 304) 4th of July rodeo



Chas on a 10b at Post Falls Idaho on the way over

In Tensleep we checked out some new, and new to us areas. Home Alone, Hound Dog Crag, Downtown, and the Godfather boulder amongst others, and to be honest we didn’t climb at an area we didn’t love. The first day there I wasn’t sure how I would do, since I hadn’t been in the kind of route shape I was hoping for. After warming up, I managed to onsight a 12a, then I sent a 12d on my second go. I wasn’t expecting such a quick send, and to be honest it didn’t feel that hard. The next day I onsighted a 12a, then tried another 12d, hoping to start a trend. This one however felt really hard. I didn’t really like the pressure of redpointing, and I could tell Laura and Chas were bored as I dangled on the rope trying to figure out moves. I decided that for the rest of the trip I would focus on onsighting easier 12’s. I loved the fight of a good onsight attempt, although I managed to pretty much onsight all the 12a’s I tried (there was one route I technically redpointed because a hold broke on me) each one of them gave me a good run for my money. I also managed to onsight a couple of 12b’s, and a 12c although I think the later was pretty easy for the grade, and got another 12c second go. In total I sent 15 5.12’s.

Laura negotiating the cruxy start of Moltar (12a)

Laura higher up on Moltar

Chas blew us away with his improvements this year. While last year he was struggling on 5.11’s here, this year he looked like a different climber cruising up 5.12’s. His training and traversing has certainly paid off, he flashed or onsighted a handful of 12a’s, redpointed his first 12b then got his first 12b flash! Laura was climbing really strong as well, she came within a couple of moves of sending a 11d/12a and looked really good toproping harder routes than she normally gets on.

Chas goes for the flash of a 12a at Home Alone

We met a lot of really friendly climbers from all over the US. In general we found that the further people had travelled to get there, the friendlier they were, although the Wyoming and Colorado climbers were also very friendly. We also got to meet a couple of the route developers, Aaron Huey and Mike Decker, both of whom were very nice to us, it was obvious they were both very passionate about Tensleep.

A patriotic American on an excellent 11d at Hound Dog Crag

Hound Dog Crag was one of my favorite areas

We were there over 4th of July Weekend, easily the busiest few days of the year there, compared to last year it was crazy. On Saturday night there was a big bonfire where about 80 climbers turned up. We talked to a ranger who estimated there were about 400 climbers that weekend, which seemed like a bit of an overestimation to me, but there were certainly a ton of climbers. The forest service are coming up with a plan for how to manage the influx of climbers there, pit toilets are needed to mitigate the effect of climbers on the environment. We did our part by leaving our campsite cleaner than when we arrived, and picked up three large black bags of trash from the main climbers parking areas on a rest day.

Laura on Cocaine Rodeo one of the best routes I've ever been on

Chas at the bottom of Cocaine Rodeo

I know that this will not be my last trip to Tensleep, there are still hundreds of routes I want to get on there, and at the pace that new routes are going up its hard to imagine running out of routes to try there. After talking to some other climbers there I’m looking forward to checking out some different climbing areas as well. Right now I’m really psyched on climbing, so if you want to get out climbing with me drop me a line, I’ll drive!

Chas on a fun challenging 10a on the Godfather boulder

Me flashing As Wicked As It Seems (12a) on our last day