A big day out

I'm back in the swing of climbing after one of my longest breaks since I started climbing. Climbing in the gym last week and hanging on a 10c was discouraging, but my fitness usually comes back quickly and I don't typically perform well in there anyway. Yesterday Chris and I hiked up to Bob's Area at Exit 38 with a plan to climb a lot. I love climbing with Chris, its always a lot of fun and we make a good team climbing really efficiently. We had managed 8 routes each by the time we took a break for lunch at noon. We finished off all the routes at the Peannacle then headed up to Slumbersome Ridge. Not all the routes we did were easy, I climbed an 11d that I had tried and failed on in the past, and I onsighted/flashed a couple of 11c's as my 17th and 18th route of the day. The hardest route I did that day though was the 10d at The Stein. It was really overgrown with moss, and I found myself dynoing between mossy ledges skipping bolts because I couldn't take a hand off to clip, luckily I sent it! We even did a few trad routes despite not bringing a rack. The final tally for the day for me was 22 routes led cleanly which surpasses my old record, only 12 of them were new to me though. Chris led 19 routes, all of his were new. I've now climbed everything at Bob's Area with the exception of an unclimbable overgrown 10b crack. I love big days out like this, it makes we want to do more. I think I could beat this record if I planned it out, but if I want to do new routes I'd have to find different crags. Its something I could see myself getting in to, there are even competitions like this that I know I would love.

A well earned homebrew in a beautiful spot. This is why I love climbing!

Day Tripping

I've been climbing a lot in the last week. I haven't gone on any big trips, rather I've been getting out on day trips with different partners who could make it out. I finally checked out a much talked about new crag South of Olympia. I was very impressed, it is a unique crag in that it is unlike any other rock type in the area. The closest thing I can equate it to is Elwah Wall up by Port Angeles. It is a 100ft tall sandstone crag with crazy water sculpted features like huge huecos, pockets and tufa's on a continuously overhanging wall. I went up there with two young psyched guys Nathan and Tom, who I look forward to climbing with again. The photos make it look pretty incredible and it is, but it also suffers from some very sandy holds, questionable bolting, and soft rock in places. Hopefully it will clean up nicely. I'm not sure about access, that's why I haven't included its name or location. The crag is still a work in progress, there is still a good amount of bolting and cleaning to do here. I heard Nathan bolted a sweet looking line the following day.

The Crag is the light colored rock behind me, the approach isn't too bad.

Phew! Its steep and long!

Lots of jugs and rests.

One of the better routes on the wall. A long pumpy 11c.

Fun tufa climbing, the one on the right is a 10c and the one on the left is 11a, but they felt about the same to me.

On Monday I hooked up with Chas and we climbed at a well known crag North of Seattle. This is another crag that has access issues, so I wont publish its name. I was very impressed with the crag, it had similar climbing to Little Si, but the rock had more texture, and was more consistent. I managed to onsight a classic 12a, but got worked on some harder 12's. I really wish this crag was closer to Olympia. Its probably still worth the 3 hour drive a few times more this summer.

Chas working the 12a.

The rock is as good as it looks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I stayed over at Chas' new place in Issaquah which is really nice. What is even nicer was the 20 minute drive from his place to the parking at Exit 38. If I had that commute I would be there every day. We climbed on the Far Side. Did some classics I'd done before, climbed some new routes not in the guide, I think only one was new to me, its so hard to keep track of climbs that I got on years ago.

The next day Austin and Chris were going back up there, so I joined them. We did some new routes, but spent most of the day flailing on an offwidth roof 12a. I had been on it years ago, and had vague recollections of thinking I should never get on it again. Chris seemed to like it though.

Austin climbing, Chris belaying. Can you name the climb?

Austin hanging on a cool (but hard) roof 12a at the Far Side of exit 38.

The following day was Chris' birthday so we got an early start and ticked off a bunch of routes in the Deception Wall area. I redpointed Stick Boy, which is probably the worst 12a I've ever done. Then we checked out the new(ish) Shakespeare Wall further up the hill which was pretty fun. We celebrated his birthday and his 100th route of the year with a few cold beers in the sun. It was a great day out.

I'm finally taking a much needed rest day after six days on. But I'm headed out this evening for a weekend trip to Banks Lake, I'm hoping I don't get burned too badly (by the routes and the sun). I'll leave you with a video of Chris throwing an Ondra-style hissy fit after falling off the 12a roof. (Warning: foul language).

Another Tieton Adventure

I spent the weekend back at Tieton with some good friends. It seems the more time I spend there the more I fall in love with that place. On Saturday I climbed some of the longer routes at Astral Wall, they are simply amazing, it feels like you are climbing forever. Starting out a route with 20 draws on your harness is a bizarre feeling, good thing the cruxes aren't low! I sent the classic of the crag - Whitewashed second go. It felt a good deal harder than the 11's, and on the onsight attempt I missed the good holds at the crux. Once I figured out the right beta it felt much easier. I gave Nick the beta and he managed the flash. We had the crag to ourselves, which was a good thing because there ended up being a dozen or so of us up there from Olympia. Everyone was blown away by the crag.

After a good bonfire that night we parted ways the next morning. Nick, Jeremy, Chris and I headed to The Chunkyard. I was a little weary of introducing them to this crag since it isn't the most aesthetic. But once they were on the routes, they were raving about it! Jeremy managed to take a 20 footer fall and flipped on the warm up, so he ended up just toproping the rest of the day. But Chris and I worked our way down the crag, and ticked all 11 routes in a day, we had so much fun. We laughed and joked the whole drive back to Olympia, it was one of the best trip I've had in a while. I'm already looking forward to the next one.

Here's some photos I stole off of my friends' facebook pages.

Nick onsighting the awesome Mars Bar (11c)

On the way to The Chunkyard

Me climbing another great route at The Chunkyard

Jeremy, Nick, Me and Chris at the end of an awesome weekend!

Broken Again

Another week has flown by, and summer feels very close now. It's set to be a beautiful weekend, but I don't think climbing is on the cards for me. Last weekend I sprained my ankle climbing at Vantage, it's not as bad a sprain as previous ones I've had this year, but its taking its time to heal. Last weekend I had made big plans to climb with Chris, who is always good fun to climb with. We were going to do two days at Vantage, including some classic trad routes, then we were going to do the super-classic Leavenworth multi-pitch Outer Space. However it didn't go as planned. On the first day of climbing I landed awkwardly after coming off a route and sprained my left ankle. I managed to get in a half dozen routes before I hurt myself, including what I'm ashamed to saw is my hardest grade of the year so far, a measly 11b. The next day I didn't want to be a party-pooper so I still got out climbing with everyone that was out there from Olympia. I managed to get up a few routes one-footed, including a tricky 10a face climb and a 5.8 trad crack, but my morale was pretty low because of my injury. I am a little concerned that because of this injury and general lack of fitness, I'm going to be starting out the summer climbing season a lot weaker than normal. But its just about having fun, right?

Esteban and Rachel have fallen in love with Vantage. They were both crushing!

 

When Laura has her helmet on you know she means business. Here she is leading a 5.8 crack, her hardest trad route yet!

Front Page News!

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.


Chris headed up the awesome Heresy

 

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.

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!

Chris starting up Moonshine Dihedral (5.9 trad)



Me on Wartley's Revenge



Another Day Another Dozen

I thought I wasn't going to get out climbing this weekend, then Josh and Chris came to the rescue and offered Laura and I a ride with them out to Vantage. The forecast was for mid-50s and cloudy, but like I say the sun always shines on Vantage, it ended up being really hot. Chris and Josh headed straight for Sunshine Wall to get their trad on. But Laura and I took the long way around to climb first at Riverview Park. I'd climbed here back in 2006 with Doug, but never made it back, maybe because I remembered something about a sketchy approach, but the way we went was fine. At Riverview Park and the areas nearby Millennium Wall, Corn Wall etc. there are probably a hundred sport routes, mostly 5.10 and 5.11, and from what we sampled yesterday, very high quality. I ended up leading 12 new (for me) routes 5.8-11b, Laura led 11 including a 10c onsight and a 10d and 11a flash! We had a blast, among my favorite routes of the day were Heel Higher Crescent (10a), Human Corn (10a) and Crescendo... (10d). Once our forearms couldn't take any more we packed up and headed up to Sunshine Wall where Chris was finishing up his last route, a 5.8 trad route, his hardest to date. It was great exploring a different part of Vantage, and riding out there with Chris and Josh, I definitely want to come back this year. I didn't take many photos of Laura and I climbing since it was mostly just the two of us, but here are a few quick snapshots.

Taking a break in the middle of the day at the base of Millennium Wall

Laura resurrects her really small old five ten climbing shoes, look at the pain on her face

Chris finishes up the day with an ascent of Party in Your Pants (5.8 trad)