Smith Rock: November 6-7, 2004

On Friday night Roanne, Emily and I piled into her Jetta and made the 5 hour trek down to Smith Rock.  Ryan, Andrew, and Dave were driving down in Ryan’s VW bus, and would meet us at the Grasslands campsite the next morning.  We had forgotten a map and got lost a few times on the way there, but eventually got to bed, and rose bright and early the next morning, and were on the rock by 9, looking out at the scenic Crooked River:

 

Here is a shot of Roanne in her fashionable headwear and glasses, with Ryan in the background:

 

We started on Morning Glory Wall, where we did Light on the Path (5.10a), followed by Cool Ranch Flavour, a fun 5.11a with all the business coming right at the end.  Next, Andrew and I went to work on Chain Reaction, a super classic 5.12c which graces the cover of the Smith Rock Guidebook.  I have been looking at this climb in awe ever since I first went to Smith 4 years ago, and was hoping to finally send it.  I had been on it once over the Labour Day weekend and felt pretty good on it (aside from the 85 degree temperatures), but I had taken several weeks off since then for a finger injury, so I didn’t know how strong I would feel on it.  Andrew and I each had several attempts on it the first day, feeling like we were pretty close to sending.  The next day we got on it again, I managed to send on my first go, and Andrew managed to fall off the final move 4 times in a row.

 Here are some photos of me on the route, with move-by-move commentary:

This move is  after clipping the 2nd bolt, where the real business is starting.  I am in the midst of a long move to a good pinch on the arete with a thumb catch.  My left hand is on a jug pocket.  This move is much harder if you are short, since you have to use some small and crappy edges to get to the arete.

In this shot I have caught the arete, and am high-stepping in preparation for the famous "thighmaster" move.

Here I am in the midst of the crux cross through, which isn't very hard with the proper feet and body position.

This is making the clip using a good horn on the arete, after the cross through.

After some balancy stuff using small pockets around the arete, this is higher up, making a long reach to a jug at the lip of the final rool.

The same move as above, seen from the other side.

This is me (barely) sticking the final powerful lunge from the lip of the roof up to a jug that you use to mantle up to the chains (one draw can be seen at the very top of the picture).

Here are some photos of Andrew on the route, including the heartbreaking fall at the last hard move:

 

On Saturday we also did a few other climbs, including a fun 5.10b arête called Double Trouble, which Dave and Roanne are shown climbing in the following pictures:

 

Saturday night we all went out to dinner at an Italian Restaurant in Redmond called Salish.   It was really good, highly recommended, lots of food for how much you paid.  We then headed back to the campground and played A$$hole for the rest of the night, with Emily reigning as President and Andrew occupying the position at the other end of the spectrum.

The next morning we again rose early and got a good start, warming up at Morning Glory again, this time on Gumby (5.10c), which I am shown climbing below, and Zebra Direct (5.11a).

 

Ryan continued his tradition of picking stinkin’ hard warm-ups by sending Zebra Seam (5.11d) for a warm-up, shown below:

After Chain Reaction, we went and did Ring of Fire (5.11d) and a new 5.10b to the left of it, and then finished on the classic 5.11b Vomit Launch and the fun Chicken McNuggets (5.10b).  We then got in the car and headed back to Seattle, getting in around 9:30 pm after not getting lost at all on the way home.  A great trip, and I’m sure we will be back soon.