Picture: Deer grazing in a field on the way to the Smith Rock.This post is about my return to Smith Rock. This will be my fourth trip to this climbing location but the first trip of significance in five years.
Tim and I left directly from work on the Friday and had tons of border time and stopped out first night north of Portland. Slept in the van at a 24 hours restaurant. Got up the next day at 8:30 and drove through a the Hood Mt pass with a bit of snow storm. After a minor epic putting on and taking off the chains, we headed straight to Smith Rock to open the climbing up. I was feeling pretty sore so didn't do much that was harder than Overboard which I got my first fall on.
We went to my friend Greg place and are now staying there instead of camping. The hospitality is very nice, since the nights a very cold and the WiFi is appreciated.
Greg was out for a night in the nearby town of Bend on the first night. Funny enough he was also hosting a couple other friends of his that night. We had run into them at the Zion area earlier in the day and helped then with the high first bolts so it was pretty funny to knock on the door and find them in Greg's place.
Picture: Tim and Naomi roping up to climb Wedding Day (10b) in the snow.The second day was much colder than the first with snow showers and wind. We struggled to warm up on morning glory wall. Tim put up a few routes and I repeated my old nemesis route Cool Ranch Flavour but in the style I had always wanted to do it in. Then we moved over to the Dihedrals and I put in a couple burns on Heinous Cling. First go was a two rests, the second time I took too falls before pulling the draws.
Tim's hand was sore and I was feeling like taking it easy so we packed it in. We are basically doing half days and will plan to do four days in a row with no break so that our climbing days would be in synch with Rich and Tony.
The evening we spent handing out with Greg and his girlfriend Jenny as well as his roommate Jesse. They are good people and we spent the while night save going to dinner with some other climbers with them chatting and talking about life.
Today we plan to make another slow start and meet up with Rich and Tony at the crag sometime around noon. I hope it warms up because its super cold the last few days. Tony and Rich were brewing coffee in the parking lot at Smith when we pulled in.
We made out way up to warm ups and then headed over to Aggro Gully where Tim go on his project for the trip, a climbed called the Quickening, 12c. The first session was a good exploration. Tony and Rich showed up and promptly hopped on Toxic.
Picture: Rich Wheater on Toxic, 11b.I got on a climb just up from Toxic called Up for Grabs, 11d. I climbed through the crux sequence of crimps, under-clings, and pockets to pulled up onto the upper face. I was pretty excited as this was my onsight attempt. I struggled with clipping the last bolt which seemed to break my focus. My technique started to break down as the pump in my forearms started building while getting the clip. My hands started to open so I rushed to get moving and hiked my right foot up too high and couldn't place it back into the pocket where it was formerly resting. Within seconds I found myself dangling at the end of the rope, so much for the onsight.
I hauled back up and found the sequence was pretty easy, I just missed a foot placement that would get me a bit higher so I could reach the next crimp. A series of 10 moves saw me reach the anchor.
The second time on, I was able to pull through the crux and move to the anchors for the ascent. This would be the hardest climb I've been able to do at Smith so far. Now I will have to work on the Quickening with Tim as there is nothing easier than 12c in Aggro gully that I haven't done.
Tim took another burn on the Quickening making good progress on the upper wall but missed the crux pocket pull because his fingers got stuck in the pocket. I won't be surprised if the he doesn't get it in the next couple attempts.
We finished the day down at morning glory wall with Rich and Tony. Rich and I did a climb called Tammy Baker's Face, 10c, to close out the day while the sun dropped. The finish to a good day on the rock.
