Smith Rock July 2019
Smith Rock in the middle of the summer is….maybe not the best idea. The combination of climbers, tourists and solar rays were a lot to deal with. Chasing the shade was a necessity and the occasions that we got caught in the sun were very hot. Who knew there was a desert in the middle of Oregon.
It’s a good thing the climbing is world class.
This was also the first time taking Quincy to a climbing crag. The initial plan was to carry him down in my shirt as he had traveled that way before without much complaint.
Quincey was not a big fan of the tourists and off-leash dogs. On the way down we encountered some tourists with a dog and the dog owner “had” to check out Quincy. Quincy freaked out, jumped out of my shirt, and tried to get as far away from the dog as possible. We had him leashed up so he just frantically ran in circles. After this, tourists were not allowed to approach Quincy. He was so freaked out that we had to put him into his cat crate and carry him the rest of the way down.
This trip is when we discovered that he can sense the energy of a human. He rarely met a climber he didn’t like and rarely met a tourist that he did like.
We decided to go to the Rope De Dope Block our first day at Smith because of the short hike with many moderate routes. Mountain Project describes Rope De Dope as follows:
Often used by climbing schools, boy scout groups, and beginners, the Block provides easy access to a handful of fun topropes and easy leads.
And that is exactly what we found there. There was a summer camp with young kids hogging the four left-most routes on the Block most of the day and two groups of climbers with many individuals climbing outside for their first time. And then there was this guy named Brian, who apparently had more life experiences than everyone at the crag combined, and had to tell everyone about them in his very loud, outdoor speaking voice. At times I couldn’t communicate with my climber because of how loud he was. I’m not sure what was bigger, his ego or my hatred towards him. All of this added up to a major gong-show.
Regardless, we set down our gear away from the chaos, harnessed up, and found an open line to get on. I put up Sting Like a Bee, 5.10b. I would have liked to start on something easier but it was the only thing open. It was my first outdoor lead in over 6 months and my lead head was nowhere near where I wanted it to be. I was nervous as shit, didn’t trust my feet, and was over-gripping the shit out of every hold, terrified of falling. But I made it to the top, clipped the chains and relaxed a bit. Ruth and Bri TR’d the route and I cleaned it on lead to work on my lead head. The second time felt much better and I was able to climb much more relaxed.
We moved over to Low Blow, 5.10a. My nerves were gone and I was able to enjoy the route, though I was starting to get tired. Bri and I hadn’t been climbing much before this due to family vacation in Oregon and building out the van, and I was wayyyy out of sport climbing shape. When we were done with this route the summer camp was packing up and some other climbers had left.
We wanted to get on some easier routes to cool down for the day, so I put up Mini-Bender, rated 5.8 in the guidebook. I don’t know if it was our exhaustion or poor climbing technique, but it was the hardest route of the day by far. Ruth and Bri agreed. At least 5.10c in my mind. The movement was also more intricate. We were probably just tired.
We finished the day on How Low Can You Go?, 5.7. It was an excellent slabby cool down and would make a great first lead. My first impression of Smith was good rock, too hot, lousy people.
Day two was overcast so we decided to hike to the Zebra area and climb some classics. After Quincy’s freak out we just carried him around in our collapsible cat crate. There were too many tourists and dogs to hike with him on-leash. Carrying the cat crate while hiking proved to be tiresome, so I improvised a better method. Some webbing and a stick that we found made hiking around with the cat crate much easier.
We got to the Zebra Area with the intention of climbing Five Gallon Buckets, and the expectation of waiting in line due to its popularity. It was open and we hopped on it right away. As I was tying in a line started to form and it got longer and longer as the 3 of us went up it. Five Gallon Buckets was the best 5.8 I’ve ever done outdoors and was incredibly fun the whole way up.
The next logical climb was Nine Gallon Buckets, 5.10c. We had already climbed five buckets, what’s four more? Jokes aside, this climb was also great and was a heady lead for me. A V2 boulder problem at the start climbs into great jug pulling to the first set of anchors (4 bolts), followed by insecure crimps and two distinct rose move cruxes. It was a very cool climb, and helped me get used to keeping my cool while slightly pumped on smaller holds. Ruth and Bri tried the route on TR and I cleaned it after. I could have cleaned it on TR but knew that leading it again would be good training for my lead head.
It was lunch time. Depumping, resting, eating. Now it was time to get on something hard. Churning in the Wake, the most popular 5.13a in the park was just a couple routes down from Nine Gallon Buckets and had perma-draws on it! Win win. The beginning looked stiff and I stick clipped the first bolt. As I was pulling on a local walked by and thought it was necessary to tell me I was doing the beginning completely wrong and power-washer-strength sprayed me down unprompted. I hate beta sprayers.
I was able to climb to the fourth bolt clean, and made it to the 6th bolt (second to last) with some falls but was mind-bogglingly pumped and could not even clip the bolt with one hand grabbing the dogbone. At this point there were people waiting and it would have taken many minutes to depump to the point where I could give another quality effort so I lowered.
Thinking back, I wish I would have stuck it out and battled to the top. I let myself off the hook in the moment because there were people waiting in line, even though I knew in my head that I should push to the top. Next time I won’t let others dictate my agenda.
While on it, I felt solid on the moves and had no fear of falling, I was too focused on trying hard. I hadn’t been on a 13 outside in ~6 months and it felt right for the grade for me. I seem to freak myself out much more on moderate climbs that I know I should be able to do. When I get on something near my limit, I accept the fact that a fall will happen and am usually not scared of it. When I climb something that I believe I should be able to do, because of the grade attached to it, my ego seems to get in the way. It tells me I shouldn’t fall on the route, makes me overgrip when I start feeling a slight pump, leading to more and more pump. It tells me that if I fall or take on a grade I should be able to do, I’m a failure. Ego is stupid. Grades are stupid. I’ll try to keep this in mind moving forward.
After depumping and stealing beta from others climbing Churning in the Wake, I put up Light on the Path, 5.10a to cool down on. Ruth and Bri tried it on TR and then I cleaned it on TR time-trial style. It was starting to sprinkle and we were ready to be done for the day. It’s also just fun trying to clean and climb something as fast as possible.
Day 3 we woke up expecting to get out to Smith early aaaannnnnnnnd we were all exhausted. It was decided that we would take a rest day. There was lots of stretching, rolling out, reading, eating and other typical rest day activities.
Day 4 we woke up and it was HOT. The weather said partly sunny. That was bullshit. It was fully sunny. We made a plan the day prior to climb on the west side of Smith to climb in the shade. We settled on the NW Face of the Smith Rock Group. We contemplated going over Asterisk Pass or the Misery Ridge Trail to get to the west side, but settled on walking around the Southern Tip to get to our destination. Asterisk Pass was too treacherous with Quincy and Misery Ridge was too much elevation gain for our tiny climber legs so we took the long, flat way.
We got to the bridge before the river trail and all hiked alone to get to the waterfall around the Southern Tip. Bri had to take a shit at the bathroom before the bridge and I had Quincy and wanted to hike fast past the hoards of tourists, so we all went our own speed and met up at the waterfall. We then bumbled our way up to the NW Face, making countless wrong turns and even had a tourist take our guidebook into his own hands (unprompted) to “try to help us get to where we were going”, even though he had no clue where he was. It was a bit of a shit show but we got to the NW Face, finally in the shade (almost all of the hiking there was in the 85 degree sun), and set down our gear.
After a long rest, I put up Bits and Pieces Start, 5.5. Ruth and Bri both TR’d the climb and then both proceeded to lead it! It was Ruth’s first outdoor lead in many years, and Bri’s first outdoor lead ever! Both of them lead gracefully to the anchors and we were all psyched. And then the sun started creeping in…
Not wanting to die of heat exhaustion, we started our hike back around the Southern Tip to follow the shade. After a couple of minutes I realized I had left the stick clip. Fuck. I dropped my pack, ran back to get the stick clip, then ran back to where Ruth and Bri were resting. I was certain that I would throw up or pass out from the heat. Somehow we made it back to the waterfall at the Southern Tip and Ruth made us rest in the shade for ~20 minutes. I’m sure that saved our lives.
We continued on and stopped at Phoenix Buttress. We had hiked to the NW face for routes for Ruth and Bri to climb, so they encouraged me to get on something I wanted to do. The hardest route at the wall was 5.11c so I thought I’d get a quick onsight. I racked up and tied in and climbed through the first two bolts. I was right at my bolt but had a big move on insecure pockets and was not feeling very confident. I hesitated for a bit, pumped myself out, and finally said take. I was not happy with myself.
Mad at myself for taking and mad that it was on a 5.11c, I was not in a good mindset. The ego was telling me I was a failure for taking, especially on something I expected to onsight. I pulled back on the route and through the crux move — it wasn’t even very hard, and was faced with more insecure pockets and took at the next bolt. At this point I was just beating myself up about my performance on the route. Luckily, the rest of the route was an enjoyable 5.9, though I did not allow myself to enjoy it.
I knew that I shouldn’t be so hard on myself and let the grade of the climb dictate my emotions. I even said out loud, to myself, on the way down, “Don’t be so mean to my friend Jimmy”. My own personal belief of what I should be able to do prevented me from enjoying what would have been a pretty fun climb.
I cleaned the draws without even thinking about giving the climb another go. It’s okay to take sometimes. It’s okay to take on a grade you think you should feel confident on. It’s okay to get freaked out on a route, regardless of the grade. Reflecting on this experience was an — always learning — moment. About the ego, mindset, how meaningless grades are, and controlling your emotions.
Next I put up JT’s Route, 5.10b, for Ruth and Bri to climb, and it ended up being my favorite route of the whole trip. Really cool pocket pulling into a dihedral with a mild crux near the top of the route. Ruth and Bri both TR’d it and liked it as well. I cleaned it on top rope time-trial style. The route flows so well I didn’t even notice I had climbed through the crux and was at the anchors. It was a great way to end the day. The view of the Crooked River was also excellent on our hike out. We hiked a total of 9 miles that day. The last section of the hike after the bridge and up to the parking lot was very, very slow.
Our last climbing day was a short one. We were all wrecked from the day before and had a very slow morning, debating whether we would go climbing or just drive back to Seattle to drop Ruth off. It was also very hot out and we did not want to hike a lot or climb in the sun. Around noon we decided that Ruth and I would try to get a couple pitches in while Bri went to town to do some work on a side project.
We hiked in and checked out The Dihedrals, but the routes we wanted to do were still in the sun and would be for awhile. While there, I checked out To Bolt or Not to Be, 5.14a, one of my long term goal projects. It looked…..very hard and very long, but my style. Sustained, vertical, technical climbing. We also went over to The Christian Brothers but there were climbers on everything we wanted to get on and the groups would be on them awhile. Bummer. Finally we decided that we’d go back to Phoenix Buttress and tick off some of the other routes there.
We ended up climbing the two 5.10a’s on the right side of the crag. We started with Drill ’Em and Fill ’Em, and were not impressed. It was an okay route with an odd crux to boring slab pulling. Not enthused.
Then we hopped on Phoenix, which the buttress gets its name from. It was a great route. Very cool juggy holds to two distinct cruxes separated by a no-hands rest on a ledge. It was a close contender for the best route of the trip, but JT’s Route took the cake for me. I think Ruth liked Phoenix better.
Overall it was a great trip and I’m excited to come back to Smith in the fall when the weather and friction (and hopefully tourists) will be better. Bri and I will be in Smith in September and I’ll get to get my ass kicked on To Bolt or Not to Be. After Smith, Bri and I spent a day bouldering in Leavenworth, WA, and about a week sport climbing in Spearfish Canyon, SD. Stay tuned for the upcoming post on those areas. That’s all for now folks.
-TheLazyClimber
