Smith Rock Trip Report, October 2008

It had been almost a month since I’d been outside… it was so strange to have my bills paid, my laundry and dishes done, and my work — well — not done, but not exploding. So, time for a trip to Smith.

About twice a year, I participate in a herd climbing trip… with a large group, including usually some newer partners, and an unclear organizational hierarchy and loose organization period. Herd trips have their ups and downs. They generally remind me of why I travel best in a smaller pack; but on the other hand, the more people, the more there is to laugh at, so what herd trips lack in peace and quiet and number of pitches, they make up for in humor.

This trip to Smith was a herd trip. Don, Teresa, Kelly and I all piled into my wagon for the trip down, meeting Kari in Tacoma. We headed out after work on Thursday, sights set on sleeping in the warm and cozy comfort of Kari’s parents’ house in Bend. Teresa “kept Kari company” for the late night part of the trip (aka, slept in the passenger seat, remarking once about go karts, if I remember the story right). Don and Kelly “kept me company” for the late night part of the trip… Don sacked out in the back seat napping, and Kelly awake but mostly silent in the passenger seat. It’s never a fun drive after work… everybody tired, including the drivers. But, we made it to Bend in good time, and settled in to our temporary home with Kari’s parents.

Friday morning brought a drive through breakfast and relatively late start into the Crooked River valley. Kari and I both had objectives for the trip: mine was to lead Helium Woman (5.9, Dihedrals area); Kari’s was to lead Hop on Pop (5.8, Peanut). We both had history with those routes… I’d admired Helium Woman for the last couple of years, watching 5.10 climber after 5.10 climber get bucked off the route. I finally got a chance to work it on a borrowed toprope earlier this year, but still felt like it would be a committing lead. Kari and I climb Hop on Pop every time we’re at Smith, but she had yet to lead it ground up. Don and I had made a tick list of the best 5.9s and 10- routes, figuring that would keep us busy for three days at least. Kari donated her Canon 35 mm to the cause, so I was again at peace with a substantial camera in my hands, though I haven’t shot film for about a decade so I’m pretty rusty. At least we got a few pictures out of it. And, as usual, the best shots (I think) are my climber-portraiture).

Even for a Friday, the frontside was busy, so we worked our way down looking for open routes we could do. Helium Woman happened to be free, as was Captain Xenolith (5.10a). I took a deep breath, and racked up draws for Helium Woman, while Kelly lead Captain Xenolith.

I lead Helium Woman, my nemesis, clean, on my first try. It was awesome. I knew the route well enough to know when I’d finished the crux moves, and let out a loud “Woot woot!” in celebration even though I usually know better and keep my mouth shut until the final draws are clipped. The lead felt great. I was confident, calm, had fun, and felt strong. I’ve gotten much stronger this season, and while I still have a lot of work to do on my “bold,” my body has gotten a lot stronger.

Captain Xenolith was hard — even Kelly had a little Elvis leg going on it and he is a local ropegun. We took turns on Helium Woman and Captain Xenolith, Kelly worked Chain Reaction (12c) for a bit, then we headed for the quieter and shadier Phoenix Buttress to finish up the relatively short first day. Don lead Phoenix (5.10a) which indeed looked like the best route on the cliff, if you could get over the height of the first bolt (I couldn’t). I was inspired by JT’s Route (5.10b) so started up it on lead thinking, “wow – this feels great, this is fun, holy cow, I’ve gotten so strong and confident…” and then WHAMO, the 5.10b section hit. I seriously didn’t think I was going to be able to get up it. I don’t know how long Kari had me on that ever-so-patient belay, but it took AWHILE. I did, ultimately, get the rope up, complete with one really heinous and scary clip… so I’m going to consider that an accomplishment. The whole time, all I could think was, “This is going to be SO much freaking fun on toprope!” and it was. The route is really sustained even on toprope, but I’d recommend it. Kari worked it like a total champ… she’s gotten super strong this year, which is super fun to watch.

Day two, Saturday, Don made breakfast at Kari’s parents, so we were all well fed for our second, also not-so-early day in the park. We met up with Alex and Victoria here and there during the day, which was great. Kari woke up with Hop on Pop on the brain, so we decided to start out at the Peanut area. Ropes went up on Snuffy Smith (5.9) (to the left of The Peanut, on the far right of 4th Horseman), Hop on Pop (5.8) and Pop Goes the Nubbin (5.10a). After a warm up on Snuffy Smith, Kari dispatched Hop on Pop like a pro. For a 5.8, it’s a heady lead — I’ve seen 10- leaders have a hard time on the start (and have stick clipped the first bolt myself most of the times I’ve lead it). Kari did a great job, and let out her own hoots of happy after getting through the crux.

From there, the guys were sick of slab, so we headed further down with the hope of getting on Wedding Day, a classic 5.10b in the Dihedrals. Don hopped on the sharp end, and did a fantastic lead of a tough, sustained 10b (remember, this is the end of his first season climbing). The whole route was sustained; the layback at the top to the chains was a real surprise. The route was tons of fun, and I appreciated the ropegunning since I was pretty tired from day one.

I think from there we headed to Combination Blocks where Don did a solid lead (with a gutsy fall) on Double Trouble (10b), another of my favorite topropes. We did Name Unknown (10a) also — I think Alex lead it, I was one of the topropers, and had a blast until I started to try to finish on Ring of Fire (5.11c/d) instead of my route, and got shut down. Oops. After the folks on the ground told me that I was trying the 11 finish, I switched back left and got back on route, which felt much better.

Kari and Teresa got on Dancer and/or Jete (I can never remember which is which) and had fun on that.

After that we headed for Morning Glory wall to get on Nine Gallon Buckets (5.9) and its extension (10c). I’d climbed the 10c pitch on toprope but haven’t lead it; mostly that night we worked the 5.9 pitch into the waning light, although Kelly did lead the 10c all the way up. The hope was to come back to the route first thing in the morning of day three, and work the 10c extension.

In between all of that, Kelly Cloud, Alex and Victoria got on Really Freaking Hard stuff. I don’t keep track anymore… I just watch with awe as they either send or take ballsy, bold falls. Someday.

After a soak in the hot tub (no kidding) and sleeping in a comfy bed (also, no kidding), I was good to go even on day three. It was awesome. We got up, packed up, and headed into the park for a short last day before heading home. Unbelievably, we walked up to Nine Gallon Buckets just as another party was wrapping up, and we all worked the route, including the 10c extension.

I still have yet to lead it, but worked out the beta for the crux again on top rope, and I might have to make that a goal for next season. After taking turns there, we met up with Alex and Vic up in Cocaine Gully, where Alex earned points with me by having a rope up on Chicken McNuggets (10b), one of the routes on my wishlist for the trip. I’d toproped it before but hadn’t done it clean; this time, I TRd it clean, so now I have to go back and lead it. It was every bit as fun, exposed, and hard as I remembered, and it’s definitely one to keep on the leading tick list.

Peter, Don and I took our turns on Chicken McNuggets, then headed to the lower gully to try to get on the 10a down there that Peter had his eye on. We just missed our chance, and couldn’t wait around, so consoled ourselves with a Five Gallon Buckets (5.8) leadfest to finish off the trip.

My minimum acceptable number of pitches in a climbing day is five… on this trip, I managed five pitches on Friday and Saturday and four on Sunday. So, it was fewer pitches than normal, but that happens when you’re with a herd, with varying levels of experience and comfort. On the other hand, we climbed harder than usual — mostly sticking to our 10- ticklist — which was awesome. Considering that my goal was to lead a 5.9, and I did that first tie-in, the rest was just frosting. Really, really good, really fun, really inspiring frosting.

Trip highlights…

1. leading Helium Woman, for sure.
2. Kari’s ascent of Hop on Pop.
3. Don’s lead of Wedding Day.
4. Vic’s lead on Chain Reaction, which I missed, but I heard it was awesome.
5. overheard at the Dihedrals after most of our party moved on… a young dude remarking to his buddy, “I didn’t know that many females were into rock climbing.”
6. sleeping in a bed, soaking in a hot tub, and eating real food most of the trip.
7. speaking of real food, discovering the fish tacos at the taco joint in Redmond (not the one with the pig on the sign; the 24-hour one with the spicy carrots… sorry, don’t know it’s name. Fish taco = best $2.30 meal I’ve ever eaten. Now I won’t bitch when Alex insists on going there.
8. Getting back on Chicken McNuggets, even if it was on toprope.
9. Watching the opening scene of the Mission Impossible II with Kari’s dad at their place after one of our climbing days.

Looking forward to the next one, already…

Filed under: Smith Rock

Smith Rock Trip Report, October 2008

It had been almost a month since I’d been outside… it was so strange to have my bills paid, my laundry and dishes done, and my work — well — not done, but not exploding. So, time for a trip to Smith.

About twice a year, I participate in a herd climbing trip… with a large group, including usually some newer partners, and an unclear organizational hierarchy and loose organization period. Herd trips have their ups and downs. They generally remind me of why I travel best in a smaller pack; but on the other hand, the more people, the more there is to laugh at, so what herd trips lack in peace and quiet and number of pitches, they make up for in humor.

This trip to Smith was a herd trip. Don, Teresa, Kelly and I all piled into my wagon for the trip down, meeting Kari in Tacoma. We headed out after work on Thursday, sights set on sleeping in the warm and cozy comfort of Kari’s parents’ house in Bend. Teresa “kept Kari company” for the late night part of the trip (aka, slept in the passenger seat, remarking once about go karts, if I remember the story right). Don and Kelly “kept me company” for the late night part of the trip… Don sacked out in the back seat napping, and Kelly awake but mostly silent in the passenger seat. It’s never a fun drive after work… everybody tired, including the drivers. But, we made it to Bend in good time, and settled in to our temporary home with Kari’s parents.

Friday morning brought a drive through breakfast and relatively late start into the Crooked River valley. Kari and I both had objectives for the trip: mine was to lead Helium Woman (5.9, Dihedrals area); Kari’s was to lead Hop on Pop (5.8, Peanut). We both had history with those routes… I’d admired Helium Woman for the last couple of years, watching 5.10 climber after 5.10 climber get bucked off the route. I finally got a chance to work it on a borrowed toprope earlier this year, but still felt like it would be a committing lead. Kari and I climb Hop on Pop every time we’re at Smith, but she had yet to lead it ground up. Don and I had made a tick list of the best 5.9s and 10- routes, figuring that would keep us busy for three days at least. Kari donated her Canon 35 mm to the cause, so I was again at peace with a substantial camera in my hands, though I haven’t shot film for about a decade so I’m pretty rusty. At least we got a few pictures out of it. And, as usual, the best shots (I think) are my climber-portraiture).

Even for a Friday, the frontside was busy, so we worked our way down looking for open routes we could do. Helium Woman happened to be free, as was Captain Xenolith (5.10a). I took a deep breath, and racked up draws for Helium Woman, while Kelly lead Captain Xenolith.

I lead Helium Woman, my nemesis, clean, on my first try. It was awesome. I knew the route well enough to know when I’d finished the crux moves, and let out a loud “Woot woot!” in celebration even though I usually know better and keep my mouth shut until the final draws are clipped. The lead felt great. I was confident, calm, had fun, and felt strong. I’ve gotten much stronger this season, and while I still have a lot of work to do on my “bold,” my body has gotten a lot stronger.

Captain Xenolith was hard — even Kelly had a little Elvis leg going on it and he is a local ropegun. We took turns on Helium Woman and Captain Xenolith, Kelly worked Chain Reaction (12c) for a bit, then we headed for the quieter and shadier Phoenix Buttress to finish up the relatively short first day. Don lead Phoenix (5.10a) which indeed looked like the best route on the cliff, if you could get over the height of the first bolt (I couldn’t). I was inspired by JT’s Route (5.10b) so started up it on lead thinking, “wow – this feels great, this is fun, holy cow, I’ve gotten so strong and confident…” and then WHAMO, the 5.10b section hit. I seriously didn’t think I was going to be able to get up it. I don’t know how long Kari had me on that ever-so-patient belay, but it took AWHILE. I did, ultimately, get the rope up, complete with one really heinous and scary clip… so I’m going to consider that an accomplishment. The whole time, all I could think was, “This is going to be SO much freaking fun on toprope!” and it was. The route is really sustained even on toprope, but I’d recommend it. Kari worked it like a total champ… she’s gotten super strong this year, which is super fun to watch.

Day two, Saturday, Don made breakfast at Kari’s parents, so we were all well fed for our second, also not-so-early day in the park. We met up with Alex and Victoria here and there during the day, which was great. Kari woke up with Hop on Pop on the brain, so we decided to start out at the Peanut area. Ropes went up on Snuffy Smith (5.9) (to the left of The Peanut, on the far right of 4th Horseman), Hop on Pop (5.8) and Pop Goes the Nubbin (5.10a). After a warm up on Snuffy Smith, Kari dispatched Hop on Pop like a pro. For a 5.8, it’s a heady lead — I’ve seen 10- leaders have a hard time on the start (and have stick clipped the first bolt myself most of the times I’ve lead it). Kari did a great job, and let out her own hoots of happy after getting through the crux.

From there, the guys were sick of slab, so we headed further down with the hope of getting on Wedding Day, a classic 5.10b in the Dihedrals. Don hopped on the sharp end, and did a fantastic lead of a tough, sustained 10b (remember, this is the end of his first season climbing). The whole route was sustained; the layback at the top to the chains was a real surprise. The route was tons of fun, and I appreciated the ropegunning since I was pretty tired from day one.

I think from there we headed to Combination Blocks where Don did a solid lead (with a gutsy fall) on Double Trouble (10b), another of my favorite topropes. We did Name Unknown (10a) also — I think Alex lead it, I was one of the topropers, and had a blast until I started to try to finish on Ring of Fire (5.11c/d) instead of my route, and got shut down. Oops. After the folks on the ground told me that I was trying the 11 finish, I switched back left and got back on route, which felt much better.

Kari and Teresa got on Dancer and/or Jete (I can never remember which is which) and had fun on that.

After that we headed for Morning Glory wall to get on Nine Gallon Buckets (5.9) and its extension (10c). I’d climbed the 10c pitch on toprope but haven’t lead it; mostly that night we worked the 5.9 pitch into the waning light, although Kelly did lead the 10c all the way up. The hope was to come back to the route first thing in the morning of day three, and work the 10c extension.

In between all of that, Kelly Cloud, Alex and Victoria got on Really Freaking Hard stuff. I don’t keep track anymore… I just watch with awe as they either send or take ballsy, bold falls. Someday.

After a soak in the hot tub (no kidding) and sleeping in a comfy bed (also, no kidding), I was good to go even on day three. It was awesome. We got up, packed up, and headed into the park for a short last day before heading home. Unbelievably, we walked up to Nine Gallon Buckets just as another party was wrapping up, and we all worked the route, including the 10c extension.

I still have yet to lead it, but worked out the beta for the crux again on top rope, and I might have to make that a goal for next season. After taking turns there, we met up with Alex and Vic up in Cocaine Gully, where Alex earned points with me by having a rope up on Chicken McNuggets (10b), one of the routes on my wishlist for the trip. I’d toproped it before but hadn’t done it clean; this time, I TRd it clean, so now I have to go back and lead it. It was every bit as fun, exposed, and hard as I remembered, and it’s definitely one to keep on the leading tick list.

Peter, Don and I took our turns on Chicken McNuggets, then headed to the lower gully to try to get on the 10a down there that Peter had his eye on. We just missed our chance, and couldn’t wait around, so consoled ourselves with a Five Gallon Buckets (5.8) leadfest to finish off the trip.

My minimum acceptable number of pitches in a climbing day is five… on this trip, I managed five pitches on Friday and Saturday and four on Sunday. So, it was fewer pitches than normal, but that happens when you’re with a herd, with varying levels of experience and comfort. On the other hand, we climbed harder than usual — mostly sticking to our 10- ticklist — which was awesome. Considering that my goal was to lead a 5.9, and I did that first tie-in, the rest was just frosting. Really, really good, really fun, really inspiring frosting.

Trip highlights…

1. leading Helium Woman, for sure.
2. Kari’s ascent of Hop on Pop.
3. Don’s lead of Wedding Day.
4. Vic’s lead on Chain Reaction, which I missed, but I heard it was awesome.
5. overheard at the Dihedrals after most of our party moved on… a young dude remarking to his buddy, “I didn’t know that many females were into rock climbing.”
6. sleeping in a bed, soaking in a hot tub, and eating real food most of the trip.
7. speaking of real food, discovering the fish tacos at the taco joint in Redmond (not the one with the pig on the sign; the 24-hour one with the spicy carrots… sorry, don’t know it’s name. Fish taco = best $2.30 meal I’ve ever eaten. Now I won’t bitch when Alex insists on going there.
8. Getting back on Chicken McNuggets, even if it was on toprope.
9. Watching the opening scene of the Mission Impossible II with Kari’s dad at their place after one of our climbing days.

Looking forward to the next one, already…

Filed under: Smith Rock

Beautiful Girls: Smith Rock, April 2008 Trip Report

We got home at about 2:30am from our latest long weekend, and I’m a little groggy but wanted to get the trip report up before I get back to real life. We had the pleasures of taking Friday off, allowing a Thursday night departure, and sharing my VW Jetta wagon (read, a very small stationwagon) with Kelly, Shawn, and Amy “Ropegun”. Erin “Beta Bird” was on the road ahead of us along with most of our climbing gear so that we could actually sit five in the wagon, and Alex, Katie and Vic came down on Friday night. Sorry — too tired to come up with new nicknames for the oldtimers.

Mark and Amber came down too, but we were on different schedules/route plans, so didn’t actually get to climb with them which was a bit of a bummer. And, Jason, Rhi and Rhi’s daughter and a friend were out too, but were also doing their own thing most of the time.

I thought I’d take the time to do this all in one (report and pictures) with an emphasis on the facts as I remember them… commentary and feelings will follow in later posts once I get some sleep.

Here’s the link to the full photo album. Holy crap, I climb with beautiful women…

Chris got some good shots too, so I am pleased to have a few more pictures of me climbing. Sorry to the men this time around… we were split off from the strongmen much of the weekend, so could see them from afar but without a telphoto lens they just looked like little ants on big rocks. Chris and the rest of the boys got short shrift too; I did get some good shots of Chris leading Five Gallon Buckets on Morning Glory Wall, and the guys were off doing other things. Katie, Vic and Rhi fall into the beautiful girls category for sure, but I missed opportunities to get Katie climbing, and missed my chance for portraits of Rhi and Vic. I I’ll try to do better at spreading the photographic love around the next trip…

Thursday, April 10
The trip down was cozy, but pretty smooth. We rolled in to the park about midnight (I think) and crashed out at the bivouac area at the park in the area that’s come to be one of my favorite places to wake up — looking out over the rim toward the Crooked River valley, with a view of the whole front side of the climbing area and the Smith Rock formation.

Friday, April 11
After some shut eye, we got up and headed down for an unusually quiet Friday of climbing. The party split up… Shawn and Kelly started out on Zebra/Zion, a stunning three-pitch 5.10- on Morning Glory Wall, Zion area. As jealous as I was, my goal for this weekend was to lead, so Zebra/Zion will remain on my tick list. Amy, Chris, Erin and I started out on a remarkably quiet Morning Glory wall. I lead Five Gallon Buckets (5.8) and Amy lead the Outsiders (5.9), both really fun romps up huecos galore… we had the luxury of playing on the routes for some time, without other folks lining up behind us.

Now, if that photo doesn’t make you want to subscribe to my blog, male or female, there’s just something wrong with you.

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I anchored in at the top of Outsiders to take some shots of Erin and Chris on lead on Five Gallon. My route plan for the weekend included a long list of 5.7s and 5.8s, so I was pretty excited that our crew were stronger leaders than I’d anticipated, right out of the gate.

From there, we headed down to the Peanut and Combination Blocks areas. Amy did a fantastic (gutsy) ropegun on Pop Goes the Nubbin (5.10a) at the Peanut, a route I have always wanted to try but I don’t think we’d done before. The route was SUPER fun, and her lead was impressive.

I put the rope up on Snuffy Smith (also SUPER fun, at 5.9) and we had a great time taking turn on topropes on the routes. This shot (below) is of me on Snuffy Smith. Apparently that’s my angle… I am so pleased that I (for once) don’t look like a sausage, and if you zoom in close, you can even see my climbergirl back. Woot woot!

The middle of the day is rather fuzzy — from the heat, lack of enough water and food, and the exertion, I wound up with a migraine, but most of us were ready for a siesta in the shade anyway so it worked out okay. Shawn climbed something with Amy that sounded cool (I don’t remember what) while the rest of us snoozed under a rock and caught up on snacks and water and waited for my Imitrex to kick in.

We met up with Shawn and Amy after the siesta; then Shawn lead one of my favorite projects, Double Trouble (10b) at Combination Blocks, and I think I toproped it clean so now I have to add it to my someday-will-lead list; this pic is me on the big lean out to the top block off the happy ledge. It was super fantastic. Shawn then lead Toy Blocks (10a) with the full traverse to the Hesitation Blues anchor and I got to follow and clean the gear on that. I’d say that particular climb played to Shawn “Forearms” Campbell’s strengths; it was incredibly fun, and strenuous.

I didn’t think I was going to be able to hold on by the end of the traverse… talk about pumpy. Kari was on Dancer (5.7, Combination Blocks) (well lead!) and I think some of the party did Dancer or Jete to round out the evening but I was absorbed in Double Trouble and Toy Blocks so missed the crew’s other accomplishments.

Next up was a trip to Churning in the Wake, 5.13a, Churning Buttress on Morning Glory Wall for a few burns for Kelly. He’s making progress, and picked up some additional beta. He worked the climb on Friday and Sunday, both times at the end of the day. I’m thinking he’s close, especially if he gets in a good warm up and picks the right time of day for the attempt. We also ran into friends Mo and Bree who are smart enough to live where Smith is their “local crag.”

The pulling by hardmen gave me a chance to start on my impromptu beautiful climber girl portraiture project… first victim, Kari, who was very patient until she could take no more shutter clicking.

I took a bunch of shots all in a row, with different Kari-expressions and smiles… when I look through them I can’t help smiling to myself. Kari, my dear, you have a fantastic smile! I miss you terribly, and am so glad that at the very least we get some weekends together.

Dinner was a trip to Terrebonne Depot. Sure, their prices aren’t exactly dirtbag-climber, but once in awhile a nice dinner after a full day of climbing can’t be beat. We had a great dinner, good beer (apparently my beer of choice is a good Porter — the Monkey Face Porter by Cascade Lakes Brewing Company hit the spot), and returned to camp re-hydrated, exhausted and happy.

Saturday, April 12
After a good night’s sleep, Shawn, Kelly, Alex, Katie and Vic headed to the Lower Gorge where they eventually ran into Jason, Rhi and the kids. Erin, Amy, Chris, Kari and I had more moderate goals for the day, so we headed to Northern Point for some gear leading practice. When we rolled into the crag there was a friendly group of local guys there, who asked Chris how the heck he ended up with such a hot harem of climber girls. Chris was modest, as usual. When I started racking up a trad rack for my first gear lead of the day, the guys just about passed out over Chris’s good fortune.

I did my first 5.7 gear lead (I think) on Jersey Shore, which was SUPER fun and a great confidence builder. Erin lead it also, and I think Kari, Chris and Amy all toproped it — some of them a few times, since Amy was practicing placing gear on TR and Chris climbed to give feedback on placements. I think Erin did the first lead on Lean Cuisine, a 5.6 gear route with a cruxy roof; her gear placements were solid, and she did a great job. I lead it next and was shocked at how hard that “5.6 roof” was to figure out how to pull around; I placed two relatively good pieces under the roof (a red Camalot and a similarly sized Rock Empire) (although I did sling them too long; still really trying to learn how to sling pro properly) and I had some good pro below, but having never weighted my own pro off the ground I was still pretty sketched at making a committing move over the little roof to bad feet. I did the typical Sara thing and climbed up to the move and then downclimbed when I got sketched about five times, burning up just about all of my energy. On attempt number I’ve-lost-count, I wasn’t sure I could make the move and almost took a fall on my gear but was able to downclimb partway so that I could gently take on my gear. Chris did a perfect job on belay, and I actually weighted my gear and it held. I had him lower me to good feet (but not all the way down) and I had a little meltdown but recovered quickly … I was safe for the moment, I knew I could do the move (I’d done it on TR the last time we visited Northern Point) and I’d just weighted my gear and it held, so I had a little talk with myself and then got back on the route, pulled over the roof, and finished the route. It was the first time I’ve ever been able to pull myself together from one of those fear-induced meltdowns and actually finish the lead, so even though it wasn’t attractive to bystanders, I felt like the whole thing was a huge accomplishment.

I moved the rope over to Thumper, a 5.8 that had caught my eye immediately when we got to the Point, for topropes by everybody. It was unanimously a fantastic little climb — we all had great fun on it. It definitely played to my strengths; I actually felt like I could have lead it even on gear, so will go back to it for sure. It’s got everything I love… jammy liebacky goodness.

After that, we were going to go out to Student Wall but decided to meet the rest of our party at Lower Gorge instead. The Lower Gorge approach was a bit of a scramble, but well worth it — the climbing area was right on the river, felt secluded despite the company of some other parties, and the climbing was awe-inspiring.

I got in a few more climber girl portraits, of Katie (above) and Amy (to the left).

While I was wandering a route caught my eye… it was jaw-droppingly inspiring. I just looked up, and there it was, in all of its inspiring glory, and I fell instantly in love-at-first-sight with it. The route turned out to be Cornercopia, 5.10b, a route that Shawn had told me about the day before, with a bouldery first few moves to a bolt, followed by stems and jams way up on fantastic Basalt. Sometimes the universe smiles on a climber girl… Jason started racking up and I watched him expectantly… Cornercopia was his destination (YES!). So, I got to clean it for him and it lived up to my expectations and then some. I popped off the start once or twice, but then figured out a sequence that would work for me and from there had a great climb. I did have to take a couple of times to clean gear (should have just unclipped and climbed on lower, but didn’t think of that until just now). Amy and Erin both did a great job on it, too. I’ll be back, for sure.

Shawn lead Pure Palm, a four-star 11a just to the right (Shawn – do I have this right?), which is an unlikely sequence of palming moves and presses … I didn’t see an actual hold on the entire route. The lead was impressive to watch, but difficult to photograph without getting the ever-frequent Shawn’s-butt view. At least this trip Shawn’s butt earned its own nickname, so I guess it’s only fair that it make an appearance in each photo album.

After the scramble out (which wasn’t as bad as the scramble in) we met Jason and Rhi at their camp at Skulls Hollow/the Grasslands and ate dinner and visited until Amy was zonked and almost fell asleep in the car waiting for us to wrap up the visiting.

Sunday, April 13
After a not-so-great night’s sleep, Amy and I were up early and had a nice breakfast sitting out on the rim by camp. The day’s destination was the West Side area, to escape the crowds and the sun. Katie and Alex did Zebra/Zion and then walked off down to Mesa Verde. Shawn, Kelly, Vic and Erin went through Asterik Pass, then sampled the Mesa Verde wall among a surprisingly large number of other climbers. Amy, Chris and I wanted to start out a bit more slowly, so we did the walk around the Smith Rock formation to the back side and started out morning at Spiderman Buttress. There was another party on Spiderman, the three-pitch 5.7 trad route that gives the Buttress its name. I had hoped to do that route, but after Saturday’s 5.6 roof experience I was a little nervous to try a 5.7 roof on gear, and Amy was happy staying lower to the ground so we kept things to single pitches.

Amy and I took turns leading the 5.7 bolted slab up to the anchors on the first pitch of Spiderman. Chris photographed, and Amy and I both had fun on the route.

Chris cleaned, while I scouted out other options. Our last trip up, I had checked out In Harm’s Way (5.7) and Out of Harm’s Way) but they are mixed routes — gear is required for the first half or so up a 5.7 flake to a ledge, then a ramp to another ledge. The 5.7 (In Harm’s Way) goes up from the second ledge on a sequency, traversy, knobby face route up four bolts to the top. The 5.8 (Out of Harm’s Way) goes up from the first ledge on a slightly steeper knobby face route past some bolts (didn’t count how many). I ruled the route out on our last visit because I had only lead up to about 5.6 on gear, and wasn’t sure about taking on that particular 5.7 flake yet.

This time, I took some time to read the route while Amy belayed Chris on the slab route, and did some analysis. The pro on the flake did not look ideal… there’s a lot of loose crap in the flake, and the rock quality is not great. From the ground I could see there would be some marginal-to-good nut placements behind the flake, and I judged the higher, lieback section of the flake as about a red Camalot size, where it looked like I may have to make a blind placement to protect the mantle move onto the top of the first ledge. The ramp up from there looked easy, and once on top of the second ledge I knew I’d have a bolt to clip. All in all, the route looked do-able, so I racked up, lined Chris up to belay, and set to work. Sure enough, the route was spicy right about where I thought it would be — and, I did have to make a blind red Camalot placement behind the flake, which I backed up with an additional Rock Empire cam once I could see into the crack. I ran it out a bit since the ramp was easy and I didn’t see good pro and was in a little bit of a hurry to get that first shiny metal bolt clipped. The first bolt was a few moves off the ledge, so I moved up and clipped a quickdraw and clipped in; then moved out right to traverse to the second bolt forgetting my plan to extend the first draw with a long sling to reduce rope drag. (My hands are sweating while I type). After clipping the second bolt with a quickdraw, the rope drag was so bad that pulling the rope took serious effort and the pull on me was noticeable. I figured, with two bolts clipped in I would be safe to take a fall, so forged on, pulling hard on the rope to make the clips and finished the knobby face to the top anchors feeling really accomplished. I was proud of reading the route, assessing my skill level, coming up with a plan, and then (mostly) sticking to it. I made some mistakes, but the risks were calculated, and the whole thing was a really good learning experience. Amy followed and did the 5.7 then followed it by lowering to the first ledge and climbing the 5.8 finish. Chris did the 5.7 and enjoyed it greatly, and then I did the 5.8 on TR to clean the anchor. We all had a lot of fun on the route.

Packed up, then met everybody else over at Mesa Verde Wall. Erin and Vic had been taking turns on lead on, I think, Sundown (5.9). Vic lead Cosmos (10a) and us girls had a blast on it, although I could feel I was getting REALLY tired and the top — which I don’t remember having a problem with the last time I did it — took me a few tries. Shawn and Kelly did moderate classics and hard stuff, along with a scramble by Shawn to free a stuck two-rope rappel setup after Tale of Two Sh*tties (10a) (I think – may have the route identification wrong).

The day was getting hot, and the sun had come around to the West side, so Chris, Erin, Amy and I all headed back around on the trail and met Kelly, Alex, Katie, Shawn and Victoria just as they got to the main trail after coming over Asterik Pass. It was late in the day, but Erin had her eye on a lead on Outsiders to round out the trip, and Kelly had a hankering for another Churn. So, we headed to Morning Glory wall for a last stop. Erin and Amy jockeyed with another party to get on Outsiders, and Kelly hit Churning again. Shawn, never one to sit around when he could be climbing, harnessed up for Nine Gallon Buckets, a 5.9 pitch with a bouldery crux start followed by a fun cruise up enormous huecos to the original anchors, followed by a 10c sequence of underclings, sidepulls and footwork, to a 5.8 honeycomb finish where the problem isn’t finding holds, the problem is choosing a hold from the gazillion options. I wanted to try the whole route, but wasn’t sure I could do the 10c section, so we had cleaners lined up. I did pop off the start once or twice (thank you for the spot, Mr. Campbell) but once on the route, the huecos were super fun. I hit the 10c crux and didn’t read the sequence well (plus, was pumped) so fell trying to get out to the left-hand sidepull. It took a try or two, but I figured out the sequence and then I think popped off just after the crux because of fatigue, and then finished up the route. Katie climbed it like a pro… she gave me footwork ideas for the crux, and everyone indulged me getting back on it (thanks, guys). My second try, I got a good rest before going into the crux, and pulled the crux but popped right after it (I think – can’t remember for sure, so correct me if that’s wrong!). I felt like I had one more burn in me, but in retrospect I didn’t (I’m exhausted) and the sun was starting to duck behind the rocks. Amy did a great job on the route on TR, and then Alex cleaned while us slow hikers got a start on the walk out to the car.

A quiet evening at Overboard was a perfect way to end another perfect weekend. A short way into the long drive home I realized I was the only one who didn’t have to get up for responsibilities in the morning (I’d scheduled a quiet day in my home office) so put in a long series of CDs I could sing to, to keep myself awake, and cruised toward home. Home safe a bit after 2am, slept until Kelly (who crashed at our place to be closer to work) got up at 6:30; then slept until Chris called from the office at 10am to see if I had court today.

So – it’s about time for a shower and a nap. Thanks, as always, to our beloved climbing friends for another treasured weekend. Here’s a repeat for the
link to the photo album for your viewing pleasure… until the next time!

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Filed under: Amazing Women, Climbing, Climbing Photos, Friends, Rock Climbing, Smith Rock, Trip Reports

Beautiful Girls: Smith Rock, April 2008 Trip Report

We got home at about 2:30am from our latest long weekend, and I’m a little groggy but wanted to get the trip report up before I get back to real life. We had the pleasures of taking Friday off, allowing a Thursday night departure, and sharing my VW Jetta wagon (read, a very small stationwagon) with Kelly, Shawn, and Amy “Ropegun”. Erin “Beta Bird” was on the road ahead of us along with most of our climbing gear so that we could actually sit five in the wagon, and Alex, Katie and Vic came down on Friday night. Sorry — too tired to come up with new nicknames for the oldtimers.

Mark and Amber came down too, but we were on different schedules/route plans, so didn’t actually get to climb with them which was a bit of a bummer. And, Jason, Rhi and Rhi’s daughter and a friend were out too, but were also doing their own thing most of the time.

I thought I’d take the time to do this all in one (report and pictures) with an emphasis on the facts as I remember them… commentary and feelings will follow in later posts once I get some sleep.

Here’s the link to the full photo album. Holy crap, I climb with beautiful women…

Chris got some good shots too, so I am pleased to have a few more pictures of me climbing. Sorry to the men this time around… we were split off from the strongmen much of the weekend, so could see them from afar but without a telphoto lens they just looked like little ants on big rocks. Chris and the rest of the boys got short shrift too; I did get some good shots of Chris leading Five Gallon Buckets on Morning Glory Wall, and the guys were off doing other things. Katie, Vic and Rhi fall into the beautiful girls category for sure, but I missed opportunities to get Katie climbing, and missed my chance for portraits of Rhi and Vic. I’ll try to do better at spreading the photographic love around the next trip…

Thursday, April 10
The trip down was cozy, but pretty smooth. We rolled in to the park about midnight (I think) and crashed out at the bivouac area at the park in the area that’s come to be one of my favorite places to wake up — looking out over the rim toward the Crooked River valley, with a view of the whole front side of the climbing area and the Smith Rock formation.

Friday, April 11
After some shut eye, we got up and headed down for an unusually quiet Friday of climbing. The party split up… Shawn and Kelly started out on Zebra/Zion, a stunning three-pitch 5.10- on Morning Glory Wall, Zion area. As jealous as I was, my goal for this weekend was to lead, so Zebra/Zion will remain on my tick list. Amy, Chris, Erin and I started out on a remarkably quiet Morning Glory wall. I lead Five Gallon Buckets (5.8) and Amy lead the Outsiders (5.9), both really fun romps up huecos galore… we had the luxury of playing on the routes for some time, without other folks lining up behind us.

Now, if that photo doesn’t make you want to subscribe to my blog, male or female, there’s just something wrong with you.

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I anchored in at the top of Outsiders to take some shots of Erin and Chris on lead on Five Gallon. My route plan for the weekend included a long list of 5.7s and 5.8s, so I was pretty excited that our crew were stronger leaders than I’d anticipated, right out of the gate.

From there, we headed down to the Peanut and Combination Blocks areas. Amy did a fantastic (gutsy) ropegun on Pop Goes the Nubbin (5.10a) at the Peanut, a route I have always wanted to try but I don’t think we’d done before. The route was SUPER fun, and her lead was impressive.

I put the rope up on Snuffy Smith (also SUPER fun, at 5.9) and we had a great time taking turn on topropes on the routes. This shot (below) is of me on Snuffy Smith. Apparently that’s my angle… I am so pleased that I (for once) don’t look like a sausage, and if you zoom in close, you can even see my climbergirl back. Woot woot!

The middle of the day is rather fuzzy — from the heat, lack of enough water and food, and the exertion, I wound up with a migraine, but most of us were ready for a siesta in the shade anyway so it worked out okay. Shawn climbed something with Amy that sounded cool (I don’t remember what) while the rest of us snoozed under a rock and caught up on snacks and water and waited for my Imitrex to kick in.

We met up with Shawn and Amy after the siesta; then Shawn lead one of my favorite projects, Double Trouble (10b) at Combination Blocks, and I think I toproped it clean so now I have to add it to my someday-will-lead list; this pic is me on the big lean out to the top block off the happy ledge. It was super fantastic. Shawn then lead Toy Blocks (10a) with the full traverse to the Hesitation Blues anchor and I got to follow and clean the gear on that. I’d say that particular climb played to Shawn “Forearms” Campbell’s strengths; it was incredibly fun, and strenuous.

I didn’t think I was going to be able to hold on by the end of the traverse… talk about pumpy. Kari was on Dancer (5.7, Combination Blocks) (well lead!) and I think some of the party did Dancer or Jete to round out the evening but I was absorbed in Double Trouble and Toy Blocks so missed the crew’s other accomplishments.

Next up was a trip to Churning in the Wake, 5.13a, Churning Buttress on Morning Glory Wall for a few burns for Kelly. He’s making progress, and picked up some additional beta. He worked the climb on Friday and Sunday, both times at the end of the day. I’m thinking he’s close, especially if he gets in a good warm up and picks the right time of day for the attempt. We also ran into friends Mo and Bree who are smart enough to live where Smith is their “local crag.”

The pulling by hardmen gave me a chance to start on my impromptu beautiful climber girl portraiture project… first victim, Kari, who was very patient until she could take no more shutter clicking.

I took a bunch of shots all in a row, with different Kari-expressions and smiles… when I look through them I can’t help smiling to myself. Kari, my dear, you have a fantastic smile! I miss you terribly, and am so glad that at the very least we get some weekends together.

Dinner was a trip to Terrebonne Depot. Sure, their prices aren’t exactly dirtbag-climber, but once in awhile a nice dinner after a full day of climbing can’t be beat. We had a great dinner, good beer (apparently my beer of choice is a good Porter — the Monkey Face Porter by Cascade Lakes Brewing Company hit the spot), and returned to camp re-hydrated, exhausted and happy.

Saturday, April 12
After a good night’s sleep, Shawn, Kelly, Alex, Katie and Vic headed to the Lower Gorge where they eventually ran into Jason, Rhi and the kids. Erin, Amy, Chris, Kari and I had more moderate goals for the day, so we headed to Northern Point for some gear leading practice. When we rolled into the crag there was a friendly group of local guys there, who asked Chris how the heck he ended up with such a hot harem of climber girls. Chris was modest, as usual. When I started racking up a trad rack for my first gear lead of the day, the guys just about passed out over Chris’s good fortune.

I did my first 5.7 gear lead (I think) on Jersey Shore, which was SUPER fun and a great confidence builder. Erin lead it also, and I think Kari, Chris and Amy all toproped it — some of them a few times, since Amy was practicing placing gear on TR and Chris climbed to give feedback on placements. I think Erin did the first lead on Lean Cuisine, a 5.6 gear route with a cruxy roof; her gear placements were solid, and she did a great job. I lead it next and was shocked at how hard that “5.6 roof” was to figure out how to pull around; I placed two relatively good pieces under the roof (a red Camalot and a similarly sized Rock Empire) (although I did sling them too long; still really trying to learn how to sling pro properly) and I had some good pro below, but having never weighted my own pro off the ground I was still pretty sketched at making a committing move over the little roof to bad feet. I did the typical Sara thing and climbed up to the move and then downclimbed when I got sketched about five times, burning up just about all of my energy. On attempt number I’ve-lost-count, I wasn’t sure I could make the move and almost took a fall on my gear but was able to downclimb partway so that I could gently take on my gear. Chris did a perfect job on belay, and I actually weighted my gear and it held. I had him lower me to good feet (but not all the way down) and I had a little meltdown but recovered quickly … I was safe for the moment, I knew I could do the move (I’d done it on TR the last time we visited Northern Point) and I’d just weighted my gear and it held, so I had a little talk with myself and then got back on the route, pulled over the roof, and finished the route. It was the first time I’ve ever been able to pull myself together from one of those fear-induced meltdowns and actually finish the lead, so even though it wasn’t attractive to bystanders, I felt like the whole thing was a huge accomplishment.

I moved the rope over to Thumper, a 5.8 that had caught my eye immediately when we got to the Point, for topropes by everybody. It was unanimously a fantastic little climb — we all had great fun on it. It definitely played to my strengths; I actually felt like I could have lead it even on gear, so will go back to it for sure. It’s got everything I love… jammy liebacky goodness.

After that, we were going to go out to Student Wall but decided to meet the rest of our party at Lower Gorge instead. The Lower Gorge approach was a bit of a scramble, but well worth it — the climbing area was right on the river, felt secluded despite the company of some other parties, and the climbing was awe-inspiring.

I got in a few more climber girl portraits, of Katie (above) and Amy (to the left).

While I was wandering a route caught my eye… it was jaw-droppingly inspiring. I just looked up, and there it was, in all of its inspiring glory, and I fell instantly in love-at-first-sight with it. The route turned out to be Cornercopia, 5.10b, a route that Shawn had told me about the day before, with a bouldery first few moves to a bolt, followed by stems and jams way up on fantastic Basalt. Sometimes the universe smiles on a climber girl… Jason started racking up and I watched him expectantly… Cornercopia was his destination (YES!). So, I got to clean it for him and it lived up to my expectations and then some. I popped off the start once or twice, but then figured out a sequence that would work for me and from there had a great climb. I did have to take a couple of times to clean gear (should have just unclipped and climbed on lower, but didn’t think of that until just now). Amy and Erin both did a great job on it, too. I’ll be back, for sure.

Shawn lead Pure Palm, a four-star 11a just to the right (Shawn – do I have this right?), which is an unlikely sequence of palming moves and presses … I didn’t see an actual hold on the entire route. The lead was impressive to watch, but difficult to photograph without getting the ever-frequent Shawn’s-butt view. At least this trip Shawn’s butt earned its own nickname, so I guess it’s only fair that it make an appearance in each photo album.

After the scramble out (which wasn’t as bad as the scramble in) we met Jason and Rhi at their camp at Skulls Hollow/the Grasslands and ate dinner and visited until Amy was zonked and almost fell asleep in the car waiting for us to wrap up the visiting.

Sunday, April 13
After a not-so-great night’s sleep, Amy and I were up early and had a nice breakfast sitting out on the rim by camp. The day’s destination was the West Side area, to escape the crowds and the sun. Katie and Alex did Zebra/Zion and then walked off down to Mesa Verde. Shawn, Kelly, Vic and Erin went through Asterik Pass, then sampled the Mesa Verde wall among a surprisingly large number of other climbers. Amy, Chris and I wanted to start out a bit more slowly, so we did the walk around the Smith Rock formation to the back side and started out morning at Spiderman Buttress. There was another party on Spiderman, the three-pitch 5.7 trad route that gives the Buttress its name. I had hoped to do that route, but after Saturday’s 5.6 roof experience I was a little nervous to try a 5.7 roof on gear, and Amy was happy staying lower to the ground so we kept things to single pitches.

Amy and I took turns leading the 5.7 bolted slab up to the anchors on the first pitch of Spiderman. Chris photographed, and Amy and I both had fun on the route.

Chris cleaned, while I scouted out other options. Our last trip up, I had checked out In Harm’s Way (5.7) and Out of Harm’s Way) but they are mixed routes — gear is required for the first half or so up a 5.7 flake to a ledge, then a ramp to another ledge. The 5.7 (In Harm’s Way) goes up from the second ledge on a sequency, traversy, knobby face route up four bolts to the top. The 5.8 (Out of Harm’s Way) goes up from the first ledge on a slightly steeper knobby face route past some bolts (didn’t count how many). I ruled the route out on our last visit because I had only lead up to about 5.6 on gear, and wasn’t sure about taking on that particular 5.7 flake yet.

This time, I took some time to read the route while Amy belayed Chris on the slab route, and did some analysis. The pro on the flake did not look ideal… there’s a lot of loose crap in the flake, and the rock quality is not great. From the ground I could see there would be some marginal-to-good nut placements behind the flake, and I judged the higher, lieback section of the flake as about a red Camalot size, where it looked like I may have to make a blind placement to protect the mantle move onto the top of the first ledge. The ramp up from there looked easy, and once on top of the second ledge I knew I’d have a bolt to clip. All in all, the route looked do-able, so I racked up, lined Chris up to belay, and set to work. Sure enough, the route was spicy right about where I thought it would be — and, I did have to make a blind red Camalot placement behind the flake, which I backed up with an additional Rock Empire cam once I could see into the crack. I ran it out a bit since the ramp was easy and I didn’t see good pro and was in a little bit of a hurry to get that first shiny metal bolt clipped. The first bolt was a few moves off the ledge, so I moved up and clipped a quickdraw and clipped in; then moved out right to traverse to the second bolt forgetting my plan to extend the first draw with a long sling to reduce rope drag. (My hands are sweating while I type). After clipping the second bolt with a quickdraw, the rope drag was so bad that pulling the rope took serious effort and the pull on me was noticeable. I figured, with two bolts clipped in I would be safe to take a fall, so forged on, pulling hard on the rope to make the clips and finished the knobby face to the top anchors feeling really accomplished. I was proud of reading the route, assessing my skill level, coming up with a plan, and then (mostly) sticking to it. I made some mistakes, but the risks were calculated, and the whole thing was a really good learning experience. Amy followed and did the 5.7 then followed it by lowering to the first ledge and climbing the 5.8 finish. Chris did the 5.7 and enjoyed it greatly, and then I did the 5.8 on TR to clean the anchor. We all had a lot of fun on the route.

Packed up, then met everybody else over at Mesa Verde Wall. Erin and Vic had been taking turns on lead on, I think, Sundown (5.9). Vic lead Cosmos (10a) and us girls had a blast on it, although I could feel I was getting REALLY tired and the top — which I don’t remember having a problem with the last time I did it — took me a few tries. Shawn and Kelly did moderate classics and hard stuff, along with a scramble by Shawn to free a stuck two-rope rappel setup after Tale of Two Sh*tties (10a) (I think – may have the route identification wrong).

The day was getting hot, and the sun had come around to the West side, so Chris, Erin, Amy and I all headed back around on the trail and met Kelly, Alex, Katie, Shawn and Victoria just as they got to the main trail after coming over Asterik Pass. It was late in the day, but Erin had her eye on a lead on Outsiders to round out the trip, and Kelly had a hankering for another Churn. So, we headed to Morning Glory wall for a last stop. Erin and Amy jockeyed with another party to get on Outsiders, and Kelly hit Churning again. Shawn, never one to sit around when he could be climbing, harnessed up for Nine Gallon Buckets, a 5.9 pitch with a bouldery crux start followed by a fun cruise up enormous huecos to the original anchors, followed by a 10c sequence of underclings, sidepulls and footwork, to a 5.8 honeycomb finish where the problem isn’t finding holds, the problem is choosing a hold from the gazillion options. I wanted to try the whole route, but wasn’t sure I could do the 10c section, so we had cleaners lined up. I did pop off the start once or twice (thank you for the spot, Mr. Campbell) but once on the route, the huecos were super fun. I hit the 10c crux and didn’t read the sequence well (plus, was pumped) so fell trying to get out to the left-hand sidepull. It took a try or two, but I figured out the sequence and then I think popped off just after the crux because of fatigue, and then finished up the route. Katie climbed it like a pro… she gave me footwork ideas for the crux, and everyone indulged me getting back on it (thanks, guys). My second try, I got a good rest before going into the crux, and pulled the crux but popped right after it (I think – can’t remember for sure, so correct me if that’s wrong!). I felt like I had one more burn in me, but in retrospect I didn’t (I’m exhausted) and the sun was starting to duck behind the rocks. Amy did a great job on the route on TR, and then Alex cleaned while us slow hikers got a start on the walk out to the car.

A quiet evening at Overboard was a perfect way to end another perfect weekend. A short way into the long drive home I realized I was the only one who didn’t have to get up for responsibilities in the morning (I’d scheduled a quiet day in my home office) so put in a long series of CDs I could sing to, to keep myself awake, and cruised toward home. Home safe a bit after 2am, slept until Kelly (who crashed at our place to be closer to work) got up at 6:30; then slept until Chris called from the office at 10am to see if I had court today.

So – it’s about time for a shower and a nap. Thanks, as always, to our beloved climbing friends for another treasured weekend. Here’s a repeat for the
link to the photo album for your viewing pleasure… until the next time!

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Filed under: Amazing Women, Climbing, Climbing Photos, Friends, Rock Climbing, Smith Rock, Trip Reports

Natural Antidepressants

1. Sweet orange aromatherapy
2. St. John’s Wort
3. Sam-E
4. Weather reports like this:

Terrebonne, OR:

Friday: 72 and sunny
Saturday: 74 and sunny
Sunday: 72 and mostly sunny

Filed under: Smith Rock

Fear of Falling

The crew is gearing up for a trip to Smith this weekend (I can’t wait, I can’t wait, I can’t wait)… the weather looks good, we’ve got a perfect group of friends to climb with, and three whole days of climbing thanks to taking Friday off. We happen to be there at the same time as the Alpinist Film Festival, so hopefully Friday everybody will be watching movies about climbing while we’re climbing. Tempting to go watch movies, but it’s been so long since I’ve been outside (weeks!) that all I can think about is getting to some real rock.

The last time we were at Smith, I had a great time leading … did a lot of easy leads (1) because it was fun; and (2) to try to build my confidence a bit. I got a little overly confident and got on a 10a (Irreverence, New Testament Slab, Christian Brothers Area) and scared myself silly. I was on lead placing draws with the first bolt stick clipped. I moved above the first bolt and almost reached the second, but got stuck about a foot shy of the second bolt. Several times, I climbed up to try to make a move and got stuck; then I’d downclimb to a rest and try to pull myself together and come up with a plan or a different approach. After several attempts, I returned to my high point and had nothing left. I was too afraid to make a move, and too afraid to fall. I did an inelegant, tiring, and sketchy downclimb as low as I could get before taking about a foot and a half fall onto my bolt, at which point I had a mini panic attack and decided to call it a day on that particular route.

Gear retrieval capable friends to the rescue!

What happened? I was so afraid of falling that I couldn’t even get myself to try a move that I probably could have done… I’ve been spending so much time outside on easy stuff on lead, and toproping hard stuff (outside of my lead ability) that I’m not putting many vertical feet in on stuff that’s at my lead level. I’d like to change that this weekend, and try to put in as much time as possible on 5.9s and 10as.

To get ready, I spent a day taking practice falls at the gym… it didn’t get easy but it was good practice. I’ve also been working a variety of routes on lead and toprope, at and near my maximum difficulty, so that on occasion I surprise myself with a fall (so far, only on toprope — I have only taken planned falls on lead… guess I should have done some practice unplanned falls on lead, but I’ll make that a note to self to do some more of after this trip). Breathing makes a huge difference for me when I’m afraid… I always emphasize breathing while climbing, but I’m placing special emphasis on using my breath to calm myself when I get sketched or scared. Perhaps getting some oxygen to my brain during those times of stress will help with my decisionmaking.

Being afraid of falling is a self-preservation instinct… with a fall, you don’t know what’s going to happen. I always fear the worst, and I have a hard time, even after taking some practice falls, trusting that the worst may not happen. My bolt or gear should hold. I should fall away from the wall and not scrape myself up too badly. My rope is good condition. My belayer is trustworthy and will do his or her best to keep us both safe. I know all of these things.

Above all that, making the move is worth it. Nine times out of ten (or more – maybe more like 19 times out of 20), if I just suck it up and make the move, I’ll make the move and not fall. And then I feel amazing, and strong, and fantastic, and like it’s the best day and the best route ever. Worst case scenario, I fall. Big deal. Either way, it’s better than working myself into a hyperventilating panic.

So, my goal for the weekend is to make the move. To trust myself, and take the risk. I’m going to breathe through my anxiety. When I reach the point where my brain says “I’m scared, ‘Take,’” or “I need to downclimb” I’m going to make a commitment to make the move instead. I’ll let you know how it turns out…

Other reading:

• Upskill Climbing Coaching Blog: Fear of falling
• Dave MacLeod’s Online Climbing Coach Blog: Breathing in climbing
• Dave MacLeod’s Online Climbing Coach Blog: Fear of Falling
• Nicros Training Center: Beating the Fear of Falling

Filed under: Rock Climbing, Smith Rock, Training

Smith Rock in February

There are a number of threads on the various climbing-related message boards with that subject line… everybody’s looking for a place to spend “opening day” of climbing season, that uber romantic weekend after Valentines Day, especially with the beauty of the Presidents’ Day three-day weekend for us slackers who actually take the Monday off. Shawn’s weather report proved accurate… the weekend was sunny and warm at Smith. We headed down after work on Friday, and got in to Skull Hollow campground at about 2am. Threw down bags and slept until morning. The view from Skull Hollow is nothing compared to the view from the park proper. Some in our group (the usual suspects, Moleman, Devil-Foot, Beautiful Girls Campbell, and a new kid on the block, KT) preferred the free-ness of Skull Hollow… Chris and I will take paying $4 a night in exchange for warm running water, heated bathrooms, and the view from the Bivy area at the Rocks proper. Hell, I’d pay $4 a night just for the privilege of waking up to the view, even without the heated bathrooms and running water.

Anyway, after packing up, we headed to the park. We do Smith a few times a year, so I don’t take notes and can’t provide a proper trip report, but it was, as always, beautiful, warm, dry and the climbing was tons of fun. It was also so crowded that some routes had lines multiple parties deep. I wish we could have been down mid-week instead of on “opening day,” but after driving all that way we were mostly just down to make the best of the situation despite the crowds.

We started on the front side at the Testament Slab and Combination Blocks area. Chris and I went for familiar territory with a visit to the 5.7 on the right hand side of the slab on Combination Blocks… it’s either Dancer or Jete, I can never remember which. It made for a nice familiar confidence builder, and then I got a bit overly confident and tried the 10a on Testament Slab on lead and had a good workout trying to downclimb from above the first bolt when I couldn’t figure out the moves to make to get to the second bolt. It was a scary downclimb… downclimbing 5.7 is one thing, downclimbing 10a, it turns out, is something entirely different. I took a little lead fall on that first bolt since I couldn’t complete the downclimb, and then finished hyperventilating and then pulled myself together. Lesson learned… don’t overestimate my leading skill just because I’m feeling super confident on an easy warm-up climb that I’ve done before. I need to give myself a little more time to adapt to being back outside before jumping on harder routes on lead.

The guys and KT climbed hard stuff on Testament Slab, and then we decided to head to the backside for a little bit more solitude. The guys and KT took Asterik Pass and Chris and I did the walk around the Smith Rock formation, which is a really beautiful walk along the Crooked River. We met up with everybody on the back side, mostly climbing at Mesa Verde wall where I got to bum a toprope on Screaming Yellow Zonkers, a super classic 10b, and the 10a sport route between SYZ and Trezlar. Screaming Yellow Zonkers was a fantastic lesson in Smith climbing… grab knob, identify knob for next foot move, grab next knob, move foot to next knob, fingers into slot, move foot to next knob, rinse and repeat. Both routes were really good for helping me trust my feet and identify what to look for as far as decent foot holds, and I had a blast on both. I was thankful for our ropeguns, since I wasn’t ready to get back on lead after my Testament Slab learning experience.

But, after the Mesa Verde confidence builder, I was ready to get back on the sharp end. The guys and KT went off to do a 10d roof route, and Chris and I hit the 5.8 bolted line on Spiderman’s Buttress. It was super fun, and again, a great confidence builder. The moves right off the deck were the first crux, with the second crux up high, but it was a great slabby lead, and Chris and I both had lots of fun on it. After that, we started our hike back toward the car and then we all headed to the Mexican joint Alex loves in Redmond, which honestly was really good. Unfortunately, I don’t remember the name, but the spicy carrots really were incredible.

We bivied that night at the Smith Rocks bivy area, out by the rim above the Crooked River. I wish we’d taken the SLR camera and tripod… the moon was so bright that the view from the rim was stunning, even by moonlight.

Morning was trumpeted by what sounded like about two hundred geese, but according to Shawn “Early Bird” Campbell it was somewhere between two and four. The morning was chilly, so we all took longer to extract ourselves from our sleeping bags than usual, and got a very late start down into the park. By the time we got in, just about every climb on the front side had a rope on it. The guys and KT went to Phoenix Buttress, and Chris and I spent the day with our friend Kari. We wanted to start out on Dancer and Jete again, but another party JUST beat us to it. We scouted around a bit more and decided that there was just nothing open and we were going to have to wait, so we sat down to enjoy the weather at Dancer and Jete. One of the guys gave us a tip about a 5.7 that wasn’t in our guidebook just a little further up toward Asterik Pass, and it looked like fun so we warmed up on that. I don’t know the name, and it had the downside of some loose rock, but the upside of a fantastic view out through Asterik Pass. I’m not usually a sightseeing leader — and even I stopped a few times to take in the view. From there, we went to the old standby, Bunny Face, and each lead it. I have been eyeing the 5.9 bolted line to the left of Bunny Face for three years now and haven’t ever had occasion to try it; another party lead it and left a top rope up, and they let me hop on it. Long story short, it may be my 5.9 lead project at Smith. The start was hard (notice a trend? Hard start to knobs and pockets … rock climbing at Smith Rock!) but the moves were do-able, and definitely something I’d like to work on when I get my confidence up a little bit more.

From there, we went on to another route that we’ve all had fun on before, Hop on Pop, a 5.8 on the Peanut. The start was harder than I remembered, but the last time I lead it was as the first climb of the day so I think yesterday I was more tired than the first time around. I gave it several tries and had to result to stick clipping the first bolt, but was glad I stick clipped and climbed instead of just giving up becauase the rest of the lead was fun, and Chris and Kari both had fun on it also.

By the time we had Hopped, it was getting late in the day. We packed up, met up with Shawn, and headed for home.

The verdict on Smith in February? Be prepared for LOTS, and lots of people. It was crowded. The West Side crags were less so, and are well worth the walk or scramble. The weather was stunning… it was tank top and sunscreen climbing, for sure. The nights were still very cold — it was still definitely winter camping — and the geese are really loud. All in all, it was a huge treat to get out this early in the season, and worth the trip even for two days of climbing.

PS – I’m working on uploading a little video to my .Mac Web Gallery for friends and family to see… it’s got Chris and Kari climbing some of the classic moderates mentioned above. Here it is…

smith rock where?

Filed under: Smith Rock

Smith Rock in February

There are a number of threads on the various climbing-related message boards with that subject line… everybody’s looking for a place to spend “opening day” of climbing season, that uber romantic weekend after Valentines Day, especially with the beauty of the Presidents’ Day three-day weekend for us slackers who actually take the Monday off. Shawn’s weather report proved accurate… the weekend was sunny and warm at Smith. We headed down after work on Friday, and got in to Skull Hollow campground at about 2am. Threw down bags and slept until morning. The view from Skull Hollow is nothing compared to the view from the park proper. Some in our group (the usual suspects, Moleman, Devil-Foot, Beautiful Girls Campbell, and a new kid on the block, KT) preferred the free-ness of Skull Hollow… Chris and I will take paying $4 a night in exchange for warm running water, heated bathrooms, and the view from the Bivy area at the Rocks proper. Hell, I’d pay $4 a night just for the privilege of waking up to the view, even without the heated bathrooms and running water.

Anyway, after packing up, we headed to the park. We do Smith a few times a year, so I don’t take notes and can’t provide a proper trip report, but it was, as always, beautiful, warm, dry and the climbing was tons of fun. It was also so crowded that some routes had lines multiple parties deep. I wish we could have been down mid-week instead of on “opening day,” but after driving all that way we were mostly just down to make the best of the situation despite the crowds.

We started on the front side at the Testament Slab and Combination Blocks area. Chris and I went for familiar territory with a visit to the 5.7 on the right hand side of the slab on Combination Blocks… it’s either Dancer or Jete, I can never remember which. It made for a nice familiar confidence builder, and then I got a bit overly confident and tried the 10a on Testament Slab on lead and had a good workout trying to downclimb from above the first bolt when I couldn’t figure out the moves to make to get to the second bolt. It was a scary downclimb… downclimbing 5.7 is one thing, downclimbing 10a, it turns out, is something entirely different. I took a little lead fall on that first bolt since I couldn’t complete the downclimb, and then finished hyperventilating and then pulled myself together. Lesson learned… don’t overestimate my leading skill just because I’m feeling super confident on an easy warm-up climb that I’ve done before. I need to give myself a little more time to adapt to being back outside before jumping on harder routes on lead.

The guys and KT climbed hard stuff on Testament Slab, and then we decided to head to the backside for a little bit more solitude. The guys and KT took Asterik Pass and Chris and I did the walk around the Smith Rock formation, which is a really beautiful walk along the Crooked River. We met up with everybody on the back side, mostly climbing at Mesa Verde wall where I got to bum a toprope on Screaming Yellow Zonkers, a super classic 10b, and the 10a sport route between SYZ and Trezlar. Screaming Yellow Zonkers was a fantastic lesson in Smith climbing… grab knob, identify knob for next foot move, grab next knob, move foot to next knob, fingers into slot, move foot to next knob, rinse and repeat. Both routes were really good for helping me trust my feet and identify what to look for as far as decent foot holds, and I had a blast on both. I was thankful for our ropeguns, since I wasn’t ready to get back on lead after my Testament Slab learning experience.

But, after the Mesa Verde confidence builder, I was ready to get back on the sharp end. The guys and KT went off to do a 10d roof route, and Chris and I hit the 5.8 bolted line on Spiderman’s Buttress. It was super fun, and again, a great confidence builder. The moves right off the deck were the first crux, with the second crux up high, but it was a great slabby lead, and Chris and I both had lots of fun on it. After that, we started our hike back toward the car and then we all headed to the Mexican joint Alex loves in Redmond, which honestly was really good. Unfortunately, I don’t remember the name, but the spicy carrots really were incredible.

We bivied that night at the Smith Rocks bivy area, out by the rim above the Crooked River. I wish we’d taken the SLR camera and tripod… the moon was so bright that the view from the rim was stunning, even by moonlight.

Morning was trumpeted by what sounded like about two hundred geese, but according to Shawn “Early Bird” Campbell it was somewhere between two and four. The morning was chilly, so we all took longer to extract ourselves from our sleeping bags than usual, and got a very late start down into the park. By the time we got in, just about every climb on the front side had a rope on it. The guys and KT went to Phoenix Buttress, and Chris and I spent the day with our friend Kari. We wanted to start out on Dancer and Jete again, but another party JUST beat us to it. We scouted around a bit more and decided that there was just nothing open and we were going to have to wait, so we sat down to enjoy the weather at Dancer and Jete. One of the guys gave us a tip about a 5.7 that wasn’t in our guidebook just a little further up toward Asterik Pass, and it looked like fun so we warmed up on that. I don’t know the name, and it had the downside of some loose rock, but the upside of a fantastic view out through Asterik Pass. I’m not usually a sightseeing leader — and even I stopped a few times to take in the view. From there, we went to the old standby, Bunny Face, and each lead it. I have been eyeing the 5.9 bolted line to the left of Bunny Face for three years now and haven’t ever had occasion to try it; another party lead it and left a top rope up, and they let me hop on it. Long story short, it may be my 5.9 lead project at Smith. The start was hard (notice a trend? Hard start to knobs and pockets … rock climbing at Smith Rock!) but the moves were do-able, and definitely something I’d like to work on when I get my confidence up a little bit more.

From there, we went on to another route that we’ve all had fun on before, Hop on Pop, a 5.8 on the Peanut. The start was harder than I remembered, but the last time I lead it was as the first climb of the day so I think yesterday I was more tired than the first time around. I gave it several tries and had to result to stick clipping the first bolt, but was glad I stick clipped and climbed instead of just giving up becauase the rest of the lead was fun, and Chris and Kari both had fun on it also.

By the time we had Hopped, it was getting late in the day. We packed up, met up with Shawn, and headed for home.

The verdict on Smith in February? Be prepared for LOTS, and lots of people. It was crowded. The West Side crags were less so, and are well worth the walk or scramble. The weather was stunning… it was tank top and sunscreen climbing, for sure. The nights were still very cold — it was still definitely winter camping — and the geese are really loud. All in all, it was a huge treat to get out this early in the season, and worth the trip even for two days of climbing.

PS – I’m working on uploading a little video to my .Mac Web Gallery for friends and family to see… it’s got Chris and Kari climbing some of the classic moderates mentioned above. Here it is…

smith rock where?

Filed under: Climbing Photos, Smith Rock, Trip Reports

Dreaming of Dierdre and Monkeys

Shawn “Beautiful Girls” Campbell emailed earlier this week with a very simple message… the Smith Rock weather report. Chris and I are both exhausted… we’ve been burning the candle at both ends with work and other commitments, and have not made it into the climbing gym regularly, so usually we’d sigh longingly and pass so that we could stay home and get caught up on some need-to-do’s over the long weekend. Not this time. Something about the timing of this unusually sunny weekend at Smith in February told Chris and I both that we needed to reclaim a little part of our lives and blow off our commitments and play outside this weekend. It will be a quick trip… just two days of climbing and a whole lot of driving… but we’ve got good friends to share both with, and it will be nice to go somewhere familiar and happy and just have some fun, even if it’s chilly.

In the very limited time we have had to pack and plan for the trip, it got me thinking about my goals for the year. My primary goal is to not get too caught up with the day job, and make time to keep climbing and playing outside. But aside from that, I do have some more specific goals. In thinking about this Smith trip, a goal for this year dawned on me… I’d like to do one of the moderates on Monkey Face. The routes are physically achievable, and it’s just the mental challenge of the exposure and the unknown. It won’t be this trip… that’s more of a later in the season goal, but that’s one of the things I’d like to do this year.

Another general goal is to spend more time at Squamish… for a variety of reasons we didn’t make it up at all last year, and this year we’re going to reverse that trend. Chris’s goal is to do Dierdre, a 6-pitch 5.8 on the South Apron at the Chief. That too is achievable, I think, this year.

I’m comfortable leading in that range on sport routes, but am still working on confidence on gear, so those are two good goals for this year. I don’t know that we’ll make progress on them this weekend since I think our plan is to go fast and light and leave the rack at home this trip, but we’ll see. I may sneak the rack bag into the car just in case we get an opportunity to do some trad leading.

Now, time for the day job. Have a fun, safe weekend, all!

rock climbing, smith rock

Filed under: Smith Rock, Squamish

Dreaming of Dierdre and Monkeys

Shawn “Beautiful Girls” Campbell emailed earlier this week with a very simple message… the Smith Rock weather report. Chris and I are both exhausted… we’ve been burning the candle at both ends with work and other commitments, and have not made it into the climbing gym regularly, so usually we’d sigh longingly and pass so that we could stay home and get caught up on some need-to-do’s over the long weekend. Not this time. Something about the timing of this unusually sunny weekend at Smith in February told Chris and I both that we needed to reclaim a little part of our lives and blow off our commitments and play outside this weekend. It will be a quick trip… just two days of climbing and a whole lot of driving… but we’ve got good friends to share both with, and it will be nice to go somewhere familiar and happy and just have some fun, even if it’s chilly.

In the very limited time we have had to pack and plan for the trip, it got me thinking about my goals for the year. My primary goal is to not get too caught up with the day job, and make time to keep climbing and playing outside. But aside from that, I do have some more specific goals. In thinking about this Smith trip, a goal for this year dawned on me… I’d like to do one of the moderates on Monkey Face. The routes are physically achievable, and it’s just the mental challenge of the exposure and the unknown. It won’t be this trip… that’s more of a later in the season goal, but that’s one of the things I’d like to do this year.

Another general goal is to spend more time at Squamish… for a variety of reasons we didn’t make it up at all last year, and this year we’re going to reverse that trend. Chris’s goal is to do Dierdre, a 6-pitch 5.8 on the South Apron at the Chief. That too is achievable, I think, this year.

I’m comfortable leading in that range on sport routes, but am still working on confidence on gear, so those are two good goals for this year. I don’t know that we’ll make progress on them this weekend since I think our plan is to go fast and light and leave the rack at home this trip, but we’ll see. I may sneak the rack bag into the car just in case we get an opportunity to do some trad leading.

Now, time for the day job. Have a fun, safe weekend, all!

rock climbing, smith rock

Filed under: Smith Rock, Squamish