Warm up on 5.8. Near the top, pulled off a hand hold and take a lead fall. With sore arms from yesterday, don’t feel like leading. Follow for the rest of the day.
Got rained out on Wherever I May Roam last time. So after climbing Mt Hood on Saturday, we came back to continue our unfinished business. We get an alpine start and we are on the route before 8, in the shade. After we rap down, the sun is moving over. I then lead another single pitch 5.9 called Stained. The afternoon is too hot we take off early.
We went to Gritscone and did a few routes in the middle of the crag:
It’s Tian’s first visit to Leavenworth crags. We arrive at Icicle Buttress a little before 9 and are fortunately the first party there. We climbed R&D in a little less than 3 hours. Yinan and Tian each led 2 pitches. I followed.We drove over to Castle Rock and had lunch in the parking lot. It’s scorching hot under the sun. We started on The Fault and continued on Catapult. We each led one pitch. I led the 5.8 pitch. It’s a super fun pitch if you do a good job hand jamming and stemming. We were heat exhausted after topping out in the afternoon sun and were out of water. So I ran down to the car and got another 3 litres.After rehydrating and resting in the shade, we started on Midway. Tian led the first two pitches and Yinan led the last.It was a super fun day cragging and we did 10 pitches, all classic!
Planned for a weekend and got rained out on Sunday.
It rained the whole night and it was pretty wet in the morning. So we again had to spend time sipping coffee half of the morning. It started to show signs to dry up and we headed to Red Wall. Grace had not climbed here and Yinan can do some leading too. We checked out Super Slab and there is a team on it finishing the first pitch. We then checked out Moscow and it was available. So we jumped on it. Yinan led both pitches with a little uneasiness on the start moves of the second pitch. I “led” the scramble pitch to the top and we walked off. Later in the day, we decided to do super slab and Yinan started out and it started raining again, damn. I followed up and assessed the situation. It’s not that wet and the rain just stopped when I finished. So we decided to give it a go. Jack started leading it linking the first two pitches so Grace can lead the 3rd, which is the money pitch. I led the 2nd pitch in front of them and belayed Yinan. Yinan led out the final pitch and made good time. It started raining again when Grace was leading the final pitch but fortunately she was only 20 ft from the top. We met a couple on the top. They were in front of us and went off route. They somehow followed a runout 5.7 and they can’t find the walk off which they planned to do. I don’t know where the walk off is either. Jack has done it many years ago and can’t remember or explain. They only had one rope and looked pretty upset. So we offered them rapping with us and they were very happy. We all made it to the base in 2.5 hours, which is pretty good. One note regarding the rappel though: I rapped from the top of pitch 1 on the climbing route and the 60 metre rope didn’t quite reach. I had to down climb a couple feet which is not a big deal. But if you rappel directly towards the gully to skier’s right, it should reach the ground without problems.
Today is a sunny day to start with. Grace wanted to do Spider Man and Yinan hasn’t led any pitch although she’s followed once. We arrived at the base and found Siewmoi and Shannon on the top of the first pitch! We started at the variation (to the left of the standard route). Yinan led it and I followed. It’s a perfect 5.7 diehedral and lots of fun. I led the second pitch which is the crux pitch. I remember it being strenuous and it proved so again. I put in a couple of bomb proof pieces before the crux and powered up. I was sweating like a pig when I reached the belay station. Yinan decided to lead the 3rd and final pitch. The crux of this pitch is getting around the big roof. I was a bit nervous and asked her to put in 3 big cams under the roof. She made the moves look so easy though. It’s a bit awkward for me to crawl under the roof. It’s probably the height disadvantage. We did a double rope rappel all the way down to the ground. We then headed over to Wherever I May Roam which is a 5 pitch 5.9 sport route. There is a whole bunch of backpacks at the base, which is hilarious. The first pitch starts with an overhanging 5.8 diehedral. Classic Smith style sport route: crux right off the ground and the unprotectable. I saw a cheat stick at the base and didn’t hesitate to “borrow” it. I have no desire to take a ground fall. 5.8 is not a whole lot below my leading level. The route meanders a little to a big flat area. Yinan seemed to have some hard time following this pitch and she said it’s pumpy. I don’t know why. It’s not overhanging at all. 2nd pitch starts across the big ledge to a vertical wall. It’s a bit thin at the 2nd bolt and it looks overhanging but is not. It’s a delicate balance move. The rest is all pretty straight forward 5.8ish moves, probably a few 5.9s but nothing too hard and nothing overhanging. But then it started sprinkling when Yinan started to follow. We have no desire to lead the next pitch which is also a 5.9 when the rock is wet. So we decided to bail and spend time in the restaurant. Amazingly, Yinan followed this pitch faster than I can take in the rope and she wasn’t even breathing hard when she reached the belay station. Why she found a 5.8 pitch harder than a 5.9 is beyond my comprehension. Anyway, we rapped with a 70 meter rope to the ground and of course it stopped raining right after we reached the ground. Oh well, I wouldn’t complain a nice dinner at Sully’s Italian in Redmond.
It was raining in the morning, which is rare in Smith Rock. We spent most of the morning in the restaurant drinking coffee until it shows signs to clear up. It finally did and it wasn’t that late so we decided to give Monkey Face a shot. We started from the base around 1pm. Grace and Jack are on the first rope, Yinan and I are on the second. Yinan led the first and second pitches. Pitch 1 is easy, but definitely not class 4 according to the guidebook. I’d say mid class 5 moves here and there. A somehow big ledge below the notch ends pitch 1. Pitch 2 goes up towards the notch and then follows the arete towards Bohn street. There was a bunch of people in front of us but Bohn street is big enough and there is plenty of bolts to anchor. It was a bit hot to get in the afternoon sun. I led the bolt ladder pitch which is short and sweet. 18 or so bolts closely spaced. You don’t even need to step high on the aiders. There is a little bit overhang and traverse just before the monkey mouth. There is a bunch of bolts and bars anchored inside the monkey mouth and it’s pretty spacious here. We walked across the mouth towards the panic point. It’s a bit airy but not to the point that I’d panic. I clipped the first bolt outside the mouth over my head when I am still clipped in the anchor. Then I stepped out and down a little to gain a ledge. The hand holds are well marked with chalk. It’s a little pumpy but foot holds are bombers. 4 or 5 bolts lead to the nose boulder. LD led the next pitch which is a low class 5. The route goes around the nose bouler behind it (you can climb above it too) and up the summit boulder. We rapped from the summit to the nose. Then a double rappel sends us to the ground. The free hang rappel is pretty exciting. That’s the highlight for a lot of people. Beta and gear notes: pitch 1 and 2 don’t really need a lot of pros. One set of cams 0.5-3 plus a set of nuts should suffice. pitch 5 is hardly protectable. You can probably stick in a #2. Bolted anchors on all pitches except the first. Bring enough QDs (or biner chain if you prefer) and aid gears for the aid pitch. Pitch 4 is very closely bolted, leave your rack to your follower if you don’t want to carry it when leading. Do not do a double rope rappel from the summit (it’ll not reach the ground). Instead double rope rap from the nose boulder (with somewhat big rap rings). In general it’s a fun and moderate route. And you’ll have a lot of bragging right.
I am instructing the crag course this weekend. Saturday I team up with Aaron and Jeff on R&D. Arron led pitches 1 and 3, Jeff led the other 2. I’d hang out in the middle. We topped out in 4 hours, which is pretty good for a 3 person team. The 2nd and 3rd pitches are a little wet. Jeff went off route on the last pitch and we climbed the lichened slab without good pros. It feels a little stiffer than the usual route. It’s probably a 5.7 friction slab and s pretty sustained for a long stretch. After we parted I went to check out the route I’d be climbing on Sunday since I haven’t done it before. A group of 6 are climbing it. By the time I got to the base they were already done. Loni wanted to check out a bunch of people at Castle Rock so I gave her a ride. After we parked she asked me if I wanted to climb to logger’s ledge instead of taking the trail. I repied “why not” so off we went. We quickly geared up and started on The Fault. I led the chimney to a ledge beyond the rappel tree. I used a fixed piece, a mid sized nut and a red metolius cam to build an anchor and brought up Loni. She then led the second pitch (1st pitch of Catapult) which has a few 5.8 moves. I followed and cleaned. The 3rd pitch is low 5 so I didn’t even bother getting the rest of the rack. I ended up placing one piece (the red cam I brough up). Loni followed and we broke down everything, coiled rope. 1 exact hour. We are pretty fast considering this is the first time I have climbed with Loni. Sunday, I paired up with John and climbed Ground Hog Day. I already scouted the approach the day before and got enough beta info from the gang. So the job was pretty easy. I let John lead all 3 pitches. He was a bit nervous on the first pitch and got progressively better. We climbed and rapped in 3 hours, which is pretty good for a new trad leader.
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