Smith III Chalk and Draws

Ahh, Smith in the Sun. I was lucky enough to spend the first half of my spring break at Smith Rock State Park. We left on thur. and my last final was on wed. Jeremy swung by my house at an unprecedented 5:30 AM, (yes in the morning) to get an early start and be able to climb all day. Once we reached the campsite, we tied up Sasha (Jeremy's nice dog) and headed off to climb. I thought that my pack was light this trip and it was a fact, I left all 18 draws at home hanging from the bookcase! Luckily Jeremy had 12 from Bill, Thanks!, and Chas let us borrow his set of 10. So after we hiked down the trail we met up with everyone at Ship Wreck wall and climbed with Chas, his uncle Mark, Erica, Her two Friends, and Jeremy. We had a nice big group. I did the BEST 5.10b at Smith, Walking While Intoxicated. Hard moves with big holds and only 5.10b, and (yes Micah, it is better than Chicken McNuggets). The next day, Friday, was sunny and 60. It was awesome to climb in shorts and shirtless for most of the day. We met up with Chas and his uncle again at Morning Glory and Some random dudes got stuck on Overboard and they asked Mark who asked me if I wanted to get there draws fro them(Personally, I saw them struggling and was hoping for a free draw cuase I left mine at home) I said yes and onsighted it to the first chains and enjoyed the route quite a lot. After basking in the sun for a couple hours we found some shade in cocaine gully and I hopped on Chicken McNuggets for an ere adventure and an "Don't Blow this Clip" moment. After clipping the chains, everyone took a turn and fought through the crux to enjoy the upper section and the knobs a glory. we finished the day around a raging fire waiting for Dom, Micah, Luara and Jared to make their entrance.

Jeremy on(I Think) Cool Ranch Flavor 5.11a, Then Dom on Chain Reaction 5.12c

On Saturday with the whole crew, play time was OVER! We warmed up on Cool Ranch Flavor and Full Overboard before heading off to Chain Reaction. Dom gave the first burn and got close again. I tried it and messed up the pinch on the arete, and clipped the chains for the first time. I felt good and knew it would go. After getting the start beta from Dom I cruised up to the second bolt and made the move to the arete, and delicately hucked to the horn. First crux done, I cruised on up again to the throw to the 'monkey' bar. I left out the gaston and in desperation hucked for the jug and got it. Then the huge move finish seemed not too bad an very cautiously tip toed around the corner and clip clip sent Chain, My hardest to Date! I wasn't done so after giving White Wedding, 5.10b, a burn I was debating whether or not to hop on Heinous Cling. (By the way, Jared Nice lead of Wedding Day, scarrrry!) So After some peer pressure I got up on Heinous Cling 5.12a. At the crux there were two nasty crimps and a huge jug I was told about, so with a little run out I dynoed to the Jug and sent. (Now Climbing Team, See, Dynoing does work:)
After this and looking at the extension, next time, we went into cocaine Gully to try Crack Babies. A sick overhanging route (that Richard from Tacoma sent earlier with a broken foot). I gave it a whirl and got through the crux but i left a nice searing pump so when I reached the jugs below the finish I couldn't squeeze worth a damn and I skipped the last bolt and took a ride. (It will go soon when I have a fresh start) On Sunday we went back to northern point and did some classic 5.11s as well as a 5.12b. The twelve didn't go but I'm definitely returning for it. A cool huge lockoff to a pocket and another off of the pocket to a crimp. On Sunday, Dom, Luara, Micha and Jared had to leave and the Crew that was left was Jeremy, Erica, Luke and his girlfriend who apparently were hikers and decided to hike AROUND all of the climbing instead of actually climbing on the rock. The plus side was that I got to see the Monkey face and realized that I'm not in bad as shape as i thought, due to my biking. Monday was another gorgeous day and Jeremy and i were supposed to leave early. I did the best route that I have ever tried called Headless Horseman. It starts with a 30 foot solo of 5.6 trad up to the first bolt. Then it goes up this pillar for roughly 70 feet of vertical/slab face climbing. What I really liked is that i Could lock off the good holds and skipped the bad ones and reach to next good one. It was a fun adventure going up a face, around an arete, onto another face, then back onto the arete, then back to the original face to the chains. AWESOME. Good exposure and 10 or so feet between bolts makes this route a 5 star problem, also to get to the ground I needed all 70m of my rope. We finished the day on Heresy, Jeremy almost flashed on TR but had his heel to far away for the last move.
The Trip was a blast and smith isn't too bad anymore but still not my Fav, It's going to take forever to depump and it hurts just typing this post! So all you get in the Gym and start getting ready because Spring is only a few minutes away...
The late Sunday Crew!

Return to Smith

Last weekend Nicholas flew in from DC and Scott picked him up for a Smith Rock Trip. On Friday Dom, Laura, Jeremy and I all crammed into the little Honda and began our trek to smith Rocks. I've been to smith before once about two years ago, and had a bad first impression of the place(to blancy, to crimpy, to scary). Two years later(read +2 years of training) I wasn't too phsyed but ready for some sport climbing. So early Saturday morning waking up with a crazy dog barking and 5 generators going, we headed off to meet Scott and Nic in the parking lot. after our greetings we headed over to Picnic Lunch Wall to do some warm ups. Scott did an amazing warm up of a 5.10a redpoint on TR, his hardest to date! I got bored of waiting so I asked Jeremy for a belay and jumped on a cool 5.12a Dom was talking about. A couple minutes later and 10 painfully frozen fingers, I onsighted 5 easy pieces(the first pitch only) 5.12a. Now I'm thinking Smith isn't so bad. After this send I did the 10a slab and realized how much I dislike/uncomfortable slab climbing is because I feel like there is nothing to hang on to.
We moved to Morning Glory Wall and met up with Ryan Palo and I tried to onsight the extension to Cool Ranch Flavor. Well I fell in the middle of the extension due to forearm failure but the 5.11 portion is an excellent climb with a tricky/pumpy crux. Jeremy did the full 9 gallon buckets with a hang at the crux and did an amazing job here for his first trip to smith.
After a little break we played on Chain Reaction and then finished the day on Phoenix Buttress and afterwards Scott and Nicholas surprised us at camp with Pizza. THANKS!!!!!!
On Sunday it was cold and windy so Teagan, a nice local gal, showed us Northern point which is similar to Vantage I'm told. After doing some blancy and good climbs I managed another 5.12a onsight which the finish was soaked due to the rain but I was NOT going to let go.
I now have a new appreciation for Smith and realized 'bicep' routes do exist here and the balancy ones are fun if I can trust my feet. A video is coming soon as always. Spring is almost here so get ready for the '09 Season. -jimmy