Climbing at Smith Rock May 9-11, 2014
I spent Mother’s Day weekend climbing and adventuring around at Smith Rock- one of the “7 Wonders of Oregon.” Smith offers amazing views, fantastic hikes, and world class sport climbing.
The focus of this trip was simply to get my hands on some Oregon rock before I set off on my trip(s). I had no expectations going into it, I just wanted to spend my final pre-travels weekend in Oregon in a beautiful place, with wonderful people, getting my hands dirty (and a little bloody).
The first day was spent coasting around, chasing patches of sun and climbing in and out of patches of rain and hail (thank you, Central Oregon…). It was a lovely warm up, gave us some time to get into the climbing groove, and I even managed to struggle through finishing my first 5.10 outside (thank you, bouldering muscles…). We finished climbing, made our way back to the bivy, drank some well-deserved beer, watched an ADORABLE bald eagle family chow down in their nest (via binocs), ate dinner ourselves, drank more beer, and got ready for Sunday climbing.
Anyone who’s climbed with me knows a few things; one, I HATE sloppers, with a fiery passion; two, crack climbing is something I’m working on but not something I’m at all comfortable with; three, I have vowed from the first moment I got outside to NEVER EVER trad climb or attempt a multi-pitch. Well… this weekend, those final rules were thrown out the window in exchange for some amazing views.
The view from the top of “Birds in a Rut"
I may have made many, many blood sacrifices on the way up and I’m pretty sure I’ve never experienced such cold temperatures at a climbing destination in my life (note to self: bring long pants just in case a spontaneous multipitch opportunity presents itself), but the route was pretty damn sweet with the final, pre-scramble pitch being a lovely dihedral with a fabulous crack). It was absolutely worth all of the freezing and bleeding (especially when I received a nice, warming cuddle at the top of each pitch).
The weekend ended with a smash, I found a project on Koala Rock (Buffalo Power) that involves jamming my precious digits into a crack, and got super stoked to come back to the Smith in the Fall to climb and explore routes that were previously outside of my comfort zone. I have my fingers crossed that I’ll find some climbing proximal to where I’ll be living in Greece but if not, I plan on spider monkeying around low rocks and hanging from as many things as I can so I can at least maintain the strength I’ve built up while I wait for the opportunity to hit Kalymnos. I am super stoked for my next adventure but will miss the magic of Oregon while I am away.
Where am I going next?
Springfield, Missouri to watch my baby sister graduate from University. I plan on finding some adventures to go on there, partially because I feel like I can only consider myself to be a true adventurer if I can find something amazing to do in "Misery.”
