Smith - East Coast off the couch

Abe rolled into town on Wednesday of last week.  I took Thursday and Friday off from work so we could go get our play ON.  Day one was penciled in as Smith Rocks.  We got our gear together in the morning and headed out to Smith where we enjoyed a nice full day of climbing while trying to avoid the sun.

After hibernating from climbing for a while, Abe roped in and proceeded to crush it!  Smith has a distinct heady and crimpy style that can often be a bit of an acquired taste but Abe was right at home pulling on knobs and pebbles.

It was a great day out and it was day 1 of 4 days of playing....we stopped at the Terrebonne Depot for an after climb beer where we drank in the post-climb glow with some Central Oregon hop nectar.

Not a bad introduction to Central Oregon for my east coast homie....Thx to Abe for the pix!

Rockin' some Smith on Labor Day

We made a trip to Smith on Labor day and hiked up towards the Marsupials where we thought the crowds would thin out due to the hike.  Success!  Good day out on the stone...

Smith Rocks - The Zoo

With the unseasonably warm weather this weekend, we decided to switch it up and seek fun in the sun.  The snow conditions are abysmal at best but the forecasters were predicting 60 degree temps for the weekend.

The loose game plan was to climb a day and ride a day.  Saturday was our day to climb so we got got moving and put a plan together:  The Zoo.  The crux for the approach was to determine whether to go via Skull Hollow or via the  regular Smith 'trade route'.  We opted for skull hollow as the hike up and over Burma road was brutal.

Time wise, it was probably about the same to go via Skull Hollow or the Smith side.  The Skull Hollow was a better option as the hike in was mellower and more importantly it was away from the hordes of people.

After a nice hour long approach with amazing views, we descended into the drainage were the Zoo sits.  We opted for a nice mellow 5.8 to start with.  It had been a while since either of us had been on real stone so we wanted to find our groover and flow before jumping on anything more demanding.

It felt a little awkward at first but I tried to remind myself of how that seems to be typical for me on many first climbs of the day, and somehow I always seem to overthink the easy stuff.  Perhaps because the mind has the opportunity to wander a little?

We did a quick lap on the warm up and then moved over towards the platform where we did a couple more routes.  We stepped up the grade each time and somehow managed to keep climbing without falling.  There was only 1 other party there so it was very different feel than what we predicted was playing out at Smith proper where people were probably waiting in lines to jump on the stone.

It was a 4 route day - not a ton of routes but probably about the limit for us considering we had a nice long 1 hour hike out back to the car.  It felt good to get back on stone and it also felt good to force the body to work hard and also get the lead head back on outside.

Overall, it was a really pleasant day on steep stone at Smith...yes, I said steep stone at Smith!

gimme gimme!

Smith Revisited

The last week included a welcome surprise from an old friend back east.  Despite the threat of inclement weather during the shoulder season, we were able to make the most out of Dan's visit to Central Oregon.  We squeezed in a bunch of riding and climbing during the few days he was here.

Having guests is always a treat since it feels like re-discovering the area we live in all over again.  It makes you appreciate the area and remember all the reasons we wanted to move here.  Our extended backyard is a destination for many and it does not take long to remember not to get complacent and to really and truly enjoy this amazing little spot in Central Oregon.

We headed out to Smith and managed to even find some steep routes in some of the gullies around the main climbing areas.  It was a great time and I could start to feel the flow coming back while on the rope.  In some ways, a little goes a long ways….below are some pix of some of the fun:

 prepping and posing for some backyard bouldering action:

 D getting his FA on….

Climbing Flashback Trifecta

some pix from our infamous (to us) road trip to the Red in Kentucky...

Biblical type rain (most rain in a 24 hr period in close to 100 yrs) in the area made for slim pickings climbing wise but we tried to make the most of it in the intermittent windows that provided micro windows to climb...it rained this hard for days!  note the tents underneath the shelter....we set up camp in the eating area at Linda's or else we would have needed a paddle to get to/from our tents

This missus getting her climb on, or practicing crunches, or something....

 mo' missus - gratuitous butt shot:

 mo' missus climbing through the buckets:

 yours truly enjoying the super fun warm up with gi-normous holds

 a little friend I almost stepped on at the base of the crag - fortunately he was in sleepy mode

 Twinkie - big holds, big fun...

from the ground it was hard to understand why this was rated 12a - the holds all looked super positive and HUGE

just plain fun climbing!

feet wherever you want

 just down the trail there was another super cool overhanging route that was beggin' to be climbed:

 same climb - steep and hard

 there were little glimpses of blue sky every once in a while....

 the missus leading some slabby looking horror-show (any slabby looking anything is a horror show to me)

Climbing Flashback - Part Duh

Some awesome climbs in Clear Creek - the old stomping ground in Denver...

back when there was a Tyrolean traverse over to Sonic Youth - one of my very very favorites climbs and projects in Clear Creek!

 working through the lower iron cross move at the bottom of Sonic:

 first crux down, now through the overhanging dyhedral

 getting out of the 'rest' up high and getting ready for the biznasssss on Sonic

 we have arrived at the biznasssss

 sticking and holding the sloper on the biznasssssss - reaching for a nasty little crimper with the rightie

 New River Wall in Clear Creek