After hours of driving, we finally arrived at Smith Rock, set up camp in the Bivy Campground, and headed over to the Rope de Dope Wall to get a taste of the area before it got dark.
Unfortunately, we only got on two short sport climbs (How Low Can You Go – 5.7 and Shamu - 5.9) since Alex wasn’t feeling up to par…. in retrospect she realized she was dehydrated after the long drive and not drinking enough water in the car.
After a trip into Bend, OR, dinner, and rehydration, we headed back to our tent to settle in for the night.
We woke up Tuesday morning, had breakfast and coffee, then headed through Asterisk Pass to the west side of the Smith Rock Group to climb Wherever I May Roam, a 5 pitch 5.9 sport climb. Alex was stoked that she led pitches 1, 3, and 5… the most and highest grade she has led to date.
Before heading back to the camping area for lunch, we also climbed Stained (5.9 sport) and Dave climbed about half of Earthtone (10a) before the rock turned crumbly and sketchy and he decided to back off of it.
The sun was intense and hot, so we were glad to be off the rock, in the shade, eating, drinking local brews, and talking about the climbs we did and what we wanted to do the next day. Though Smith Rock was pretty awesome to look at, and the climbs thus far were fun, we were not stoked about the rock. Being used to very solid feeling and sounding rock, the more delicate and hollow sounding tuff at Smith felt sketchy to us. Sport climbing on it was about all we wanted to do… we just didn’t feel comfortable trusting gear on trad.
Over dinner at Pappy’s Pizza in Terrabonne (which was a great pizza!), we researched where we would head next. Northern Oregon, Washington, Canada??? We decided we would get up early, get a few climbs in at Smith, then pack up to head towards Olympic National Park in Washington.
Wednesday morning, we were up at 5 am, had a quick breakfast, and headed off to climb.
- Five Gallon Buckets (5.8)
- The Outsiders (5.9)
- Zebra (5.10a)
- Hop On Pop (5.8)
After second breakfast (we are hungry climbers!) we showered, did some shower laundry(in the shower), and reorganized to get back on the road.
