Smith Rocks May 30-31

This was my first trip to Smith Rocks, and I don't really know where to begin. I guess let me first say WOW, what an amazing place! The spectactular beauty is hard to put into words that can do it justice.

Ashley and I left Kirkland at 6:00pm on Friday evening, very excited that out first trip to Smith had finally arrived. The traffic was flowing well on 5 south for a Firday evening. The drive went uneventful and we arrived at about 12:30am. We signed in at the Bivy Area and went about trying to find a place to set up shop. The directions were slightly vague... no sleeping in cars, and camp in the woods. In the dark, this didn't make as much sense as it would have in the light. We wandered around the grassy area around the parking lot for a few minutes, and almost set up a tent right by the car... luckily Ashley spotted a sign and trail to the bivy area. Once we figured out were to go, we set up in the first empty place we saw. In the morning we realized we were about 20 feet from a guy in a bivy sack... we felt bad that he had to listen to us drink beers and carry on. Luckily we were being fairly civil and I don't think we caused too much ill will. We finally got to sleep around 2:30am.

Saturday brought hard-core sun and 90 degree temps. After having coffee and eating, we loaded up the packs and headed out toward th climbing. All we really knew was there was a trail and bridge... go left. On the trail down, we were excited by the spectactular views of all the amazing climbing areas. We then happened upon the Rope de Dope block area, which half of which was in the shade. We decided to climb an easy route on the left side to get warmed up. Luckily I didn't just jump on something a little harder, as How Low Can You Go(5.6) in the heat turned out to be a very interesting "warm-up", although I led it without issue. After Ashley followed up, I had him change the anchor to Low Blow(10b) which was in the shade on the other side. The shade was much nicer that the sun, although the route turned out to be very challenging, with a super hard bouldering start. Ashley also followed on this route and made it up his hardest route to date.

It was about 11:00am by now and the heat was opressive. We decided it was time to take a break from the climbing for a while and decided to check out the canyon before getting back in the shade. We decided to cross the river rather than go around, and man the water felt good. It was thigh high and moving slow, but the rocks were slick and good footing was hard to get. Niether Ashley nor I wanted to fall, as we had camera's and electronics in our packs, so the crossing was mildly stressful, but much worth the effort. Once on the other side we instantly felt the temp go up... we looked around for 10 minutes before heading to the bridge and back to the camp, with plans to get back on it at 4:00pm. (which was a nasty little hike in the heat with a pretty heavy pack). Shade and repeated hose-downs from the shower kept us cool until the sun started to back off a bit.

When the time came, we headed for the Dihedrals. It was relatively crowed considering the temps, but were able to get on Easy Reader(5.6) and Litchen It(5.7) without any trouble. Both routes were fun, but once again fely very difficult for the grade. This turned out to be the theme of the trip for me. After that, we headed back towards camp and worked on a V3 boulder problem just on the climbing side of the bridge about 15 yards up. It was fun trying the tough problem over and over, but I was never able to make the last lunge to a tough sloper, which we presumed would be the end of the problem. I got pumped out and felt great after my first day at Smith. After heading back up the trial, we had ice-cold beers and re-fueled. We were both very tired from the hot day and were out by 10:30pm.

The clouds rolled on over night, and we heard a few raindrops at about 4:00am. I was very excited to think about the prospect of climbing in the shade! Luckily the clouds stayed and we were ready for another day of climbing. While heading down, we saw no parties on 5 Gallon Buckets (5.8), so we though that would be a great oportunity to jump on that, as the day before it had a line all day. When we arrived, there was another party of 2 (with a guide) just getting there. Damn the luck. The guide led it in 5 minutes with sandals on, so we figured it wouldn't be long, and after the two TR's it, only 45 minutes had gone by... not bad. So now I jump on lead, and the first bolt is like 20 feet up... the holds are numerous and bomber, but it was scary none the less. Once past the first bolt, I felt better and continued up. About 3/4 the way up I was becoming tired and the head game began... can I make it to the next bolt. I needed to rest and think it through on each of the last 3 bolts, which sucked as I didn't get the on-sight, but I couldn't push through the self-doubt. I think I'll be much better next time, as I just took way too long pausing at each bolt planning my attack instead of just flowing past the clip and not getting pumped out. By the end of the climb, I was happy to be off, but 5 minutes later I was already thinking about the lead on it next trip. Ashley followed on TR and was able to get up it with only a few rests.

After doing 5GB, we headed over to a little ways to the Peanut and I led Peanut Brittle(5.8). This route was much different, tiny crimpers and pebbles with another very hard start and 14 foot first bolt. Luckily the couple next to us had a stick clip, or I would have been shut down before the first bolt. I let the route without issue, and Ashley followed and cleaned the route and rapped down, which was our modus oporandi for the weekend. Next I wanted to head over a bit and lead Right Side Crack (5.5 Trad). It's the crack between Litchen It and Easy Reader in the Cinnamon Slab area. It was a fun trad lead and everything seemed to be all there, the pro was good and the holds were there, making for an enjoyable last climb. Ashley jumped on it and sent it without issue on TR. We then packed up and headed out... we already had the car packed, so it was a quick soak and a beer before hitting the road for home. We stopped at Ashley's A&W on the way back and had an awesome Double Bacon Cheeseburger. Now exhausted and full, we were ready for the rest of the ride home. I dropped off Ashley in Kirkland and was home at 9:45pm. Another great trip in the books...