bunglehead Posted June 5, 2003 Share Posted June 5, 2003 I know one of you out there has beta on this area. Anybody willing to give up some info? Help a guy out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iain Posted June 5, 2003 Share Posted June 5, 2003 how 'bout ANY climbing in general in the Corvallis area. I've been looking for a good quarry to mess around with some highline stuff too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J_Kirby Posted June 5, 2003 Share Posted June 5, 2003 Check out Harlan quarry in the adventure climbs section of Olson's Portland Rock. Only a few lines, but its roped climbing and only 30 minutes from Cowtown, out behind Mary's peak. FWIW, your drive time may vary as I tended to drive that section of road at autocross speeds. I didn't find many boulders during my stint there, but I did scale many of the campus' buildings to escape boredom (and the flashlight police ). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iain Posted June 5, 2003 Share Posted June 5, 2003 thanks, I did a search on rec.climbing for Harlan quarry and came up with this pretty amusing response under the thread "The 5 Worst Crags" (From Kevin Pogue (pogue@whitman.edu)) I tend to agree with Brian in SLC that any day climbing outside anywhere is better than doing most anything else. I find the concept of a "worst crag" a hard thing to nail down. For example. When I was in grad school in Corvallis we were desperate to find some rock to climb close to town. The alternative was to drive 3.5 hours to Smith or head to Eugene and hang out with the posers at Skinners Butte. One day we blundered onto a 100 ft. high quarry wall in the coast range near the small town of Harlan. The rock is a mixture of graywacke, a type of "dirty" sandstone and siltstone, and water seeped out in many places along the bedding planes. The rock is actually quite incompetent and nowhere forms natural cliffs. The water oozing down to the base of the cliff waters a lush growth of poison oak and blackberries with canes up to 2 inches in diameter. The hillside above the quarry wall is very steep so that soil is constantly creeping to the edge of the cliff, promoting a constant rain of dirt and small rocks that quickly cover even the tiniest of ledges. Despite all of these delightful characteristics we resolved to "develop" our newfound "crag". This was about 1987 and no one we knew owned a hammer drill so we rented one and a generator and jugged up fixed lines hauling an extension cord behind us. We managed to bolt about 4 lines. Some of the best holds on our routes consisted of 3 inch diameter drill holes left over from the quarry operation. Every handhold and foothold (and probably bolt for that matter) was suspect and apt to aburptly detach itself from the cliff at any moment. Despite all of this, I spent 6 or 7 days climbing there and really enjoyed it. Of course, it only had to be an improvement over sitting at a desk writing a thesis. Eventually the area even made it into the back of the Portland Area Rock Climbs Guidebook. I'd love to see the look on someone's face after they drove 2.5 hours from Portland to climb there! From other folk's descriptions it sounds like the authors of the "5 worst crags" article were picking on manufactured areas. They should have included Leslie Gulch, a travesty where EVERY single hold is a drilled pocket! Of course, quarries like the one described above are entirely manufactured, so I would like to nominate the Harlan Quarry as my "worst crag" even though climbing there still beats sitting here and typing this! -=> kevin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MATT_B Posted June 5, 2003 Share Posted June 5, 2003 One other nice feature of Harlin is how the locals have used the bolts for target practice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fejas Posted June 5, 2003 Share Posted June 5, 2003 Corvallis and climbing huh? maybe if ya want to climb the mud walls, clay is all ya find... try the hills... long long long time ago this valley of ours was filled with water, ice burgs carrying boulder the size of houses and even warehouses flouted along and where left here when the iceaged floods subsided.... all the boulders left on the valley floor have been covered by sedaments, but the ones left in the hills are still above ground... So if you do find some of them to scale, they probably origanated from Canada... more than likely you wont find any on public land, u'll have to get access from a land owner... and trust me, permition is hard to come by here in the valley... Cheers and good luck... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bunglehead Posted June 5, 2003 Author Share Posted June 5, 2003 Okay, I know about the Harlan quarry. I heard banjos when I climbed there last time. I've seen pics of the boulders "in" Corvallis. I'm pretty damn sure I remember reading that they're in sweet home? Any takers? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MATT_B Posted June 5, 2003 Share Posted June 5, 2003 bunglehead said: I'm pretty damn sure I remember reading that they're in sweet home? Any takers? Take a drive up to Green Peter Resivour just outside of sweet home. Between Foster and Green Peter keep an eye open on the left side of the road. You may see something off in the trees . . . When you get to the dam look for a road cut with little shiny things in it (bring a helmet and some good karma) Past the green peter there are some other places to climb but I don't remeber where. I don't remember finding anything all that good anywhere in the area but it is always fun to explore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fejas Posted June 5, 2003 Share Posted June 5, 2003 bunglehead said: Okay, I know about the Harlan quarry. I heard banjos when I climbed there last time. I've seen pics of the boulders "in" Corvallis. I'm pretty damn sure I remember reading that they're in sweet home? Any takers? fuck why didn't you say sweethome... sweethome aint corvalis dood.... I'm goin sunday; there is one large boulder, and some smaller ones, and a cave... I'm not sure wheather it is going to be a me the wife and the dog trip, or if I'm takin the bros kinda trip... if its the bros and i, i'll PM ya sunday morning before we leave, its only a 40 mindrive or so... I haven't been up there yet, but got word of it this morning to tell ya the truth... funny that ya bring that up today... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fejas Posted June 9, 2003 Share Posted June 9, 2003 Well, I headed that way on Sunday. I got pretty shoty directions though, cause we couldn't find the place wile up there... but came back and got a map out to get a exsact placement, now I will be heding up there this week afterwork to check it out... Hyw 20 through sweethome... go past Cascadia park... not the first bridge, not the first bridge to cross the river, but the first bridge with concreat side walls, Canyon Creek... park off to the left on the east side of the bridge... 100-200yrd hike to area.... still cant quite conferm these directions, but wensday or somtin I'll be checkin it out, again.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bunglehead Posted June 9, 2003 Author Share Posted June 9, 2003 I usually work past 5, but maybe I'll try to go up that way this week to see if I can find em too. I'll post anything I do find. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fejas Posted June 9, 2003 Share Posted June 9, 2003 The fastest way from town here, is to go through marcola that road will take you to the hyw that runs between brownsville and sweethome... faster than the freeway to 20, especialy if you work/skool in town... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J_Kirby Posted June 9, 2003 Share Posted June 9, 2003 iain said: thanks, I did a search on rec.climbing for Harlan quarry and came up with this pretty amusing response under the thread "The 5 Worst Crags" <Snipped Kevin's R.C Post> -=> kevin Thanks for digging that post up Iain. That's the best description of the place I've seen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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