I think Oregon has some of the coolest rock climbing anywhere. Mostly due to the fact of the vast amount or rock pinnacles. Theres tons of them, close to 150 in the Menagerie area alone. So heres a thread for the pinnacles/spires/summits of Oregon. Post your pictures, stories, favorite summits, anything! No spray please! I just want to see some solid content in this thread.


I'll kick it off with a small one, and we can grow from there. This is a rad little spire, well worth the hike to bag the summits in the area.


Index Finger (5.6), Mendenhall Ridge, Smith Rock

Nice Tyler.

Little Needle Rock is a great little summit next to the larger Needle Rock in the Detroit area. When I climbed the 5th ascent with Tim Olsen we where still the 2nd and 3rd people on the summit, as Brad Englund had rope soloed it 3 times after his orginal FA. We had no prior info on it but got up it with out hooks, wich Brad had rated it according to his summit register as 5.7 A2 hooks.


Little Needle Rock (5.7 A2), Detroit Area

How tall is Little Needle rock anyway?

Awesome stuff tyler, my aunt was just asking me if I've ever "climbed them rocks stickin' out a the woods out there"

Bill-

The uphill side where the route is, is only about 70-80ft while the down hill side is much bigger. Have you climbed Needle before?

Ivan snapped this shot of my friend Brian Gilbert and I after our first ascent of The Zebra in the Menagerie. The night before I was telling Ivan how I never fall climbing, sure enough I took a ride the next day on this beast. I whipped a solid 20ft after a sling popped off a knob when I was placing the next sing on a nob. Got caught 5ft off the ground by a #1 beak in some choss. The second sling was still hanging there, so I just free climbed through where I fell got to the sling and drilled a bolt. What would have been A4 with blades and rurps was A2 with beaks. Think the Menageries climbed out... think again


The Zebra (5.9 A2), Menagerie Wilderness

Greg Orton snapped these shots of Wilbur Nazarian, Mai Hyman and I on the South Face route, of the South Rabbit Ear in the Menagerie. We cruised up the route that day and replaced the one old bolt on P2 as we rapped down. The first ascent in 1967 by Tom & Bob Bauman was very notable for its time. At only 5.8 this may not sound like much, but if you've ever done it, an all free ascent on the first ascent will seem very impressive. If you've not done it this is a must do Oregon summit.



South Rabbit Ear (5.8), Menagerie Wilderness

Am I the only one who sees the face on index finger pic #1? Looks a lot like those moai easter island statues.

Come'on every one don't be shy. I know theres pleanty of people who could contribute to this thread.

i like, uh, have climbed, like, uh, the monkey face and the turkey monster - do they count?

hey, did i ever send you the big-sized version of this?

hell ya you did! post up some pics and a story!! the monkeys the classic oregon spire, and damn well we all know the turkeys pretty damn sick! i dont care what it is, as long as its climbing content somehow related to oregon rock summits.

all my oregon spire sh.tuff is old (maybe the last outing cured me?) but for what it's worth:


pillars of hercules


west smith summit:


the bird from a coupla summers ago:


Jeff exploring the possibility of an FFA (J. Leary photo hyperlink)


magic brownies celebration on the dome summit (J. Leary photo hyperlinked)

I have not and it looks awesome! So does Pillar of Hercules, but in person, it looks much less impressive than FWGs pic! I don't have any pictures of that one, Monkey Face or Rooster Rock:-(

I have some up in the lower Cascades on my tick list for next year:


BTW, is this one below a pinnacle or is it technically just a lump?

I own the old Oregon guidebook that lists these spires, always wanted to go there.

Radek- I know you've got more!!!

Bill- Those look awsome let me know if you want a partner for them, I would be stoaked.

This is a picture looking up "The Prize" on Old Man in the Umpqua area. This is in my opinion one of the more classic sport routes in Oregon. With four pitches of sustained hard climbing, one of 5.10c, two at 5.11b and one 5.11c. I was fortunate to get drug up the hard pitches this route by Chris Fralick after I managed the first. We where rewarded by a tyrolean traverse to Old Woman at the end. The standard route up Old Man goes at 5.9 and is also a great route. If you can climb the grade you must do the route!


"The Prize" (5.11c), Old Man Spire, Umpqua Area FA - Joe Chaves and Greg Orton 2000

Tyler - Thanks for the picture of my OLD friend...

Gary- Tell us a story about the FA!

I second this motion.

I grew up on the Umpqua. too bad those routes went up after i left! Might have to check it out if I'm ever there again, looks good!

Kurt- Many of the routes in the area went up in the late 50's/early 60's, such as Gary's (oldmanrock) first ascent of Old Man and Eagle Rock. If I recall Gary mentioned an airplane being involved with the approach as the highway had not been pushed that far yet. If you havent seen Greg Orton's Umpqua Rock book, check it out, its a great resource for the area.

good to know. thanks tyler. the only stuff i did there was on the Youtlekut(sp?) Pillars. maybe a trip to the homeland is in order.

Heres Jim Anglin on Chicken Legs on Chicken Rock in the Menagerie (FA Jim Anglin & Chris Fralick). This is one of the best sport routes there. Jim always said this was his favorite route in the Menagerie. The regular route up Chicken, Rawhide (5.8) is wild for the grade and well worth it.


Chicken Legs (5.11a), Chicken Rock, Menagerie

My bro and I on top of Stein's Pillar.

Here's Kyle on Rooster Rock.



Does McKinnley Rock count?



The Traverse?

hell ya Geoff!!

SE Oregon



I would like to get on this pinnacle below with you Tyler late next spring and make good on my previous offer (I think it is about 300 feet tall):

Jason- I'd love too get out there. Lets start planning a trip, I just aquired two IK's.

Brian Gilbert topping out on pitch-8 of Eagle's Dare, Gen Harmon belaying. Climb was made in late October 2009 after making the 600 foot rappel and class 4 scramble to the base of this pseudo spire.

Nice, welcome to cc.com Greg! Got any pictures of Jurrasic Park or Redmans Tooth?

Edit: Or better yet any pictures from your ascent of Big Squaw?

This looks like a great sport climb! It was on my list for last fall. Unfortunately it will have to wait until spring! The whole idea of rapping in then climbing to safety is very appealing.

You'll go far in the Black Canyon......substitute the word hiking for rapping.

Jurasic Park is a pretty sweet spot to stop on an I-5 road trip.

Katani Rock



Rooster Rock in the Gorge



Nice view from up top.



Labyrinth



This may be slightly across the border.

Is this the formation just SW (?) of the summit of Silver Star?

nice pictures on this thread, by the way. thanks for kicking it off Tyler.

Okay heres one scary summit! Shiprock (5.7X) at Smith... This is by far one of the loosest most rotten things I've climbed, but well worth it! It was always hard to find someone to climb it with but finally this guy wanderd up to my friend and I as we where finishing an obscure route at Smith. He said he hadnt roped up yet at Smith but had done a little soloing and really wanted to gut up some summits. So I proposed the Christian Brothers Traverse for the next day, he was in. We wound up swapping leads along it with lazy ass Jake (bigwalling) tagging along. After that I knew this guy was core. So for our next outting we did Shiprock as his second roped climb ever at Smith. This guy is Brian Moore and hes fucking hard core!!! Anyways now some pics from the day, all stolen from Brian.

that's awesome Tyler. register up top??

Nope but I have been up to the Chimney Rocks.

This place is near the Syncline biking/hiking area across from Hood River.

Nice Tyler. Always thought about that thing.

nope sadly... my guess would be under 10 ascents though... who knows tho, its hard to say.

Walls in top photo have never had a first.
Walls on second photo have only had one ascent made in 1998.

Tyler,
hope you have photos of all your firsts this summer I can use.
I have Redmans Tooth and Jurassic somewhere in my archives, but my goal is to get out and take some better ones next summer.

Greg - Excellent picture of Rattlesnake Rock on the Umpqua, where is the second one ??

Thanks for those Greg!


Tyler, plan on it, this summer.

Geoff, I have a pic of cock rock here someplace, I heard they changed the name in 1959 as it wasn't PC, but as you can see, it doesn't look like a "Rooster" Rock, as much as a "Cock" Rock from the view the pioneers saw in the 1800s.

...hmmm, can't find that shot....so heres some unclimbed pinnacles instead. The downhill length of the top one must be close to 300'.




Did someone say Granite?


Did someone say more Granite?


I am posting these secrets to up the stokage and to be a tease and mostly cause I've been drinkin' again......the point is that there's lots of stuff way out in the woods not far from town, especially in Skamanina county just go look for it.

Talked to Brad today, he did Little Needle Rock a bunch of times (6x ?), and a few more unclimbed/uncharted pinnacles in the area. I do miss the forrest goodies myself.

if only i coulda got a pic of my 240 lbs of bubble gum squeezing into kyle's green jacket 2day, whilst busy smoking his cigs and hatiing on his sick aid-style!

Gary, the last photo you asked about was Deer Leap, visible from Toketee School house.
photos above from today at the Callahans, Treasure Island (below), Iron Maiden, one of the mainy still unclimbed spires, and Rodeo Spire. Each is fine grained sandstone, about 100ft tall.

Nice Greg! (except for the sideways one but I can turn my head LOL!)

Here's another one. http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/928749#Post928749

Bill,
I'll bet you didn't know we grew them sideways down here.
It makes them harder to stay on.

Plenty of pinnacles in WA too....

LOL!!!!

But aren't ya suppose to be on the top part when you encounter one of those sideways monsters? I'll defer to your experience in these matters of course...jus' wondering.

________________________________________________________



Arrrgghhhh! Bet they're unclimbed too....

The "unclimbed" list is getting smaller - slowly but surely......

Hello there Mr. Cramer! Your contributions to the Sky Valley climbing sceene are awsome! I don't belive we've ever met, but I was the one that did the FA of "Shitty Park" on the Rattle Tale Wall thanks to Jake.

Here's a shot from the Christian Brothers Traverse where you can tag four or five summits in one route. There really is'nt much loose rock on it and if your carefull you wont knock any off. I soloed the reverse traverse, and didnt even knock anything off with ropes all over and what not. The regular way is 5.7 and the reverse is 5.7 A1, I belive the reverse has had only two ascents both solo. So theres no excuse to not get on the traverse.
With highly varied climbing, great position and all the summits, why not?


Summit of the Monk, Christian Brothers Traverse, Smith Rock

Brad has done it reverse and forwards a bunch. the dude is core solo.

Ya Brad did the FA I don't know anyone else thats repeated it. He could have done it more than once. So I figured solo was the best way to repeat it for my 23rd birthday.

Thanks. I encouraged Justen to go try and free Shitty Park but at the time his eyes were on longer routes. It's a sweet crack for sure. Say hi to Jake if you see him.

Darryl-

By chance did you take those pictures mountain biking? Assuming they're the same, I have always wondered about those little spires - did you hike over to them?

Orion

The Thumb on the Wombat at Smith is probably one of the most obscure summits out there. Either climb Santiam Highway Ledges (5.10a) or Cat Fight Cracks (5.10a X) or make a long involved ridge scramble from the summit of the Wombat. To quote Watt's "Only the most obsessive peak baggers with bother with this silly spire".


The Thumb (5.7), Smith Rock

Bill, thats great! Is it the Witch?

You don't recognize it but that's my fat ass.... I'm vowing to lose some weight for the New Years!

The Main Pillar at the Twin Pillars is a damn hard summit. I belive we climbed "The Campfire Route" F7 A3... It was kinda loose, sorta scary, but well worth it. I don't know anyone else that has climbed the Pillars. My guess is its been under 5 ascents. There was no trace of any rappel slings on the summit. Just one original bolt. Thanks Bryan for ripping it up out there with me!

wassup???? i know there are like 20+ more people who could contribute to this thread.

Ah, sandstone, now you're talking. That almost looks it's been transported from back home in SoIll or W. Ky.

Obviously there's been a big fire at Twin Pillars since I was last there about 8-9 years ago. Anyone know how much of the area burned? Stein's Pillar, Mill Creek canyon? Sorry to see that, it used to be a really pretty place.

I was thinking of the rabbit ears when I saw that picture....
but I did hike into the base of the twin pictures years back.
There was a bolt like that was missing hangers that looked like it could be fun.

Never heard of "F7"

ya on the think the south face there is a bolt like 15ft up missing a hanger i dont think there are any more... F7 was before the yos decimal system F = free F10 being the limit. the only spot where twin pillars are written up are in the dodge guide wich uses the original rating system. so ill stick with the original rating

Some trivia on Acker Rock.
We've varified that there is a buckwheat flower variety that has only been found to occur on Acker.
http://www.brit.org/fileadmin/Publicatio...BRIT3_2__21.pdf

Awesome thread, thanks contributors and Tyler for starting it up. I agree that pinnacles are kind of Oregon's strength as far as climbing goes, although questionable rock and horrible ancient fixed "bolt ladders" seem to be what these routes have in common.

In any case, this thread is a great psyche. Gonna have to hit the Menagerie and Callahan’s this summer and scare the shit out of myself

Tyler, have you climbed The Steeple, near Steins. is it easy to find.

Sorry I have no photos to post, although you can check out tha Abaxas TR posted in Nov 09. Is the Monument Oregon's largest pinnacle. I Guess that would be Mt Jefferson.

Here is a route that should be on every Oregon climber's to do list:

http://www.rockclimbing.com/routes/North...ding_94216.html

This route was one of the first 50 I climbed ever, when I first started climbing while going to school in Ashland. Stellar. There are actually a couple satellite pillars near Pilota and a couple of crags sprinkled around the Norcal border some right off I-5, some you have to get on the off roads that run around Hornbrook, the Buddhist Temple etc... some climbed, some not...

McKinley Rock


Double Chocolate rock, Callahans



Mind Planet, Callahans

Chandler Orton, riding the chicken, Menagerie.
Photo: Jim Anglin

Pitch-2 of Deer Leap moving into the solid columnar formations (450 feet). Photo: Harold Hall


Joe Chaves, swinging out onto the crux o Magic Blocks on the 250-foot Pilot Rock columns, Rogue.

[img]
December in the Callahans. Valley fog forms when cold air is trapped below the warmer air above.


Dave Tvedt making it look easy on Oregon sandstone.

Chandler Orton and Willie Long on Fantasy Island, Callhans.

T-Rex Spire, Jurassic Park

that is a super sweet tree on top

Only 4 established routes with room for more.


10 routes of three pitch climbing


120 foot columns of the Youtlkut Pillars.


Jerry Messinger at Rattlesnake's Rainy Day Cave, Rogue

Greg - Thanks for the memory - I also wonder why Eagle Rock has so few routes.

That's pretty cool. Great place.

Bump (This is a cool thread that is getting too far down in the list IMHO)


Close-up of Lonesome Spire-Hills Creek Spires
Bolt ladder runs up right arete

Bump cuz Mt Hood is FAHKING GEYH! Do people really give a shit about the 1,256,303 ascent of da South Side?

Anyways nice one Justin, did you guys climb it?