Trip: Smith Rocks - Birds in a Rut
Date: 1/5/2010
Trip Report:With the shiny new Watt's guidebook in hand, The Captain and I set off to enjoy Smith Rock at it's finest... Cold and empty of people.
After spending a night in the dirt, we awoke to a sign of the impending collapse of society and all that is good. Terrorists have removed the fee box from Skull Hollow! How are we to pay for our patch of dirt now? For those upstanding climbers wishing to avoid this experience, the climber's bivy at the Smith Rock State Park is more than happy to take your money.
On to the climbing.
Day one saw us at the Dihedrals with some friends out of Eugene. In addition to us, one party was in the area that day. It pays to climb in the cold After climbing the hard new route called "Cinnamon Slab" and making friends with the leader of the other party in the area, we retired to rest and drink a fine champagne made by the Busch company at Skull Hollow.
Day two was spent in quiet contemplation in the Textbooks with our new friend Mike. After sharing a splendid 40 of Pabst Blue Ribbon-what a fine beer that is- we climbed throughout the day, finishing up on "Prom Night", a crack of questionable reputation.
Day Three was spent wandering about, clanking our hexes and cams together so the 5 other people in the park could know we were climbers. I see this as a very important part of climbing. Over lunch we smeared chalk on each other and shouted climbing specific terms across the gorge. I climbed "5-gallon Buckets" since there was no waiting line to get on it. Very fun, felt quite heroic ascending the huge gas pockets and jugs. I was ritually flogged back at camp for clipping bolts and feeling good about it.
Day four saw bad weather on the forecast and intermittent rain. This day was the highlight of the trip. The Captain, Mike and I journeyed out to The Wombat to attempt "Birds in a Rut" a 6 pitch Sprad route featured in the new guidebook. Lots of loose holds and slightly moist lichen on this route, sure to please! I narrowly avoided pulling a pile of boulders off on the second pitch when attempting the 5.8 variation. I backed off and finished normally after pushing the bottom boulder back into place. Be wary of the boulders making up the hand crack if you like your friends. The rain really started midway through the 4th pitch, and the lichen began to exude a substance closely resembling snot. It was at this point we bailed off using the gear we had bootied previously.
We finished the day clanking gear together and drinking in the rain. I recommend this route. Awesome views and a fun approach.
Gear Notes:Keep outside of pack or on harness so it can clank around, let the tourists know who's boss. The new Watt's guidebook is awesome, be sure to make friends with someone who has one. I also cannot recommend sweatpants enough.
Approach Notes:Fun approach, bring beer.
Nice Joe and Kirk!
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