BirdDog

Nice. That one is on my list. How long did it take you on the actual climb?

Great write up & pics. Sweet!

I lead the 2nd pitch of Plank last night. A few tricky moves, but I didn't feel it was anything out the ordinary for a .10a route. I felt it was well protected for both the leader and follower. It is hard to here up there, maybe the OP had lot of slack in the system at the time in question; that could cause a pendulum off the edge and scrape the rope up.

Nice going folks! Was it as bad as Becky says it is?

Beautifully written, awesome shots. Nice!

We belayed most pitches,just because my partner felt more comfortable with that; but you could easily simul climb it. Prolly take about an hour to simul it. We used twin 30m ropes, maybe 6 - 8 pitches if I remember. There may be snow on the ridge this year though, don't know for sure. Have fun.

Did the route last year. Mostly 4th, easy 5th class climbing. Bring lot's of long slings, and some #6 to #10 stoppers. When you get to the base of the summit pyramid, head towards the prominant notch in the lower rib; then just stay on the rib. Rock is pretty solid. Great route! Here's a link to our TR http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=891998

In today’s news ….. four marines killed in Afghanistan, thirty-two shitties car bombed in Bagdad, unemployment claims rise, and everything since the Mesozoic era is Obama’s fault… Makes you want to move to Pluto, except Pluto doesn’t have much climbing. With an screaming itch to get out of town over the 4th, and a blown forecast for the alpine I threw out an e-mail for anyone interested in Smith Rocks. I’d been trading e-mails with a guy Greg for a year or so about climbing, but we were never able to coordinate until last weekend. Greg was meeting an old friend “Q” from the east coast at Smith, so I headed down to hook up with them and also met up with Frith and Sophia from cc.com and their friend Mark. Jefferson at Dawn It's warming up The six of us headed out to the crags on Saturday morning for some stellar climbing with temps in the 70’s. For six folks who had never climbed together before we had a blast. Sunday we headed over to the west side of the park, staying in the shade ‘till almost two o’clock. Climbing high above the Crooked River on stellar routes like “Screaming Yellow Zonkers” and “Moons of Pluto” among others, we enjoyed climbing on small nubbins while the snow covered peaks of the Oregon Cascades serving as our scenic backdrop. Nothing but comradery, smiles and fun. BirdDog on "Screaming Yellow Zonkers" an outstanding .10b, despite the fact there are no outstanding holds on the entire pitch.Greg searching for pockets.Sophia on the blcoky start of Moscow.'Q' working the cripms on "Ride the Lighting a .11b .Frith showing us how girls rock on the sustained 2nd pitch of "Trezlar" .10aIt's back- Rosie showing off her neon lycra - Moons of Pluto .10dThere's got to be a hold here somewhere. The rest of the group headed home Monday morning, I grabbed the mtn. bike and explored the park. After touring through the canyon, for some unexplained reason I stated riding up Burma Road, the steep ugly road cut northeast of the park. Sweating like an overheated pig, my quads screaming, I battled up the loose gravel in the afternoon heat. Having no idea of where I was going or why I was going, I ran onto a couple on their way down the road. A real nice pair of locals, they gave me some great directions for a long bike loop that connected back to the west side of the park. With my quads barely a degree shy of spontaneous internal combustion, I topped the grade and was greeted with a screaming two mile or so descent. Oh yea, all downhill now baby! Totally in the zone I rocketed down towards the river with enough speed to float over rocks, sand washes, and the occasional snake. Hooking a left after crossing the irrigation canal I followed indistinct game trails through the high shrub steppe forest. I jumped a giant jack rabbit the size of an average labrador, who high tailed (sic) it out of the way. A minute later I jumped a bedded mule deer out of the sack. Scared the holy bejesus out me, as I damned near rear ended the thing. Way out of control I narrowly escaped a high speed meeting with a gnarly old juniper which had been peacefully existing in the same spot since Buchanan was in the Whitehouse. All down hill now baby! Soon I picked up the single track near the river leading back to the park. Zipping along enjoying the scenery I didn’t see the kind pair of German tourists on the trail just around the tree. The gentleman grabbed his wife out of the path of my skidding front tire. I apologized, as they dusted themselves off. Kindly they shared their water and a ham and cheese sandwich with me, very tasty. And no I didn’t know where to get good Black Forest ham in Terrebonne Oregon, sorry. Very sweet older couple. I bade them well and wished Germany good luck in the World Cup. Got back to the bivy site I read the history of Smith from Alan Watts new guide, while enjoying a cold one. Very well written, congrats to Alan. On Sunday, Mark had kindly made a trip to get the rest of us more water. On the way he picked up a guy named Patrick, who climbed with us for a while. Tuesday morning I hung out with Patrick and another climber we had run into earlier in the trip. We shared coffee, breakfast, and stories. Patrick was heading to Montana that morning, and having no partner or plan I was loafing in the picnic area. A guy walks up and says “hey, do have a partner today, mine bailed?” We hooked up and headed down across the river towards the crags. Normally I would not hop on a multi pitch with someone I had never climbed with before, but this guy seemed solid. We grunted up Misery ridge trail and did a five pitch 5.8 route on Kiss of The Lepers, had a blast. East for the grade, but lots of fun climbing. Great partner! We grabbed our packs and headed back over Asterisk Pass. Running out of water we managed to get in several more pitches. Wes said “look, five gallon buckets is open and in the shade, you’ve got to do it.” Tired, parched, and pumped; I struggled up on an easy lead on jug holds and huecos big enough to stuff a great dane in; fun climb though I was done for the day. Arriving back at camp at 7PM, I had no food left and I was going to have to take a trip to town. Too parched and wrecked to drive at that point I dragged my lawn chair and a bag of granola scraps over to a spot of shade. Spent, I slumped into the chair only to hear “Are you hungry?” It was a gal I had bestowed the “most stuff ever to be crammed into a Subaru award” earlier that morning. “Come over, we’ve got lots of stir fry; hello I’m Dixie” she said with a smile. I joined her and her two partners. I’m not talking just camp grade stir fry here, or the msg impregnated hu fung yuk you get at the local Imperial Gardens dive. This was gourmet! We’re talking great food served on real plates, with knives and forks no less. No wonder they had so much stuffed in that Outback. My partner Wes joined us when he emerged from the shower. Good food, and good folks; and I didn’t have to drag myself to town. What more could a donkey want. A few weeks ago I was climbing with a guy some twenty years younger than myself. He asked me what had changed in the past thirty years. We were camped at Eightmile, and I responded with “people are less friendly, less open now. BITD, folks would be wondering all over, to each other’s camps, sharing a joint or beer, shooting the shit.” Well I’m happy to saying that spirit is live and well at Smith, at least last week. Watched the sunset with a couple from Vancouver, shared some wine with others. Four kids in an old an 70’s Ford van pulled into the parking lot. They had a uke, banjo, guitar, and a cello. Kicked back half in, half out of the van, they jammed out some tunes. I joined someone sitting in the gravel listening to them play as the last orange light faded to the west. A few other folks quietly joined us until there was a small crowd sitting cross legged in the dirt, the sky turning black as stars emerged. A warm desert wind wrapped around us. Friends have been telling me to get a Facebook page… eh. I’ve met a lot of good people of the years, 99% of which I have never kept in contact with. Maybe I’ll get that Facebook page going. ….it’s all good…. End of another fine day

Congrats on getting that one ticked off the list guys. Very impressive, give new meaning to "traverse". Tom, now you can quit eyeballing that thing everytime we drive by on the way to L-worth. Good write-up Tom, nice bumping into you last night.

Excellent write-up Dan, nice pics. Way to get it done.

Found a rope bag at Smith Rocks on Tues. 7/6. PM and identify it; I'll get it to you.

There's a restroom at pan point?

Cool, good to know. Thanks!

Thinking of heading to Smith for a few days. Anyone venture to guess if there's space at the walk-in campground? Always full, maybe if you get there early, etc...?

Nice, way to go. Great pics, love the summit hand stand.

Beautiful set of photos - outstanding! Thanks.

Condom - extra large.

PM sent

Yea, great show! Thanks to Dave & Chris, very entertaining. Otto, nice meeting you there.

Absolutely awesome TR! I was wondering what you have been up to. Congrats. The summit register pics are something else, must have cool to see that. Well done guys.

Otto; Thanks you much for your hard work making the climb safer and more enjoyable. Great photos.

I pretty sure it was the Hamm's bear. Since Hamm's is no longer made the bear was looking to booty some similar tasting shit.

The point release was after the main fracture as the debris can be seen covering the bed of the main fracture. That said the small slab to the right of the point release and above the main fracture could have been the principle trigger. Amazing to see it rip wall to wall. Yup, I think you're correct; didn't see that the debris from above was fresher than the main slide.

Look to me like a smaller slide from above may have started the large slab release below? Cool photo.

emalclimber; Haven't been up Rianier for some time, so I don't think I could help you there. However I want to thank you, your buddies, and all the men and women who serve us and keep us and many others free. THANK YOU and good luck!