EWolfe Posted May 10, 2004 Share Posted May 10, 2004 Climb: SmithRock Spring Thing TR-Front Side Smiffy Date of Climb: 5/8/2004 Trip Report: After a 6 hour drive from the Ham, picking up Alpinfox onroute (Wolf and a Fox inna mo-bile hizzouse), we arrived at the grasslands to the sight of hundreds of campers, mobilehomes, all with horse trailers LITERALLY SURROUNDING the grasslands park. WTF? It turns out that the same weekend there is a horse endurance race (think Hidalgo) and this is their base. There's even a gut-wagon, complete with generator just outside the camping area. And beautiful horses? Oh, my. We throw out the PLAB sign to see who will go for the troll haha! and get some bites. Alpinfox and I climbed on Friday: Teddy Bears Picnic, TR Powerline on Karate wall, thn over to the relatively new area by Blackened. Missed onsites of that and a c (I suck), but got thru them **burly**. Temps were 68-70, perfect climbing day! Saturday: SunSpot breakfast, then to the work. AF and I signed up for the Go Dog area, as there is a new route we are putting up this fall there (.11+ sweet arete). Pandora and Texplorer were there when we arrived, as well as my old roomate from Bend, Steve ( who now owns Timberline Mtn Guides with another friend, Pete). Good to see folks, hellos around. Then I introduce myself to the project manager who looks strikingly familiar. Hmmmm..... Brian.... We figure it out. We were bicycle couriers for ENA in Seattle together back in '95, and haven't crossed paths until this day. This is a good day. I am infused with such great energy to have so much confluence in a period of a couple of hours...WOW! The work: The basalt rock retaining walls replace the unsightly and poisonous treated lumber. Thanks to the Smith Rock Group and Brian for figuring that one out,and getting the basalt on-site! (WAY THUMBS UP!) Psyched about the day, I decide to try some climbs I put up some years ago to confirm the grades, and find out: a) nobody does them, and b) one was hard and scary (serious .10c, not fun .10b).I do a few more climbs and head up to help with food set-up at 3. I went to the "Smith Rock Office" a multi-acres parcel overlooking the Marsupials at the end of Northern Point Road. This is Ian Caldwells "Office", and a more deserving person I cannot imagine. We set up for the dinner feast (Additional bee...er... gear notes: 1 keg Black Butte Porter, 1 keg Quail Springs IPA). Later, after burritos and refreshments, Brittany Griffith and Timmy O'Neill did a great slide show. Brittany is beautiful and entertaining, and Timmy is flat-out hilarious: a winning combination. Alpinfox won a couple of 'biners and a much-needed new cap in the raffle. Timmy kept a constant dialogue during the bidding and raffle, providing much entertainment. My friend Brian was doing much of the auction/raffling and had a funny fixation on a certain anti-spasmotic product, and would outbid all in the stands (pointing at himself while upping the bid). Very entertaining, all in all. Unfortunately, the IPA's are my favorite and kick-ass strong, so after the auction and a good buzz later, we decided that whiskey was a good idea. The next day was not as fun. You know it is going to be a rough day when the requisite advil, big greasy breakfast, and loads of coffee and water do little to help. At the crag, I sketched up a moderate .10, threw my harness in and called it a day. Followed by long sleep-off in the parking lot when the hair of the dog didn't help, then home. Great people all around! Good to see: Muffy, Badvoodoo, Pandora, Skyclimb, Texplorer, RBW1966, DFA, ShadyApex, Brian, Mary, Dave and to meet the new ranger, Thad An excellent day, and according to ex-Smith-ranger Dave's calculations, we did $28,000 woerth of work in ONE DAY AS VOLUNTEERS! You all rock! Erik Gear Notes: Leather Gloves, Chainsaws, shovels,picks, drills, axes, quickdraws, mallets, enthusiasm, good folks, wheelbarrows, crawlers, tractors and trucks. Shoulda had: less beer ;p Approach Notes: Difficult 4th class at points negotiating projects under construction whilst bearing loads. Difficult approach on sunday (easy 2nd class) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carolyn Posted May 10, 2004 Share Posted May 10, 2004 sounds like fun and a great turnout! Wish I wasnt so far away. I really like smith. So, did you guys sleep with the horses all weekend? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texplorer Posted May 10, 2004 Share Posted May 10, 2004 Damn I'm not destined for volunteer work. I dropped a huge stone on my foot and could barely climb all weekend. Nevertheless it always feels good to give back. Hope to see you all next year and more. Did they mention we got free chock, gumbie stickers, and burritos. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iain Posted May 10, 2004 Share Posted May 10, 2004 Nice work guys, looks like great weather! I'm always amazed with Oregon in the spring. We were just a short drive away and in full-on winter mode: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivan Posted May 10, 2004 Share Posted May 10, 2004 sweet weekend, even though i only got to stay for saturday. enjoyed climbing w/ a lurker for the first time, meeting skyclimb and seeing the exotic pandora for all of 10 seconds before launching up moscow. how'd that go, ya'll? i made the last pitch about 65 meters long, and it occured to me towards the end that ya'll were probably totally out of gear. i had nothing big enough for that final wide crack and ended up grunting up it in a deranged religious frenzy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryland_moore Posted May 10, 2004 Share Posted May 10, 2004 Iain, crazy! We headed up to Prouty Point from the Pole Creek TH yesterday and had really nice weather except for a light set of flurries that came for about 5 minutes on the descent. Other than that, it was comfy weather and zero wind. Good job guys on the clean-up! Thank you for keeping Smiff such an amzing place! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpinfox Posted May 10, 2004 Share Posted May 10, 2004 (edited) Nice TR Mr.E. Fun in the sun, lots of , some , some , lots of , and a bit too much ! It was great to climb with lots of different folks I'd never climbed with before including Pandora, BadVoodoo, The Muffster, and some non-cc.comer friends from PDX. I'll check my pictures soon and see if I got any good ones. p.s. I think the thing we toproped on Karate Wall is actually called "Crossfire". pps. Photos from BadVoodoo Edited May 10, 2004 by Alpinfox Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skyclimb Posted May 10, 2004 Share Posted May 10, 2004 What a great weekend. This group of people on this site always amazes me. Every time we do a rope-up I come away making new friends and doing a lot of really great climbing. I also usually aquire a wicked nasty hangover. Mister E how you doin dude Thanks to everyone for making this weekend so positive Badvodoo, those pictures rock! Still droooooooling over that beal 9.4 that was raffled. Ivan, that was crazy running into you like that. the problem on Moscow wasn't not having enough gear, it was having a 50 meter rope. Ended up running out of rope a LONG ways above my last piece without anywhere close to place a belay. Had to down climb to a ledge, and set up another belay. I was glad I got the 3.5 back for that last exit crack! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iain Posted May 10, 2004 Share Posted May 10, 2004 saw some photos of people climbing Toys in the Attic. Hope you washed your hands afterwards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr_Flash_Amazing Posted May 11, 2004 Share Posted May 11, 2004 Hey, that was a figgity-fine weekend. It was great to see completed projects on Sunday: - Major overhaul/upgrade of the trail and belay areas at Shipwreck, including a lot of work on the trail to the upper part of the crag - Epic restructuring in Aggro gully, with major improvements in the trail over to The Chickening, and the trail up to the main part of the Aggro Wall - Re-installation and addition of ca. 20 steps from the Phoenix (the toilet, not the buttress) up to Morning Glory - Completion of the Great Wall of Morning Glory, and the associated stairs and terracing. Kick ass. - New stairs up to the Peanut, and general trail sprucing - MisterE's proj, above -- it's about time the Chain Reaction Death Zone was remedied (perhaps you've noticed that if you walk from West to East past Chain, you have about a 50/50 chance of slipping and falling on your ass, due to some strange loose gravel/gravitational vortex The free coffee and loot were great in the a.m., and the Deschutes suds and monster burritos were a fab combo to finish the day off. And of course the slides 'n' raffle 'n' auction were great, as always, and complete with a touching Ranger Dave farewell this year. While it was nice to meet, briefly, Mr. MisterE and Mr. AlpinFox, they, as well as the loose-lipped [H]explorer, will be missed. Tragically but predictably, their zeal for discovering and disclosing Dr. Flash Amazing's true identity will have led, by now, to their having met with tragic "accidents" courtesy of the DFA Identity Breach Containment Unit, which is part of AmazingCo Inc.'s secretive Black Ops Bureau. Sadly, despite repeated black helicopter buzzings, flagrant tailings, mail theft, blackmail, and direct warnings and threats, the trio could not resist continuing to toe the line between boldness and stupidity, eventually falling face-first onto the latter side of that line, and reaping the bitter rewards of their folly. Obituaries, eulogies, grievances, and requests for remains can be sent to: AmazingCo, Inc. Attn: Disappeared Persons Public Relations Front 13 Amazing Place, Ste. 999 Aurora, IL 60507 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpinfox Posted May 11, 2004 Share Posted May 11, 2004 Your secret is safe with me Ms. Amazing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr_Flash_Amazing Posted May 11, 2004 Share Posted May 11, 2004 Ah, apparently one of our contestants has chosen to opt out of macabre disposal at the hands of the DFAIBCU and go for the AmazingCo, Inc. Witness Protection/Indentured Servitude Program. A wise choice, Grasshopper. Enjoy your new life in Brazil! When your 14-hour shift mixing resin for plastic holds wraps up, sometimes they'll let you out of the factory to swim in the ocean before the evening shift! DFA will put in a good word for you, but the overseers down there are barely under AmazingCo's control, so don't get your hopes up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EWolfe Posted May 11, 2004 Author Share Posted May 11, 2004 LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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