[TR] Broughton's Bluff -- Rock climbing newb - Sesame Street, Sheer Stress, Classic Crack, Sickle 9/5/2008

[bradleym]

Trip: Broughton's Bluff -- Rock climbing newb - Sesame Street, Sheer Stress, Classic Crack, Sickle

 

Date: 9/5/2008

 

Trip Report:

For a little over a year, I have been learning to climb rock. Apart from a few bouldering skirmishes down at the beach, I have always climbed indoors at a climbing gym, either Stoneworks or The Circuit. Before the summer was out, I wanted to climb outside at least once, to get the experience and to see how well I might do. So yesterday I hired Matt from Stoneworks to be my ropegun, and we spent several hours at Broughton's Bluff, a basalt crag located right next to the Sandy River and the entrance to the Columbia Gorge.

 

First, we warmed up on a few approach pitches to the 'Sesame Express' route which is up higher. The first one, shown below, is rated 5.7, and was not bad for my first outdoor climb. You work your way up the central pillar with the two prominent cracks on either side of it, then, once above you traverse a bit left, heave yourself over the block and scoot through a small chimney towards the tree visible at the top.

 

Then we tried the route just to the right of the first one, rated 5.8, which requires a bit of stemming and chimney work, but which wasn't too difficult either. On each of these first two routes the hardest thing for me was trusting the rope, the holds and my feet to keep me on the rock.

 

The third route was my first real challenge. Rated 5.9, it is straightforward column work until you get about a third of the way up. Then you must use a largish crack off to the left and heave yourself up over a hump, where the beginner feels a lot more exposed, and you must stem in a much more committed way to succeed. By the time I got over the hump, which required a bit of fisting inside the crack, I was a bit torched and had to rest splayed over the hump. Then it was (for me) very slow careful work on my tip-toes and some small crimpers, all off-balance a bit, before I could reach some nice edges and complete the route. I did it!

 

After a short rest, Matt thought I could try something a little more difficult, so we hauled our gear up the trail to the 'Red Wall'. Its a beautiful series of basalt flows that turns a more reddish hue as it climbs. The photographs don't do it justice.

 

First I had a shot at 'Sheer Stress', rated 5.10. You start on the chalky holds a bit left of the corner. Then you traverse right towards the little crack with all the chalk, and work your way up to the bomber hold about a third of the way up. It feels great to match both hands on that hold and just lean back on your arms to stretch. Above that, you traverse a bit left to share a ledge with some spiders and nettles. I accidentally destroyed a spider's beautiful web, for which I apologized profusely, but I was paid out by getting a tiny nettle barb in my left pinkie, the kind you cannot see but you know is there. I rested a bit, before pressing onward and upward to the right of the nettles towards another chalky edge that felt good to get on and hang. Then comes the crux. The bolts, and end of the route, are on the little face to the right, at about the same level as the tree branches that are visible in the upper right of the photograph. Hanging on the edge, you bring your feet up high, so you are stemming on either side, then reach with one hand up and around to where there is a nice flake. For me, it was a minimal dyno-move, and I was nervous. But I did it, then hauled my carcase up to the bolts, to complete a 5.10a. I was pretty stoked!

 

Being all impressed with myself, and after some rest, I next decided I wanted a go at 'Classic Crack'. Matt warned me that the hardest thing about that route is that it has been climbed so much that the holds are all polished smooth. He ran up (as always) without apparent effort to set the rope, and I watched what he did. Then it was my turn. Things began well, and I made my way steadily up through the large crack at the bottom, and fisted into the smaller crack above it and hauled myself up, left foot on small holds off to the left and my right foot torqued into the back of the large crack. The next move was to fist thumb down into the next smallish crack with the right hand, place your weight on your left foot and bring the right toes up to torque into the small crack you just left. While in that position, you then bring your left hand up and fist, thumb down, just above your right hand. I was able to do that, but my left foot kept popping off and it was taking a lot of strength to keep my right hand in the crack. Those holds are indeed slick! I just didn't have the strength or balance to press up on my right, torqued, toes (my knee was in my chest) and here I collapsed and took my first fall of the day. A toprope fall isn't really a fall though. I rested a couple of minutes and tried again. I managed to get a bit higher, and then I tried a little lie-backing to see if that might work, but the realization eventually came that I wasn't getting up there today.

 

So I came down and we packed up to go back over where we had started. There is a good 5.8+ route, known as the 'Sickle' for a curved crack about two-thirds of the way up. First, we hiked up around the back and set the rope, and then I rappelled down, and Matt got a couple shots of me. I wore my helmet on all climbs, but had forgotten to bring it up here.

 

My final route of the day involved relatively straightforward climbing up some vertical columns and some chimney work to get onto a ledge about halfway up. I went up the line followed by the right-hand strand of rope in the photograph. Above the ledge, it got hard, at least for an old guy who was already a bit tired out.

 

The name of the route comes from the curved crack, shown below, in which you have to make several big-fist moves. There weren't many available toe-holds (at least not obvious ones to a beginner) and you feel pretty exposed (about 40 feet up). Setting my right arm into that crack, making a fist, then pushing out with my feet to lever myself up was probably the scariest thing I did all day, followed by doing the same with my left fist and releasing my right. At that point you are close enough to an arete on the left, that you can stabilize yourself and get your left foot on some good holds. Above that, there is a flake running diagonally up and right, and you work your way along that, bringing feet up to provide stability. Then it is a small chimney, which I did by fisting into cracks either side of a small block at the back. It felt good to slap those bolts! I must have sounded like a steam train as I went through the crux, and it gives me shivers to imagine leading it.

 

Then Matt lowered me off, I sat gasping for a few minutes, and we packed up to leave. I was toasted, and Matt didn't want to climb anything at his level since he had climbed hard each of the preceding three days. It was a fantastic day (for me) and Matt at least acted as though he'd had a good time...

 

When I arrived home in mid-afternoon I discovered that Sally and the kids had been doing scientific experiments. One had gone horribly wrong, and now Ewan was transformed into a zombie. See what rock-climbing can lead to?

 

Gear Notes:

toprope, couple of cams to lead up to set toprope.

 

Approach Notes:

shoes, feet

[hemp22]

Nice job. Looks like fun and a great introduction to outdoor climbing. Welcome to the portland climbing scene!

[ivan]

sweet - next you gotta go out to beacon and see what a BIG rock looks like!

[texplorer]

This is how it starts bradley. You head outside, head to smith every weekend, your wife starts getting mad at your "addiction", you discover trad, buy 2 grand worth of gear, you head to yosemite, buy 2 grand of more gear, you wife threatens to leave . . .you think about how much more climbing you could do, you climb your first bigwall, you wife leaves you, you redpoint your first 5.12, you quit your job to roadtrip, you start doing FA's, . . . . . . you can call yourself a climber. Yep, have fun.

[ivan]

This is how it starts bradley. You head outside, head to smith every weekend, your wife starts getting mad at your "addiction", you discover trad, buy 2 grand worth of gear, you head to yosemite, buy 2 grand of more gear, you wife threatens to leave . . .you think about how much more climbing you could do, you climb your first bigwall, you wife leaves you, you redpoint your first 5.12, you quit your job to roadtrip, you start doing FA's, . . . . . . you can call yourself a climber. Yep, have fun.

you forgot the other path there tex - you discover sport climbing, change your name to carl, start wearing pink spandex, then wake up one morning next to some guy named gary that you met at a rest stop bathroom

[bradleym]

Nice job. Looks like fun and a great introduction to outdoor climbing. Welcome to the portland climbing scene!

 

it was super fun! thanks, and i'm glad to be here.

[bradleym]

sweet - next you gotta go out to beacon and see what a BIG rock looks like!

 

i've walked up beacon several times, but never climbed there. the thought makes me pucker a bit, but maybe sometime you real climbers will let me tag along to carry stuff or be the belay slave or something.

 

but it will have to be next july, as next saturday i'm off to Scotland for 3 weeks......

[bradleym]

This is how it starts bradley. You head outside, head to smith every weekend, your wife starts getting mad at your "addiction", you discover trad, buy 2 grand worth of gear, you head to yosemite, buy 2 grand of more gear, you wife threatens to leave . . .you think about how much more climbing you could do, you climb your first bigwall, you wife leaves you, you redpoint your first 5.12, you quit your job to roadtrip, you start doing FA's, . . . . . . you can call yourself a climber. Yep, have fun.

 

this is already happening, but i have a plan. take it slowly - the boiled frog approach - and get my kids involved. they already love climbing at the gym...and my wife has offered to belay.

 

and after 20 years with me, she's already been through several other obsessions of mine -- grad school, running, guitars, etc. we just joke that this is my latest mid-life crisis. she's cool.

[bradleym]

This is how it starts bradley. You head outside, head to smith every weekend, your wife starts getting mad at your "addiction", you discover trad, buy 2 grand worth of gear, you head to yosemite, buy 2 grand of more gear, you wife threatens to leave . . .you think about how much more climbing you could do, you climb your first bigwall, you wife leaves you, you redpoint your first 5.12, you quit your job to roadtrip, you start doing FA's, . . . . . . you can call yourself a climber. Yep, have fun.

you forgot the other path there tex - you discover sport climbing, change your name to carl, start wearing pink spandex, then wake up one morning next to some guy named gary that you met at a rest stop bathroom

 

i want to learn trad, but i used to be a competitive runner so i'm very familiar with the spandex. pink though...