[TR] Solo Aid Trip Smith Rock Oregon - West Face -

[Plaidman]

Trip: Solo Aid Trip Smith Rock Oregon - West Face - Monkey Face

 

Date: 10/30/2009

 

Trip Report:

Solo Aid Trip

 

I finally finished a project started last year. I wanted to solo aid Windsurfer at Beacon Rock. The first attempt was aborted about 30 ft. from the ground by a bomb threat at the bathroom in the parking lot. What that had to do with me on the other side of the rock was never explained to me. But I was required to come down to be interviewed.

I didn’t get back to finish the unfinished business till this year.

 

It looked like it would rain on Sunday and I thought well I am aiding, rain wont change that too much. Except that when placing gear over my head with the rain running down my arm could be cold. But I don’t get cold so that is a bonus. Must be the Scottish blood running in my veins. I did look into buying a kayaking paddle jacket with rubber grommets on the sleeves to keep the water out. It may work.

I set off down the path to my nemesis with all the gear I own. Quite a load of junk that I would only use half of on the route I was doing. Hauling all that stuff around keeps me in shape. I think.

 

The route took me 6 hours. 100 ft. Solo Aid. I spent a lot of time on the anchor and placed a whole lot of pieces to keep me off the deck. I am slow I know but I am still learning.

Solo aiding is really great for the head. I am totally consumed when I am on route. Time just speeds by. I have got to get faster though. Practice perform apply and execute.

I was told to speed up, get higher in my aiders and place as high as possible.

I finished that project and thought to myself what next.

I had wanted to do the West Face of the Monkey Face so I drove down to Smith Rock on Thursday night and camped woke up at 3:00 am and got on the trail at 4:00 am.

 

I had all my gear again. Except no gear over 2 inches. I saved a little weight. Not enough.

Two ropes, 6 pounds of water, and all my junk. It was almost as heavy as the three wet ropes I hauled out earlier in the week. Wet ropes are heavy. Just in case you were wondering.

It took me 2 ½ hours to trudge over to the Monkey Face. Stumbling around in the dark I missed a key split in the trail and ended up taking the wrong long way. It was a little detour. It was a bit disconcerting as I wondered where the hell I was. I was fairly certain I was in Oregon. I was encouraged though as the trail was not as steep on this detour.

Made it to the Monkey Face and started looking for the 5 bolts for the start of this route.

It took me a while in the dark. I could not see the crack so which set of bolt is it?

Hmmm. I figured it out and started racking up. I was not moving real fast.

But finally I was ready to fire off on this route using slow bullets.

My buddy told me to just tie a figure 8 on a bight on a locking biner for the first bolt and then leave some slack and do the same on the next two bolts. I thought I would do one better and equalize the 2nd and 3rd bolt with a 48 inch runner. It took a lot of time but the anchor for a solo aid system is kind of important. If nothing else it assists in be able to move up at all. No confidence. No movement. At least that is how it works for me.

I was using a modified Gri Gri and tying in short every so often to back that up.

Well it took an hour for me to get to the crack. I was not getting up in my aiders third step was the best I could do. I had a cheater stick. I was using my telescoping walking stick with duct tape. I would tape a biner to the stick with the gate taped open with the aider in the biner. I can reach a long way with that cheater stick. It’s not really cheating if you are aiding anyway. Anything goes. Except like doing something stupid like chipping or bolting right next to the perfectly good crack. I didn’t do that. I had to use the cheater stick once on the lower section of bolts as the person that set up the bolts must have been 10 feet tall. I am a stubby 5 foot 7 inches. The total reach of my cheater stick itself is 4 feet 6 inches. That makes up for the height of the 10 foot tall person that put these bolts in.

I got into the 5.11 crack and started plugging gear. I used Small nuts, hexes, tricams, and brass nuts. I love placing gear. I put in a lot of gear to start off and equalized several pieces to keep me off the deck. For the whole pitch I used only 3 cams. As I got about half way I was able to get up to the second step of my aiders consistently. Three times I got up in the top step. The top section went much faster.

One of my buddies from Beacon Rock showed up and took some pictures and was climbing the West Face Variation. So I had a little company on the route.

Hikers would periodically come around the corner and gaze up and ask a few questions. One guy came around the corner and was so shocked to see me up there he almost fell down. I had the route all to myself not another soul.

I took my time and was going for milking the learning and experience. That is my excuse for going so slow. I got up to the bolts at the top of the pitch and saw that I would maybe have to make a free move. It looked like a mantle up on a ledge system. I was aiding so no free move for me. There was a bolt to the left of the anchor so I got out the cheater stick and performed the cheat by putting a 48 inch runner on the biner and then placing a biner to attach my aiders to the runner. My telescoping walking stick was completely extended and I was in the second step on my aider. It only took me 5 ½ hours to do the first pitch. I was smoked and hot by that time. I bailed off by setting up a rap with my haul line and lead rope. Cleaned the route on rappel and caulked up the outing as a bench mark to train against. I wouldn’t have to work too hard to improve that time. The Huber brothers could have climbed El Cap twice in the time it took me to climb that one pitch. At least I know what gear to bring and what to leave behind.

I had fun I think and I learned a lot. Next time bring faster bullets.

 

Monkey Face West Face Videos:

 

Monkey Face West Face Start

 

Monkey Face West Face Firing Off With Slow Bullets

 

Monkey Face West Face Last Bolt On Bottom

 

Monkey Face West Face Get To Bolt

 

Monkey Face West Face Almost At The Top

 

 

Monkey Face West Face Post Report - Last Move

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gear Notes:

Too much gear always. Only had one offset nut. Didn't use it.

Only use three cams.

.3 Rock Empire, Yellow Alien, red #1 Camalot

Had hooks. Could have used them on last move.

Used cheater stick instead.

 

Approach Notes:

Follow trail in the dark. Bring brighter headlamp so I don't miss turn off.

Edited November 3, 2009 by Plaidman

[billcoe]

Righteous, speed is nice, but not hitting the deck is much nicer:-) Equalizing dicey placements close to the ground and taking a little extra time to set em and check em isn't a bad idea!

 

Good Job Scott.

[stevetimetravlr]

Good on ya Scott! Way to be aggro. Takes allot of motivation to haul all that gear around,and all the way to Monkey Face by yourself, yikes.

[Ishmael]

nice TR. I really liked the first pitch of that route when I climbed this spring.

[ivan]

hey, i recall that bomb-thang too - an old shitty cooler left by the trash can no doubt so someone could have it if they wanted but instead probably taken out into the middle of a field and blown up

 

man, the beacon crowd really represents well when we go abroad

 

bill, weren't you saying the 1st pitch of the west face had to go in 30 minutes?

 

did you offset nuts scott? those things fucking rawk on smiff aid routes, much more so that at the beacon-wand - go back and do the rest, and spend the night in the cave - you'll dig it!

Edited November 3, 2009 by ivan

[JosephH]

Plaid, I eyeballed those first bolts when I did it and just clipped the first one with a locker and alpine butterflied an extended alpine draw on the second such that the first biner was tensioned up. Good for you for getting creative though that might have been a bit of over kill. FWIW, my general take on aiding is that your instinct is for 'art & perfection' in placements, but the timeline keeps asking "is it good enough to stand on and would it hold a fall" - seemed like the key was to stay at least somewhat focused on the next piece and less OCD about the current one...

[ivan]

i'll beat tyler to recommend skipping the bolt ladder on the upper part of the west face in lieu of swing'n round and doing the nw passage once atop p1 of the west face - much kewler and practically no bolts.

[Rafe1234]

a bit disconcerting as I wondered where the hell I was. I was fairly certain I was in Oregon.

 

lol

[LostCamKenny]

hey, i recall that bomb-thang too - an old shitty cooler left by the trash can no doubt so someone could have it if they wanted but instead probably taken out into the middle of a field and blown up

 

Yeah, it musta been terrorists or something I heard it was full of candy wrappers and fir cones - truly dangerous stuff

[justinp]

Gear Notes:

Too much gear always. Only had one offset nut. Didn't use it.

Only use three cams.

.3 Rock Empire, Yellow Alien, red #1 Camalot

Had hooks. Could have used them on last move.

Used cheater stick instead.

 

I heart nuts to! (wait a minute that sounds kind of gay)

 

Nice job Plaidman

[luvshaker]

Way to go! man that brings back the memeories... I think it took me three tries to solo the W. face. One of them I never got on the wall. I loaded up the 60+ pound pack and thought it would be faster to ride my Mt. bike around the southern tip. Unfortunately I forgot my clipstick was sticking out of the top of my haulbag and caught a tree pulling me backwards off my bike to the ground. I duct taped my clipstick to the frame of my bike to finish the ride only to find another party of 4 starting the route.

[JosephH]

The day I did it I humped everything over the pass to the base only to discover I'd left my harness in the car. Would have just tied into the end of the rope if I'd been free climbing, but as it was I ended up doing a fairly brutal run there and back. Ugh, but thankfully no one got on it in the meantime.

[LostCamKenny]

The day I did it I humped everything over the pass to the base only to discover I'd left my harness in the car.

dood, that sucks... swami belt?!?

[letsroll]

Yo Plaidman. Nice work. I have been thinking about doing the same after what seems an endless run of failed attemps to get partners up there.

[justinp]

Yo Plaidman. Nice work. I have been thinking about doing the same after what seems an endless run of failed attemps to get partners up there.

 

I'll go

[denalidave]

Plaidman, I took quite a few pics of you from the 1st belay anchor on our line but not with my camera. If I ever get the pics taken with my buddies camera, I will send them over. (We traded cameras while on route so I could get pics of him with his and vice-versa.) Not sure if I will ever see the pics I took with his camera though.

[Plaidman]

Way to go! man that brings back the memeories... I think it took me three tries to solo the W. face. One of them I never got on the wall. I loaded up the 60+ pound pack and thought it would be faster to ride my Mt. bike around the southern tip. Unfortunately I forgot my clipstick was sticking out of the top of my haulbag and caught a tree pulling me backwards off my bike to the ground. I duct taped my clipstick to the frame of my bike to finish the ride only to find another party of 4 starting the route.

 

Thanks dude. That is a great story!

LOL LOL

[denalidave]

Gear Notes:

Too much gear always. Only had one offset nut. Didn't use it.

Only use three cams.

.3 Rock Empire, Yellow Alien, red #1 Camalot

Had hooks. Could have used them on last move.

Used cheater stick instead.

 

I heart nuts to! (wait a minute that sounds kind of gay)

 

"Not that there is anything wrong with that"...

[justinp]

Gear Notes:

Too much gear always. Only had one offset nut. Didn't use it.

Only use three cams.

.3 Rock Empire, Yellow Alien, red #1 Camalot

Had hooks. Could have used them on last move.

Used cheater stick instead.

 

I heart nuts to! (wait a minute that sounds kind of gay)

 

"Not that there is anything wrong with that"...

 

Yes! perhaps I should have worded that a little PC! Either way I still like nuts. In fact I am off to by some shiny new DMM brass offsets!

[billcoe]

hey, i recall that bomb-thang too - an old shitty cooler left by the trash can no doubt so someone could have it if they wanted but instead probably taken out into the middle of a field and blown up

 

Yeah, it musta been terrorists or something I heard it was full of candy wrappers and fir cones - truly dangerous stuff

 

I heard that that someone had cleaned up someone elses leftover trash and then set it near the garbage can when it didn't fit inside: That it was primarily just empty beer bottles along with some trash. LOL! If true, it's another nail in the statement that "No good deed shall go unpunished". The bomb squad was probably both disappointed and thirsty at some point. Fortunately, this solo went better than that last climb where you were forced off your climb by concerned authorities Scott. If nothing else I would have liked to have been there just to see the confused look on your face when they arrived and told you to come down.

 

"whuuhuhh huh happen what huh? but but but....I'm just climbing here ya know...."

 

 

bill, weren't you saying the 1st pitch of the west face had to go in 30 minutes?

 

I can't say about "had to go" Ivan. But it will easily go. One time Andrew timed me and I was under 30 min. I forget exactly...28.10 or whatever he said....Would have had a better time but ran out of biners and was sorting and racking and scrounging to get more up high. So I did P1 and rapped and he tells me he was timing me and how fast I did it....I was feeling pretty good and then he runs up it and I timed him sub 25 min. something. I suspect he's had better times as well. But I've never soloed it, and have a lot of respect for anyone who does no matter what their time is. Joseph makes a good point about time up above as it relates to soloists though.

 

However, last time I did it with Ujahn, it was butt-assed cold with howling wind (which is why we went aiding instead of free climbing) and the wind was literally blowing my aiders sideways. I wasn't anywhere near 25 min as it took 2-1/2 hours on just P1. Each step up or if my foot came out of the aider, it would collapse and simultaneously blow sideways and I'd have to do Monkey-Fuck gyrations to get my foot back in. We were carrying the 2nd rope in a pack to keep it from blowing to China and we were both totally worked by the time we got to the top of the Monkey.

[img:right]https://alpenglowgear.com/gear/images/mm_Easy_Step_Aider.jpg[/img]

We both had hand-tied aiders and the experience made me go out and buy us each 4 brand new Misty Mountain ladders that have steps that stay open. Christmas was just around the corner and that's what I gave Ujahn. They're pretty nice, but I miss my Robbins sub-aider I had tied on the old one. These have a few other schweet features though besides staying open that kick ass on my old ones. They have a grab loop, 2 of the steps have an elastic band you can hook your toe under for jugging, and the steps are staggered in height (closer together on top) which is great as you can get higher up in them.