[TR] Smith Rock - Astro Monkey. 5/2/2010

[eldiente]

Trip: Smith Rock - Astro Monkey.

 

Date: 5/2/2010

 

Trip Report:

Astro Monkey, 6 pitches 5.11+

 

Sort of hard to write a trip report about Smith Rock (I climbed XXX route at XXX grade and my finger really hurt from all those monos) Still Astro Monkey was an interesting experience for us and deserves some attention. We'll call this the "Astroman of Smith" Sorry not many pictures, too cold to operate the camera.

 

 

Pitch 1: 5.11+++ What the hell, this pitch was a first class pain in the ass. We first tried the direct start which is three bolts to a crack. Caleb made a go of this, but wasn't really that excited by all the pin scars so after a few tries he bailed and we moved to the right to try the all-bolts 5.11+ variation. This pitch wasn't much better as it took me 30 minutes and a bunch jump offs to figure out the boulder problem to get to the first bolt. Crux is higher up on slabby terrain with very confusing "feet" and balance moves. Harder to figure out than any .12 I've done at Smith. Keep moving past the last bolt on lose 5.7 rock with no pro. The belay on top of P1 has 3x rotten bolts use gear in the crack instead.

 

P2. 5.9. Rad finger crack to lose, shitty terrain. I wish the finger crack part was longer. Belay bolts are again shit, back them up with medium cams below huge roof crack system.

 

P3. 5.11. The wildest pitch I've ever done at Smith. Severely overhanging corner crack system that climbs like a hybrid undercling/stem problem. Feels a lot like the steep section of Wartleys Revenge, just steeper and in a corner. The moves off the belay are the hardest as you struggle to get under this thing while not landing on the belayer. Moving fast and not putting in too much gear seemed to be the best tactic, clip the first fixed bong and come to a jug rest before an even steeper roof.

 

The upper section is hairy as you have to yard on these giant detached flakes that look unstable. No worries about hitting the belayer as by now the pitch has overhung by 20-30 feet putting the belayer out of range. I couldn't figure out a way not to use these flakes so I lugged up on them and lunged to a jug on top of the roof, wild feeling as the feet have to come off and dangle while thugging up over the roof. Yikes!

 

P6 5.10. Combined with the previous pitch, awful rope drag. End at Bohn Street. Not recommended linking.

 

P7-P8. Climb up Monkey Space pitches to the summit. 5.11 B and 5.11B. The traversing first pitch feels very soft for 5.11 but the exposure makes up for it. That would be an exciting place for the leader to fall. Optional .75 BD for the first traversing pitch.

 

Rap fixed line down from the summit. Thanks to whoever is working "Just Do it" for the fixed line.

 

[img:center]http://lh5.ggpht.com/_XNueStDVX8c/S-NpoopDUVI/AAAAAAAAJtY/z0o3y5q7xR8/s640/IMG_1883.JPG[/img]

 

Looking up P2 finger crack. P3 corner is visible up and left

 

[img:center]http://lh3.ggpht.com/_XNueStDVX8c/S-NedGlXSpI/AAAAAAAAJro/yUeE5Mn_RTk/s640/IMG_1889.JPG[/img]

 

P5 (Monkey Space first pitch)

[img:center]http://lh5.ggpht.com/_XNueStDVX8c/S-Nef6mWEhI/AAAAAAAAJsA/cyZLxarCWgE/s640/IMG_1892.JPG[/img]

 

In the cave top of P5. Transfer belay to North end of cave.

 

 

[img:center]http://lh6.ggpht.com/_XNueStDVX8c/S-NeiU65yYI/AAAAAAAAJsY/lAlp6UgDDgg/s640/IMG_1896.JPG[/img]

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gear Notes:

Triples Blue Master Cam through Red Master Cam. 2X #1BD. We never used the #2 or nuts. The 5.11 roof pitch eats up red and orange master cams which is sort of a problem as that's the size you need for the belay below the roof.

[ivan]

fork yeah! - did you piss off satan 'fore snapp'n'this'un?

 

is there any unsatisfying fashion to scale der monkey-wand?

[wayne]

Wow, Nice tr. I have done the finish crux, but the whole thing looks wild. Thanks

[summitchaserCJB]

nice dude. I'm drooling.

[mountainsloth]

RAD