Memorial day weekend @ Smith Rock
A climbing story by k Munson - 2004
The weather forecast for the week was looking dim, the sky grew ever more gray as my head kept pounding. The lights from on coming traffic down the pass on the backside of Mt Hood was making my migraine even worse. Watching the semi truck we were following was just adding to the number of the most nauseating experiences of my existence. As we rolled into Madrasthe rain became constant and looked like it had been for a couple hours. The thought of climbing for 7 days at Smith was looking bleak…
How did we get to find this most cherishable moment in our life? My beautiful 6 foot 5 husband of 4 ½ months found himself needing to work in Bend, Redmond and Madras for a couple days and thought it would be a great idea to tack that on to the Memorial Day weekend. Needless to say, I am never one to argue about when we climb. There is only one question, what to do with the kids? Finding myself remarried to a man with kids, after 5 years as a single mother poses some “children” issues, like 4 of them. They all still have school in Beavertonand ‘we’ need to be in Central Oregon for most of that week. Well basically that story ends with leaving 3 with their mother and driving the other one up to Washington to be with her father for an extra couple days. After my driving 3 hours into Washington, I then got the enjoyable nauseating ride to Madras late on a Tuesdaynight, hence my migraine. Needless to say as we pulled into town finding ourselves crashing at the local Best Western the rain just added to the sickening thoughts for the week.
The “plan” for the week here, was that while my husband worked in the morning, I’d either poke around town or check out the climbing scene, then we’d meet up and spend the rest of the day at Smith. Beautiful plan eh? That’s what we thought, almost a paid vacation. However as the rain poured down Tuesday night while my headache was finally starting to subside, all I could think about is…now what do we do? This sucks its raining! So off to sleep I tried to go.
After a night of delicate sleep with the drunk guy next door at 1:00 am puking his guts out and the people leaving on the other side dragging their luggage down the steps a couple hours later, finally we woke to a morning in Madras. My husband left for work and I crawled back under the covers grabbing the remote thinking all I’m going to do for the next couple hours is sit here watching Animal Planet and listen to the rain. About 8:00 am I got my starving butt out of bed, made it to the shower, got dressed and remembered there was a continental breakfast waiting in the lobby. So I shoved my contacts in my eyes stepped outside expecting to get my feet wet and waalaaa. Humm there was hope for the day, it wasn’t raining. I took in a deep breath of 70 degree air, walked down on the dry ground thinking, “yes this could be a very good day, perfect for climbing”. As the clouds stood high up in the sky I entered the hotel lobby to find a nice old couple enjoying the newspaper and feasting on fine store bought treats. Oh and what a feast of wonderful high carb delights lay before all those that dare. Who cared, I was hungry, grabbed some instant oatmeal, frosted flakes, banana, tea, toast and apple juice, then headed back to the fine non-honeymoon suite we had.
To me, Memorial weekend is about memories. As I await the return of my man I am filled with the memories of the first time I traveled to Smith, which was about 2 years ago. I found myself piled high in the back of the Mini-Winnie with 4 of my fellow climbing companions heading down to Central Oregon late one Friday night at the end of June. Our plan then was to cram all our gear in the back of the Winnie drive down to Smith and climb intensely for 2 days and return late Sunday night. That we did. However the ride must have been one of the highlights of the trip. It’s not everyday that you find yourself driving from Seattle to Central Oregon in a 1970’s Mini Winnebago. The top popped up when you were camping for further standing space, otherwise you found yourself hunched over the paisley dining table or crashing on the fine bright orange couch with brown/orange pedophile dutch girl curtains behind you. The matching shag carpet was definitely a treat. The bucket front seats that turned and bald tires just added to the festivity of the occasion.
At about 10:30pm on the trip down that night in June, in the pouring rain, one of the windshield wipers decided to disappear. So pulling off the road everyone decided to take a pee break while driving buddy #1/Winnie owner fixed the windshield wiper. Then off we set out again. While some took turns navigating, others were fixed on the Smith guide trying to figure out where we were going to climb and if we had enough gear to do it.
We found during our 5 ½ hour drive from Seattle that the Mini Winnie had excellent cave like bouldering opportunities. Starting from with a sit start in the front passenger seat, up over the dinning table, back by the bathroom, stemming over the sink around the couch and back to the front seat without landing on any of the remaining passenger/spotters was quite a challenge. Mind you that while coming through the pass at Mt Hood and just having the vehicle in motion uped the V factor, and quite a bit at times.
Finally arrived in the Smith parking lot somewhere’s around 2:30am. We all agreed that we’d rather risk the ranger in the morning and sleep in the Winnie than risk all the climbers trying to find a camp spot and set up our tents. Off to sleep we went, let me tell you cramming 5 people in one uncomfy 2 people sleeping area was not necessarily a good nights sleep.
As we woke to a bright beautiful morning about 3 hours later. We heard the conversation of climbers next to us talking about routes, where they were headed and the breakfast they were having. Next we heard the ranger walk up and ask the fine climbers next to us “Are you guys with this?”, as they reply “uah, No”. We all knew he was talking about the fine piece of machinery we were all crashed out in. Then we heard the knock, so conversation in sued. We spoke to the kind ranger and explained the situation, he was very understanding but said “don’t let it happen again”. We all smiled as he walked away and we set off to pay the cash we all owed at the pay station. We then found the restroom, showers (for later) and breakfast.
As we enjoyed our bowl of cereal and fruit we looked out over the massive beauty that we have all come to love here at Smith. We tried to remember the routes we wanted to climb while driving down and drinking cheep beer and vodka the night before. With not much in mind, we set a sail with about 3 hours of sleep and slightly hung over, which is the perfect combination for climbing. As we descended the path out of the bivy lot we were in total awe and amazement of the vast climbing that was available to us. I think we were all in complete heaven with a slight hint of overwhelming “where do we go”. We kept walking down he trail to the bridge and over the other side. We quickly learned why there were people on certain sides of the rock even at this early hour. The heat was definitely starting to come on.
After the end of that day, we had thoroughly enjoyed our first visit to Smith and climbed several beautiful routes. We knew we would be back to once again enjoy the 90+ degree heat, razor sharp crimpers off of Red Wall and the angled sleeping in the bivy area. But hey… isn’t that what this is all about.
Back to my Wednesday morning. After spending the early part of my morning in the ease as comfort of our fine luxury motel room in Madras, I managed to get a hold of our vehicle. I now had about an hour to kill until we could go climbing. So I decided to take a drive and headed back through the hopping town for which we stayed. I saw a sign to Metolius Oregon, 4 miles, thought it couldn’t hurt so off I went. I didn’t know that traveling 4 miles could take over 25 minutes. Had I known that they were repaving the entire main road of Metolius, all the way through town I’d probably done something else. By the time I had reached the other end of town I had to do a u-turn and get back in line to go back the way for which I came. As I was slowly heading back through town I was checking out the local scene. My stinky climbing shoe smelling car was now being replaced by the fine sent of eu’d’asphalt and no sign of a rock anywhere. I’m sorry and I don’t mean to be offensive to anyone, but if your city is allowed to hold the name Metolius you need to have at least some sort of rock somewhere. The only “natural” thing around to climb on was a horse, and I don’t think that hammering a piton or setting a cam would be received to well. So back I went to Madras returning a little quicker than the drive in.
I now had about 15-20 minutes left to kill before climbing. I decided to go into the local sporting goods store. This was a real treat. I never knew you could cross sporting goods with a second hand store. I will have to say that there wasn’t much for climbing gear if anything. There were a couple pieces of clothing but at $40 each it could stay there. So I walked over to the second hand side. There I found a practically new Sierra Designs fleece and a pair of climbing pants for a total cost of $14. On a climbers salary that was a worthy price.
I still had some time, so I dropped into the grocery store thought it would take up the remaining 5 minutes I had. I think I spent more time in the checkout line than I did walking the entire store looking for ice. I finally got out of there 8-10 minutes later after learning about Donna’s (the checkout girl) dog and its broken toes. How it had to be put into a cast, her husband was out of town and the dog slept in his place. Meanwhile the dog kept clubbing this lady with its cast during the night and gave her bruises and sore spots all over the place. She didn’t know if she would make it another night, I didn’t think I was going to let her.
Finally after much disarray I grabbed my honey from work and we were off to Smith just a tad bit after 12:00. The sky was looking a little scary but hopeful. Our outlook, have a relaxing day, climb as much as we can, and just exist with life and creation at Smith.
As we walked and entered down into the canyon a decently warm wind swept up the side of the hills, through my hair and then rushed past us, at times almost knocking me over. It was a gusty day and the dust was flying. The wind would be dead then all of a sudden you were flailing to stay on the path. As we continued to our destination with our noses running and the wind rushing past us we spotted our first place of rest. We poked around a few routes on a bouldering issue and then headed back over to the Dihedrals area. This was a good day. Not many people, the parking lot wasn’t even ½ full and only a portion of those people were actually climbers. Lead a couple great routes and chatted with the new found acquaintances at the bottom of the rocks. Met a couple from Portland, some from New York and some guy that rapped of a 2 pitch route with no shoes on.
The day proved itself true. There’s nothing like scaling up a sheer rock face hanging from a bolt and being blown almost off route. The skies were beautiful and the air pure as always. It is truly these times when you learn to appreciate the things we have and cherish. It brings a certain calmness and centering of spirit to ones soul. Climbing has taught me many things in life, more than how to mend cuts and gashes with climbing tape. It has forced me to learn about myself, my fears and the ability to conquer them, among other things.
At about 6:00ish we decided to take our tried sleep deprived butts and head out and get some grub. On our way out of the canyon we ran across some wild life, quite a few flying bugs, birds, a brownishy grey snake and a little rabbit. I was looking in particular for my marmot friend I had seen 2 weeks before but he was nowhere to be found. If I had my choice of pets it would have to be a marmot, my husband on the other hand doesn’t think it would be a good idea.
We got grub, checked into a hotel for the remaining 2 work nights and set out for a good nights sleep. Upon awaking to the drunks in the parking lot a 2:00 in the morning I couldn’t help but think of the hangover they were going to have when they woke. Even with our parking lot friends sleep was a little better this night.
This fine Thursday morning my husband left for work, I destined to another morning of Animal Planet, a cup of apple cider/coffee (you would think that they could clean out the coffee maker once in awhile) and another fine breakfast of high carbohydrate treats. The plan for the day again was to work till 12:00ish and head back to Smith, what a plan eh? While I enjoying a morning of channel surfing, I remembered that there was a Red Point store not to far from where we were staying. I patiently waited for it to open, I didn’t think they opened at 7:30am, so I decided to take a shower and wax my legs to pass the time.
My husband arrived not to long before I jetted for Red Point. I needed to get the clip part for our stick clip. I know that having a 6’5” man makes for a stick clip on its own, but there are times when we are both a bit lazy and don’t want to critically mame ourselves for that first clip at Smith. We left the hotel, walked downtown hit Red Point, got our clip, ate lunch and took a nap. Two hours later we headed for Smith. We didn’t leave as early of a start as we’d hoped but the sprinkles at lunch deterred us and implied that a nap would be suffice as a good option at that particular moment.
As we drove to Smith we kept watching the skies as the ominous clouds lingered over the massive rock formations for which we were heading. It seemed to have rained a tad earlier, we hoped that it was done and passing on. We kept positive, we were going to try, we didn’t want to give in too early and miss out. We continued our routine as we have several times before, noted how many cars were in the parking lot (which were not many), paid for parking, got out our gear and headed down into the canyon. Clouds kept hovering over us. As we approached Rope de Dope we started to feel quite positive and confident. The clouds seemed to be lightening a bit. We dropped our packs got out our gear, rope laid out, just about to tie on and one word, rain. Boy did it dump. It started slowly at first, just giving us enough time to grab our gear, shove it back in the pack and head for the biggest tree we could find. As the rain started pouring down on us, we watched the climbers across the river as they hung ever so delicately on the walls above getting completely drenched. They scrambled to fix their situation as the gusts of wind blew and rain soaked their equipment. People were dropping from the walls like spiders just sprayed with hairspray, it was a dangerous but rather comical site, people scampering to shelter, laughing and shoving gear into bags. Some waited for the rain to lighten before heading back out of the canyon, some just ran for it. We waited a tad, it had already rained 10 minutes but we wanted to give it just 5 minutes more. We were still so hopeful. We thought if the sun came out for about 30 minutes it would dry the rock off just enough to up the rating scale a little but keep it about the same on the routes. As the sun continued to hide and water lightly shed itself all over the rock, we came out of hiding. I took one look at the rock, said a couple choice words and packed up the rest of my gear. My husband on the other hand was still in the “don’t want to give in just yet” mode even though we had already been completely defeated that day. Even if the sun did shine, this rock was wet, slimy and the 5.9 just shot to an 11a because what was the dry route just turned into a water slide.
As we walked back out up the hillside heading for the direction for which we just came, we decided today was over for Smith, defeat wasn’t quite so hard to take when we knew that there indeed was ‘another day’. We had 4 days remaining for Smith, the weather forecast seemed to be drastically improving and hope for the days ahead were strong. It also had its positive points, I saw 3 of my marmot friends on the drive in basking on what warm rocks they could find, however none of them wanted to come home with me. Then back to the hotel we went for our final night of comfort, channel surfing, the last ½ day of work for the week and the hot tub.
Rising the next morning came a bit early once again, this time about 6:00ish. Today, Friday, was going to be a better day I could feel it. I could see better skies already and the sun was definitely out there. The weather forecast said there would be a chance of thundershowers and rain, but it all would improve as the day went on, to only 40% chance rain by nightfall. Saturday, Sunday and Monday were going to be the better days, good solid climbing days.
I sat down to my last and final morning of continental delights contemplating and reviewing the routes we were to hit over the next few days. We wanted to hit all the hot spots during the week when we had just a few afternoon hours to climb and hit the long hikers on the days we had more time. As I was picking through the routes in the Smith guide and other slipped in updated new route pages, I couldn’t help but notice the eyes of the visiting anti-locals of the hotel sitting at the tables next to me. They must have noticed either my rather comfortable clothing, climbing books or taped fingers. Not sure where they were all headed for the weekend but it was safe to say I don’t think I’ll be seeing them any time soon. While I was reviewing the routes the spirit of climbing started to run through my veins, I needed to get my fix of rock under my fingers and toes. The routes I wanted to climb were a bit out of reach but I felt I was in the mood to take a good swinger. I was starting to feel like a caged animal just waiting for release into the wild. The hope we had just built in our system and it was ready to be unleashed on some route here at Smith. You know when you are need a good fix when you are looking for lines on the walls inside and outside the buildings and testing the holds.
Checking out of the hotel was not difficult, bags were packed and we were ready to go. We knew right about were we were going to set up our tent for the next 3 nights. That day we were going to climb. Mother nature dished out a pile of she-ot the day before, she was in desperate need of making it up to us.
We got to Smith, checked into camp. There were not very many cars to be seen, this was a good sign, maybe the weather scared them off a little bit. We grabbed out our tent headed for the backside of the bivy site and near the ridge. The wind was blowing a bit that day. We set up camp quickly throwing just enough stuff inside the tent to keep it from blowing away. We then headed back to the car, drove to the mid-way parking area, grabbed out gear and headed back down the trail.
The sun came out now and then as the wind blew, we headed back over to Rope-de-Dope, today we were getting on it. There was nobody in site. In fact we climbed all over that thing before there was a single soul that passed by, it was a beautiful day. This was the perfect start to the next few days. In fact we were talking to a couple a bit later that were watching us climb from the other side of the river, they were in total envy. We had the sun and no wait routes.
After tapping out all the routes we could, breaking off a hold and gashing our knees, we took our hamburger tender fingers and set out for food. There wasn’t enough food insight that could quench our hunger. So, this indeed was the end of a very good day.
Saturday morning came all too soon. Friday night was very cold and nearly sleepless. We had a great tent, good gear for sleeping, but the air just seemed a bit on the frozen side therefore keeping us slightly chilled. After trying to get as much sleep as we could we decided to get up. We walked our tired butts over to the well packed out “cooking area”, made breakfast with all the rest of the sleepless climbers and headed underway.
Today we were heading right after crossing the bridge. The Monument area was closed due to eagle nesting but that wasn’t our destination. We thought about hitting Koala and Adit rock. We took out a couple routes on Adit rock, met a couple with the best mannered little boy named Wyatt and headed back. Wyatt was the most memorable part of the day. You need to picture a little boy about maybe 3 years old, playing trucks in the dirt, in a full body harness and warm padded clothing while being anchored to the rock with a couple Cams so he won’t run away hile his parents scale the rock near him. Wyatt gave me a great smile while I got a photo of him, this was the best picture I’d seen in awhile, he was going to be a killer climber when he grew up you could just tell.
Because it was freaking cold out here we had to depart our new found buddy. The sun was out yes, BUT the wind was blowing like nobody’s business. Koala rock was going to have to wait until the next day. Not that we were defeated that day… we just needed to head to a warmer little less windy area.
After jotting back to the bridge, we headed the other way to see if the wind was a little less windy. Kinda but not really, as you came around that first main corner you felt like you were climbing in Alaska. The routes we so packed over there in the most popular of areas that we decided to jump over Asterisk pass to the west-side crags. We did a route over there and headed back. The route we thought was one pitch of a out cropped rock turned out to be the first pitch of 'Wherever I may roam', didn’t know that till the next day, OOPS. Our fingers were a little too sore to keep up the remaining 4 pitches so that was ok it will be the goal of another day. We headed back to the car, out for some grub and back to camp to crash under the beautiful landscape once again.
Sunday morning came a little later than the day before, which was good. The sun was up and we headed back to the breakfast area. We again packed out after trying to make pleasant conversation with a family next to us. I figured that these people had never been to Smith, had not spent enough time near climbers to know that we are actually nice people OR they were just really grumpy and selectively mute. Either way it wasn’t going to break my heart to not see them again.
Totally packed up, Koala was Sundays destination. That we did. We climbed a couple of the new routes, (Round here & Round there) and the 3 pitch multi (Round river direct) with a fine young couple from Louisiana, Jared& Christina. This guy just started climbing but 5 months ago but kicked arse. He looked and had the confidence of a long time climber, we were very impressed. But I do have to say it was probably a good thing to find out how long he’d been climbing AFTER we did all 3 pitches with them. But I do have to say this day was by far one of the most fun routes of the trip. The wind had slowed down a bit for us while we were climbing, except for when you were at the bottom of the 3rd pitch waiting to be the last person up, but the sun was out! We got warm that day, a little burnt like everyone else but the weather was definitely improving. After chatting with the locals we met on the other routes we hiked our once again starving hineys back to camp, showered, ate BIG food and crashed. It doesn't take long for one to start to become accustomed to the daily routine. Our minds were definitely beginning to fade quicker, thoughts we not sticking like they had before and we were loosing track of the days. Which is a good sign if you don’t have a job, but if you need to get back to town for something, that isn’t quite a good thing.
After our last night of beautiful sunsets, warm sleeping bags and gas stoves we packed up the remaining goods of our campsite. We had noticed over the course of the weekend the amount of tents that came and went, the number of cars that littered the streets and the sunburns that warmed many faces. You could tell how long people had been there by how burnt their nose was and how wiped out the bodies were. Recovery time was taking a little longer as the days passed.
Our final day, Monday, Memorial Day. We actually weren’t sure what to climb this day. We were totally exhausted, burnt, fingers and toes were climbed out and smelly. We thought we could spend a little time bouldering before hitting the road back to Portland. After my husband lead his last route off the Peanut by Morning Glory wall, he decided that bouldering was a fine idea, he was now totally climbed out. We finished climbing where we started over at the Practice boulder. It was perfect. It was there that I finished my last route in my Chacos because I could no longer get my sweat filled shoes on my swollen feet. Noted routes we wanted to climb when we came back in a few weeks, we were now convinced that we were totally satisfied with our week, we could now go in peace.
The last walk out of the canyon was much like the days before, but this time we knew it would be the last time for this trip. There was some sadness like always when leaving Smith, but yet we were filled with the energy of the rock and the essence of the canyon. There will be yet another day, another time another trip, when once again we can continue our precious experience here. Like I mentioned earlier, climbing has taught me several things in life… It is truly these times when you learn to appreciate the things we have and cherish. It brings a certain calmness and centering of spirit to ones soul. May we always cherish and take care of our precious climbing areas so we can continue and pass on the energy and spirit that it brings to each and everyone of us.
How did we get to find this most cherishable moment in our life? My beautiful 6 foot 5 husband of 4 ½ months found himself needing to work in Bend, Redmond and Madras for a couple days and thought it would be a great idea to tack that on to the Memorial Day weekend. Needless to say, I am never one to argue about when we climb. There is only one question, what to do with the kids? Finding myself remarried to a man with kids, after 5 years as a single mother poses some “children” issues, like 4 of them. They all still have school in Beavertonand ‘we’ need to be in Central Oregon for most of that week. Well basically that story ends with leaving 3 with their mother and driving the other one up to Washington to be with her father for an extra couple days. After my driving 3 hours into Washington, I then got the enjoyable nauseating ride to Madras late on a Tuesdaynight, hence my migraine. Needless to say as we pulled into town finding ourselves crashing at the local Best Western the rain just added to the sickening thoughts for the week.
The “plan” for the week here, was that while my husband worked in the morning, I’d either poke around town or check out the climbing scene, then we’d meet up and spend the rest of the day at Smith. Beautiful plan eh? That’s what we thought, almost a paid vacation. However as the rain poured down Tuesday night while my headache was finally starting to subside, all I could think about is…now what do we do? This sucks its raining! So off to sleep I tried to go.
After a night of delicate sleep with the drunk guy next door at 1:00 am puking his guts out and the people leaving on the other side dragging their luggage down the steps a couple hours later, finally we woke to a morning in Madras. My husband left for work and I crawled back under the covers grabbing the remote thinking all I’m going to do for the next couple hours is sit here watching Animal Planet and listen to the rain. About 8:00 am I got my starving butt out of bed, made it to the shower, got dressed and remembered there was a continental breakfast waiting in the lobby. So I shoved my contacts in my eyes stepped outside expecting to get my feet wet and waalaaa. Humm there was hope for the day, it wasn’t raining. I took in a deep breath of 70 degree air, walked down on the dry ground thinking, “yes this could be a very good day, perfect for climbing”. As the clouds stood high up in the sky I entered the hotel lobby to find a nice old couple enjoying the newspaper and feasting on fine store bought treats. Oh and what a feast of wonderful high carb delights lay before all those that dare. Who cared, I was hungry, grabbed some instant oatmeal, frosted flakes, banana, tea, toast and apple juice, then headed back to the fine non-honeymoon suite we had.
To me, Memorial weekend is about memories. As I await the return of my man I am filled with the memories of the first time I traveled to Smith, which was about 2 years ago. I found myself piled high in the back of the Mini-Winnie with 4 of my fellow climbing companions heading down to Central Oregon late one Friday night at the end of June. Our plan then was to cram all our gear in the back of the Winnie drive down to Smith and climb intensely for 2 days and return late Sunday night. That we did. However the ride must have been one of the highlights of the trip. It’s not everyday that you find yourself driving from Seattle to Central Oregon in a 1970’s Mini Winnebago. The top popped up when you were camping for further standing space, otherwise you found yourself hunched over the paisley dining table or crashing on the fine bright orange couch with brown/orange pedophile dutch girl curtains behind you. The matching shag carpet was definitely a treat. The bucket front seats that turned and bald tires just added to the festivity of the occasion.
At about 10:30pm on the trip down that night in June, in the pouring rain, one of the windshield wipers decided to disappear. So pulling off the road everyone decided to take a pee break while driving buddy #1/Winnie owner fixed the windshield wiper. Then off we set out again. While some took turns navigating, others were fixed on the Smith guide trying to figure out where we were going to climb and if we had enough gear to do it.
We found during our 5 ½ hour drive from Seattle that the Mini Winnie had excellent cave like bouldering opportunities. Starting from with a sit start in the front passenger seat, up over the dinning table, back by the bathroom, stemming over the sink around the couch and back to the front seat without landing on any of the remaining passenger/spotters was quite a challenge. Mind you that while coming through the pass at Mt Hood and just having the vehicle in motion uped the V factor, and quite a bit at times.
Finally arrived in the Smith parking lot somewhere’s around 2:30am. We all agreed that we’d rather risk the ranger in the morning and sleep in the Winnie than risk all the climbers trying to find a camp spot and set up our tents. Off to sleep we went, let me tell you cramming 5 people in one uncomfy 2 people sleeping area was not necessarily a good nights sleep.
As we woke to a bright beautiful morning about 3 hours later. We heard the conversation of climbers next to us talking about routes, where they were headed and the breakfast they were having. Next we heard the ranger walk up and ask the fine climbers next to us “Are you guys with this?”, as they reply “uah, No”. We all knew he was talking about the fine piece of machinery we were all crashed out in. Then we heard the knock, so conversation in sued. We spoke to the kind ranger and explained the situation, he was very understanding but said “don’t let it happen again”. We all smiled as he walked away and we set off to pay the cash we all owed at the pay station. We then found the restroom, showers (for later) and breakfast.
As we enjoyed our bowl of cereal and fruit we looked out over the massive beauty that we have all come to love here at Smith. We tried to remember the routes we wanted to climb while driving down and drinking cheep beer and vodka the night before. With not much in mind, we set a sail with about 3 hours of sleep and slightly hung over, which is the perfect combination for climbing. As we descended the path out of the bivy lot we were in total awe and amazement of the vast climbing that was available to us. I think we were all in complete heaven with a slight hint of overwhelming “where do we go”. We kept walking down he trail to the bridge and over the other side. We quickly learned why there were people on certain sides of the rock even at this early hour. The heat was definitely starting to come on.
After the end of that day, we had thoroughly enjoyed our first visit to Smith and climbed several beautiful routes. We knew we would be back to once again enjoy the 90+ degree heat, razor sharp crimpers off of Red Wall and the angled sleeping in the bivy area. But hey… isn’t that what this is all about.
Back to my Wednesday morning. After spending the early part of my morning in the ease as comfort of our fine luxury motel room in Madras, I managed to get a hold of our vehicle. I now had about an hour to kill until we could go climbing. So I decided to take a drive and headed back through the hopping town for which we stayed. I saw a sign to Metolius Oregon, 4 miles, thought it couldn’t hurt so off I went. I didn’t know that traveling 4 miles could take over 25 minutes. Had I known that they were repaving the entire main road of Metolius, all the way through town I’d probably done something else. By the time I had reached the other end of town I had to do a u-turn and get back in line to go back the way for which I came. As I was slowly heading back through town I was checking out the local scene. My stinky climbing shoe smelling car was now being replaced by the fine sent of eu’d’asphalt and no sign of a rock anywhere. I’m sorry and I don’t mean to be offensive to anyone, but if your city is allowed to hold the name Metolius you need to have at least some sort of rock somewhere. The only “natural” thing around to climb on was a horse, and I don’t think that hammering a piton or setting a cam would be received to well. So back I went to Madras returning a little quicker than the drive in.
I now had about 15-20 minutes left to kill before climbing. I decided to go into the local sporting goods store. This was a real treat. I never knew you could cross sporting goods with a second hand store. I will have to say that there wasn’t much for climbing gear if anything. There were a couple pieces of clothing but at $40 each it could stay there. So I walked over to the second hand side. There I found a practically new Sierra Designs fleece and a pair of climbing pants for a total cost of $14. On a climbers salary that was a worthy price.
I still had some time, so I dropped into the grocery store thought it would take up the remaining 5 minutes I had. I think I spent more time in the checkout line than I did walking the entire store looking for ice. I finally got out of there 8-10 minutes later after learning about Donna’s (the checkout girl) dog and its broken toes. How it had to be put into a cast, her husband was out of town and the dog slept in his place. Meanwhile the dog kept clubbing this lady with its cast during the night and gave her bruises and sore spots all over the place. She didn’t know if she would make it another night, I didn’t think I was going to let her.
Finally after much disarray I grabbed my honey from work and we were off to Smith just a tad bit after 12:00. The sky was looking a little scary but hopeful. Our outlook, have a relaxing day, climb as much as we can, and just exist with life and creation at Smith.
As we walked and entered down into the canyon a decently warm wind swept up the side of the hills, through my hair and then rushed past us, at times almost knocking me over. It was a gusty day and the dust was flying. The wind would be dead then all of a sudden you were flailing to stay on the path. As we continued to our destination with our noses running and the wind rushing past us we spotted our first place of rest. We poked around a few routes on a bouldering issue and then headed back over to the Dihedrals area. This was a good day. Not many people, the parking lot wasn’t even ½ full and only a portion of those people were actually climbers. Lead a couple great routes and chatted with the new found acquaintances at the bottom of the rocks. Met a couple from Portland, some from New York and some guy that rapped of a 2 pitch route with no shoes on.
The day proved itself true. There’s nothing like scaling up a sheer rock face hanging from a bolt and being blown almost off route. The skies were beautiful and the air pure as always. It is truly these times when you learn to appreciate the things we have and cherish. It brings a certain calmness and centering of spirit to ones soul. Climbing has taught me many things in life, more than how to mend cuts and gashes with climbing tape. It has forced me to learn about myself, my fears and the ability to conquer them, among other things.
At about 6:00ish we decided to take our tried sleep deprived butts and head out and get some grub. On our way out of the canyon we ran across some wild life, quite a few flying bugs, birds, a brownishy grey snake and a little rabbit. I was looking in particular for my marmot friend I had seen 2 weeks before but he was nowhere to be found. If I had my choice of pets it would have to be a marmot, my husband on the other hand doesn’t think it would be a good idea.
We got grub, checked into a hotel for the remaining 2 work nights and set out for a good nights sleep. Upon awaking to the drunks in the parking lot a 2:00 in the morning I couldn’t help but think of the hangover they were going to have when they woke. Even with our parking lot friends sleep was a little better this night.
This fine Thursday morning my husband left for work, I destined to another morning of Animal Planet, a cup of apple cider/coffee (you would think that they could clean out the coffee maker once in awhile) and another fine breakfast of high carbohydrate treats. The plan for the day again was to work till 12:00ish and head back to Smith, what a plan eh? While I enjoying a morning of channel surfing, I remembered that there was a Red Point store not to far from where we were staying. I patiently waited for it to open, I didn’t think they opened at 7:30am, so I decided to take a shower and wax my legs to pass the time.
My husband arrived not to long before I jetted for Red Point. I needed to get the clip part for our stick clip. I know that having a 6’5” man makes for a stick clip on its own, but there are times when we are both a bit lazy and don’t want to critically mame ourselves for that first clip at Smith. We left the hotel, walked downtown hit Red Point, got our clip, ate lunch and took a nap. Two hours later we headed for Smith. We didn’t leave as early of a start as we’d hoped but the sprinkles at lunch deterred us and implied that a nap would be suffice as a good option at that particular moment.
As we drove to Smith we kept watching the skies as the ominous clouds lingered over the massive rock formations for which we were heading. It seemed to have rained a tad earlier, we hoped that it was done and passing on. We kept positive, we were going to try, we didn’t want to give in too early and miss out. We continued our routine as we have several times before, noted how many cars were in the parking lot (which were not many), paid for parking, got out our gear and headed down into the canyon. Clouds kept hovering over us. As we approached Rope de Dope we started to feel quite positive and confident. The clouds seemed to be lightening a bit. We dropped our packs got out our gear, rope laid out, just about to tie on and one word, rain. Boy did it dump. It started slowly at first, just giving us enough time to grab our gear, shove it back in the pack and head for the biggest tree we could find. As the rain started pouring down on us, we watched the climbers across the river as they hung ever so delicately on the walls above getting completely drenched. They scrambled to fix their situation as the gusts of wind blew and rain soaked their equipment. People were dropping from the walls like spiders just sprayed with hairspray, it was a dangerous but rather comical site, people scampering to shelter, laughing and shoving gear into bags. Some waited for the rain to lighten before heading back out of the canyon, some just ran for it. We waited a tad, it had already rained 10 minutes but we wanted to give it just 5 minutes more. We were still so hopeful. We thought if the sun came out for about 30 minutes it would dry the rock off just enough to up the rating scale a little but keep it about the same on the routes. As the sun continued to hide and water lightly shed itself all over the rock, we came out of hiding. I took one look at the rock, said a couple choice words and packed up the rest of my gear. My husband on the other hand was still in the “don’t want to give in just yet” mode even though we had already been completely defeated that day. Even if the sun did shine, this rock was wet, slimy and the 5.9 just shot to an 11a because what was the dry route just turned into a water slide.
As we walked back out up the hillside heading for the direction for which we just came, we decided today was over for Smith, defeat wasn’t quite so hard to take when we knew that there indeed was ‘another day’. We had 4 days remaining for Smith, the weather forecast seemed to be drastically improving and hope for the days ahead were strong. It also had its positive points, I saw 3 of my marmot friends on the drive in basking on what warm rocks they could find, however none of them wanted to come home with me. Then back to the hotel we went for our final night of comfort, channel surfing, the last ½ day of work for the week and the hot tub.
Rising the next morning came a bit early once again, this time about 6:00ish. Today, Friday, was going to be a better day I could feel it. I could see better skies already and the sun was definitely out there. The weather forecast said there would be a chance of thundershowers and rain, but it all would improve as the day went on, to only 40% chance rain by nightfall. Saturday, Sunday and Monday were going to be the better days, good solid climbing days.
I sat down to my last and final morning of continental delights contemplating and reviewing the routes we were to hit over the next few days. We wanted to hit all the hot spots during the week when we had just a few afternoon hours to climb and hit the long hikers on the days we had more time. As I was picking through the routes in the Smith guide and other slipped in updated new route pages, I couldn’t help but notice the eyes of the visiting anti-locals of the hotel sitting at the tables next to me. They must have noticed either my rather comfortable clothing, climbing books or taped fingers. Not sure where they were all headed for the weekend but it was safe to say I don’t think I’ll be seeing them any time soon. While I was reviewing the routes the spirit of climbing started to run through my veins, I needed to get my fix of rock under my fingers and toes. The routes I wanted to climb were a bit out of reach but I felt I was in the mood to take a good swinger. I was starting to feel like a caged animal just waiting for release into the wild. The hope we had just built in our system and it was ready to be unleashed on some route here at Smith. You know when you are need a good fix when you are looking for lines on the walls inside and outside the buildings and testing the holds.
Checking out of the hotel was not difficult, bags were packed and we were ready to go. We knew right about were we were going to set up our tent for the next 3 nights. That day we were going to climb. Mother nature dished out a pile of she-ot the day before, she was in desperate need of making it up to us.
We got to Smith, checked into camp. There were not very many cars to be seen, this was a good sign, maybe the weather scared them off a little bit. We grabbed out our tent headed for the backside of the bivy site and near the ridge. The wind was blowing a bit that day. We set up camp quickly throwing just enough stuff inside the tent to keep it from blowing away. We then headed back to the car, drove to the mid-way parking area, grabbed out gear and headed back down the trail.
The sun came out now and then as the wind blew, we headed back over to Rope-de-Dope, today we were getting on it. There was nobody in site. In fact we climbed all over that thing before there was a single soul that passed by, it was a beautiful day. This was the perfect start to the next few days. In fact we were talking to a couple a bit later that were watching us climb from the other side of the river, they were in total envy. We had the sun and no wait routes.
After tapping out all the routes we could, breaking off a hold and gashing our knees, we took our hamburger tender fingers and set out for food. There wasn’t enough food insight that could quench our hunger. So, this indeed was the end of a very good day.
Saturday morning came all too soon. Friday night was very cold and nearly sleepless. We had a great tent, good gear for sleeping, but the air just seemed a bit on the frozen side therefore keeping us slightly chilled. After trying to get as much sleep as we could we decided to get up. We walked our tired butts over to the well packed out “cooking area”, made breakfast with all the rest of the sleepless climbers and headed underway.
Today we were heading right after crossing the bridge. The Monument area was closed due to eagle nesting but that wasn’t our destination. We thought about hitting Koala and Adit rock. We took out a couple routes on Adit rock, met a couple with the best mannered little boy named Wyatt and headed back. Wyatt was the most memorable part of the day. You need to picture a little boy about maybe 3 years old, playing trucks in the dirt, in a full body harness and warm padded clothing while being anchored to the rock with a couple Cams so he won’t run away hile his parents scale the rock near him. Wyatt gave me a great smile while I got a photo of him, this was the best picture I’d seen in awhile, he was going to be a killer climber when he grew up you could just tell.
Because it was freaking cold out here we had to depart our new found buddy. The sun was out yes, BUT the wind was blowing like nobody’s business. Koala rock was going to have to wait until the next day. Not that we were defeated that day… we just needed to head to a warmer little less windy area.
After jotting back to the bridge, we headed the other way to see if the wind was a little less windy. Kinda but not really, as you came around that first main corner you felt like you were climbing in Alaska. The routes we so packed over there in the most popular of areas that we decided to jump over Asterisk pass to the west-side crags. We did a route over there and headed back. The route we thought was one pitch of a out cropped rock turned out to be the first pitch of 'Wherever I may roam', didn’t know that till the next day, OOPS. Our fingers were a little too sore to keep up the remaining 4 pitches so that was ok it will be the goal of another day. We headed back to the car, out for some grub and back to camp to crash under the beautiful landscape once again.
Sunday morning came a little later than the day before, which was good. The sun was up and we headed back to the breakfast area. We again packed out after trying to make pleasant conversation with a family next to us. I figured that these people had never been to Smith, had not spent enough time near climbers to know that we are actually nice people OR they were just really grumpy and selectively mute. Either way it wasn’t going to break my heart to not see them again.
Totally packed up, Koala was Sundays destination. That we did. We climbed a couple of the new routes, (Round here & Round there) and the 3 pitch multi (Round river direct) with a fine young couple from Louisiana, Jared& Christina. This guy just started climbing but 5 months ago but kicked arse. He looked and had the confidence of a long time climber, we were very impressed. But I do have to say it was probably a good thing to find out how long he’d been climbing AFTER we did all 3 pitches with them. But I do have to say this day was by far one of the most fun routes of the trip. The wind had slowed down a bit for us while we were climbing, except for when you were at the bottom of the 3rd pitch waiting to be the last person up, but the sun was out! We got warm that day, a little burnt like everyone else but the weather was definitely improving. After chatting with the locals we met on the other routes we hiked our once again starving hineys back to camp, showered, ate BIG food and crashed. It doesn't take long for one to start to become accustomed to the daily routine. Our minds were definitely beginning to fade quicker, thoughts we not sticking like they had before and we were loosing track of the days. Which is a good sign if you don’t have a job, but if you need to get back to town for something, that isn’t quite a good thing.
After our last night of beautiful sunsets, warm sleeping bags and gas stoves we packed up the remaining goods of our campsite. We had noticed over the course of the weekend the amount of tents that came and went, the number of cars that littered the streets and the sunburns that warmed many faces. You could tell how long people had been there by how burnt their nose was and how wiped out the bodies were. Recovery time was taking a little longer as the days passed.
Our final day, Monday, Memorial Day. We actually weren’t sure what to climb this day. We were totally exhausted, burnt, fingers and toes were climbed out and smelly. We thought we could spend a little time bouldering before hitting the road back to Portland. After my husband lead his last route off the Peanut by Morning Glory wall, he decided that bouldering was a fine idea, he was now totally climbed out. We finished climbing where we started over at the Practice boulder. It was perfect. It was there that I finished my last route in my Chacos because I could no longer get my sweat filled shoes on my swollen feet. Noted routes we wanted to climb when we came back in a few weeks, we were now convinced that we were totally satisfied with our week, we could now go in peace.
The last walk out of the canyon was much like the days before, but this time we knew it would be the last time for this trip. There was some sadness like always when leaving Smith, but yet we were filled with the energy of the rock and the essence of the canyon. There will be yet another day, another time another trip, when once again we can continue our precious experience here. Like I mentioned earlier, climbing has taught me several things in life… It is truly these times when you learn to appreciate the things we have and cherish. It brings a certain calmness and centering of spirit to ones soul. May we always cherish and take care of our precious climbing areas so we can continue and pass on the energy and spirit that it brings to each and everyone of us.
