Rock Climbing Road Trip - Part 2: City of Rocks

Rock Climbing Road Trip

May 17 - 27, 2013

Smith Rock, OR and City of Rocks, ID


Continued from Part 1 (click here)

On Tuesday May 5, we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast at the Super 8 hotel and headed for City of Rocks.  We made a stop in the last major town before "The City", Burley, ID to do our grocery shopping and then we left the interstate and headed further south. After about 4 hours of driving for Boise, passing through small towns and farm lands, including the closest town to "The City", Almo, ID, a small western town and closest place to get showers, we finally arrived at the park. We set up our campsite and went for a drive to explore the park and find the water pump.

We stopped and checked out a few lookouts and a few climbing areas to get a feel for the park. There is rock everywhere and some really cool campsites tucked in around the rocks. 

Once we got back to our campsite we hiked to the base of "Lookout Rock" hoping to climb the 5.5 ridge to the summit, but with minimal beta on the descent we decided against it.  We opted to go to "Practice Rock" instead to get a taste of the climbing.





We led up "First lead" 5.6 and then top roped a couple of 5.8s "Betwixt" and "Original Left". We also did a bit of scrambling around the area up the "Little Kids Slab" 5.0 and around on the higher rock ridges to check out the area..









The scenery and landscape at City of rocks is
amazing, and we enjoyed our first evening of camping and exploring, but we did quickly learn that they books aren't lying where they say its often windy in the park.....

The next day was a bit cold and very windy, so we slept in to wait for the day to warm up a bit. Once we got up we made a gourmet hash for brunch and headed out to climb at the crack of noon. We went to the Bread Loaves Crag to explore and ran into some other climbers who shared some beta with us on the Super Hits area of the Bread loaves.












We ended up doing two 35m long sport routes: a 5.7, that we both led and a 5.8 arete "Twist and Crawl", both excellent , full value routes. At the end of the second route the wind was so strong and cold that we were freezing and decided to call it a day. We drove into town for some groceries and spent the evening hiding out from the wind in the cab of the truck.











On Thursday, our third day in The City, we woke up to a layer of snow on everything! Not what you want to see on a climbing trip. Once again we went back to to bed in hopes that it would warm up and the rocks would dry out. When we got up again a couple hours later the snow had melted and by time we had brunch the rocks had dried out.





We drove down to the main info area and chatted with the climbing ranger about good places to climb.  He informed us that we could get top-ropes on lots of routes, all you had to do was scramble up the 5.4/5.5 routes....yeah, right! So instead, we talked to some other climbers, got some beta on the Lookout Rock descent and headed back for a summit attempt.






 We scrambled along the 3rd/4th class ridge right from our camp site and then climbed the 5.5 section of the ridge in 2 pitches. The view from the summit was amazing and well worth the climb. We rapped the route off of some slings we left on the blocks near the summit and reached the end of the ridge just in time for another snow storm to start up. We waited out the storm for a couple of hours reading books in the truck and then relaxed over a tasty pasta dinner.











On Friday we got up at 8am and headed out for our last climb in City of Rocks. We had decided to take a run at "Theater of Shadows" of Jackson's Thumb, a really cool looking spire with a 5.7, 4-pitch sport route up to the summit, that was supposedly "bolted do your grandma can lead it".

The route description did not lie, the route was crazy fun and incredibly well bolted. It turned out to be my favorite route of the trip with its adventurous feel, fun climbing, excellent views and the added bonus of summitting the spire.















The free-hanging rappel off the back was kinda cool too; not as scary as Monkey face. We were back in camp for a late lunch and then went and explored some of the touristy areas of the park.

After our exploring we went in search for some hot springs that are listed in our guide book, but it turned out that it was just a city pool, so we opted to pay for showers at Tracey's General Store in Almo instead.





 We spent the evening enjoying a rare windless night around the campfire enjoying some cheap American beer and watching the full moon.









On Saturday we got up early and decided to make a run for the Border. We left City of Rocks at 8am and after one or two shopping stops, and a late-nite visit with my parents to pick up our cats, we rolled into our garage at 1am. A loooooong day of driving to end an awesome spring road trip.



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Rock Climbing Road Trip: Part 1: Smith Rock

Rock Climbing Road Trip

May 17 – 27, 2013

Smith Rock, OR and City of Rocks, ID

Last week Mike and I left town for 10 days of climbing in the US.  It’d been a few years since we’d been on a full-on road trip, so I was excited to camp, climb, drive and explore for the week.  We left Vancouver early on Friday, May 17 to start our journey to Smith Rock in Terrebonne, Oregon.  We were pleasantly surprised by beating morning rush-hour and then sailing through the border.  The drive was pretty much uneventful. The weather was unsettled most of the way, so unfortunately there were no views of Mt. Rainier or Mt Hood to be had enroute. 

 Luckily the weather was a bit better in Terrebonne. Once we reached Terrebonne,(8 hours after leaving home) we loaded up the truck with groceries for the next few days, checked out the local climbing shop, Redpoint Climbers Supply, for some gear and route beta and went and scored a campsite at the Smith Rock Bivouac site.  Smith Rock was packed for the weekend; I have never seen so many tents in the bivi site! We spent the night relaxing in camp and planning our climbs for the next few days.  Unfortunately several of the routes we wanted to climb were closed due to nesting Raptors, but we found some alternate objectives and now we have an excuse to head back this fall. 

Our first day of climbing didn’t start out as planned.  We woke up at 7am to rain on the tent, so we went back to sleep and  when we got up a couple hours later the rain had stopped, sun was shining and the rock was quickly drying out.  We had a quick breakfast and joined the hoards in the Smith Rock State Park Canyon.  We opted to by-pass the more popular climbing areas and head along the river to the “Phoenix Buttress”.  There was only one other party climbing in this area, preventing us from having to wait in line to climb something. Lesson learned: go to Smith Rock mid-week & definitely not on long weekends! The easier routes at the Phoenix were being used, so we settled on stick clipping our way up a 10a, “Phoenix” and throwing down a Top-rope to start out our day. Not really  a warm-up, but it was a fun challenge to start our day. 

Next, Mike led up “Hissing Llamas”, 5.8 on the same wall and then it was my turn for my first ever Smith rock lead, so we headed over to “Bunny Face” 5.7.  We had to wait in line for a couple of parties who were teaching their girlfriends how to climb & rappel, which was slightly terrifying, especially when they talked of climbing the Monkey Face the following day, but I finally had my turn at the route and we were entertained by climbers working "Chain Reaction", 5.12c, while we waited. The rain showers and run-outs near the top were not my favorite, but luckily the climbing was easy and the route went well. To end our day we headed over to the Peanut Area and top roped two 5.8’s “ Hop on Pop” & "Peanut Brittle” before walking back to camp for some steaks and beers.

On Sunday we decided to go for one of our main objectives of the trip, the iconic Monkey Face! We got up at 6am to beat the crowds, had a quick breakfast and started our hike up over Misery Ridge. We arrived at the base of the "Pioneer Route" just in time to be ahead of a party of 6 with the same plans. Mike started out by linking the first two pitches, which consisted of a 4th class scramble and the worlds hardest/most awkward 5.5. unfortunately  linking the pitches led to horrid rope drag.  Not recommended! keep them as two separate pitches. 

Next we tackled the 3rd pitch bolt ladder. Mike led up and since we had the half-ropes he  managed to always have a rope on tension as he made his way up the wall.  Following the aid pitch with just one set of etriers and no ascenders it was a bit of a chore, but with some creativity and yarding on a lot of draws I clawed my way up the wall and into the cave  (aka, the Monkey's Mouth) with burning arms.

 The next and final pitch (for us) is know as "Panic point". It involves stepping out of the cave and onto the wall with an instant 200' of exposure. Luckily a bolt be can be clipped while still in the cave, so you're protected making the first few moves.  Mike led up this pitch with is nicely spaced bolts and good size holds.  I followed and thought it felt hard for a 5.7 with a slight overhang and  my tired arms.

 From this point we were perfectly set up for the descent, so we decided to forgo the unprotected summit scramble and rig up our rappel. We learned later that it is recommended to link the "Panic Point" pitch and the summit scramble into one pitch if you want to summit the Monkey. After enjoying the view for a few minutes Mike took the first lead for the epic 150' free hanging rappel.  It made his way down quickly without incident and I rigged up my device. The rappel was insane! It was one of the craziest things I've ever done climbing.

 I decided that I don't really like free hanging rappels and spent the descent deciding between taking a break to regain my composure and wanting to go faster to get it over with immediately. I was ecstatic to reach solid ground. Once off the route I decided I'd had enough excitement for one day, so we spent the afternoon hiking and enjoying a coffee in town. 

Monday May 20 was our last day in Smith Rock. We got up early to a nice, warm day and headed into the park to get in a few climbs that morning.  It was nice being there on a weekday; significantly quieter. We spent the morning at the combination blocks area where Mike led up "Dancer" 5.7 and them we top-roped "Jete", 5.8 and "Earth Boys", 5.10b. I was thrilled to make it up "Earth Boys" with no falls!



It was getting hot at that point and we wanted to get in a bit of driving that day, so we headed back to camp to break down our tent, have some lunch and pack up the truck. We hit the road at 2pm to start making our way to Idaho. We were hoping to drive a couple  hours and find an RV park or campground for the night, but everything we found was full.  We succumbed to dinner at McDonald's to use their WiFi and we found that we could get a hotel in Boise, Idaho off of Hotwire for $40 a night, including breakfast. Sold! 



We spent our afternoon  driving for 6 hours through Oregon's High desserts and Idaho's Farm lands, all the while dodging numerous tumbleweeds, ending with a night in the Super 8 Hotel relaxing over Dixie cups of boxed wine.







Part 2: City of Rocks, to come......... (Click Here)

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Wapta Icefields Ski Traverse - Part 2

 Wapta Traverse, April 6 – 12, 2013

***See Previous Blog posting for Days 1-3***

Wednesday, April 10 – “The Crux”

Day 4:  Balfour Hut to Scott Duncan Hut

10km, 2000 ft El. gain 

Gearing up at the Balfour Hut

Heading to the High Col

On Day 4 we woke up to snowing, cloudy and windy weather. The weather had deteriorated from the night before and it looked as though we would be attempting to traverse the Balfour High Col, the crux of the route, in a white-out.  It was a bit concerning since this was the same place on the traverse where a man from Abbotsford had sadly perished in a crevasse just a few weeks earlier. 

Tom and Mike climbing to the Balfour High Col

We left the hut in the winter weather at 8am and after a short downhill ski we were at the base of the 2000ft  climb. At this point we pulled out the ropes, harnessed up and split into two rope teams, with Tom, Mike and Deon leading the way.  

Stef leading our rope team to the Balfour High Col

 The crux of the route involves climbing up a moderately steep slope through a narrow constriction between some rocks and serracs with overhead hazards from Mt. Balfour, as well as crevasses to be aware of along the glacier.  To limit our exposure we spread out the two rope teams along the slope and stayed tied together in case of encountering an unseen crevasse.  I was a bit worried that I would be too slow and tired to move efficiently roped together since I had never skied more than 3 days in a row before, but we maintained a steady pace and everyone fared quite well through the entire climb.

Tom and Stef Navigating

Luckily, Tom and Stef have both skied the Wapta before and had a strong understanding of the route; that knowledge combined with their GPS track, Map skills and mountain know-how got our team safely to the top of the Balfour High Col. Once at the top we regrouped, had a bit of a break (in the blasting wind and white-out) and came up with a plan to ski down to the Scott Duncan hut.

Lunch Break

 The ski down the glacier was interesting, to say the least.  We stayed roped together to stay safe amongst the crevasses, which made for a less than stellar downhill skiing experience. It was interesting to downhill ski with a rope on; It’s been a while since I’ve snowplowed my way down an entire ski run. Stef led the charge in this section by following a GPS track through the whiteout while watching out for hazards along the way. 

Final climb to the hut

The white-out was intense enough that it was difficult to see the features of the terrain so Stef tied a cord on the end of her ski pole and moved it around in front of her to have an idea of the steepness of the slopes she was encountering. Once we arrived to the vicinity of the hut the weather broke a bit and we finally had a view of our destination.  We worked our way across the last couple km’s and made the final short climb up to a bench on Mt Daly where the Scott Duncan Hut awaited.

Scott Duncan Hut on the flanks of Mt Daly

The Scott Duncan Hut is the smallest of the four huts we stayed in and only sleeps 12, but our group had it to ourselves the first night, so it was more than adequate. We had some humidity issues in the hut, but with some probe work and hammering on the exhaust fan it seemed to be solved. The door also kept getting iced up and snowed in, so it was on ongoing battle to shovel snow and chip away ice to keep the door closing properly.  

Scott Duncan Hut

  Once we arrived at the hut we enjoyed some Tea, smoked salmon and crackers while Tom taught us about Maps and GPS’s and showed us some tips on how to use them and how he had used them to get us through the white-out that day. That evening after a tasty dinner we entertained ourselves with a full on Charades battle. 

Scott Duncan Hut - Inside

Thursday, April 11 – “Rest Day”

Day 5:  Scott Duncan Hut, Mt Daly Attempt, Lilliput Col-Balfour Glacier Ski Tour

Climbing Mt Daly in less than stellar conditions

Type 2 fun at its finest

 The 5^th day of the trip was an extra day we built in for contingency.  We had thought it’d be a good chance to try to climb a nearby peak, such as Mt Balfour, go for a ski tour or simply have time to rest or wait out weather if necessary.  Tom and Stef got up to check the weather at 6am and it was still socked in so the attempt to climb Balfour was scrapped and we went back to sleep for another hour or so. 

 

Weather's Clearing!

When we got up shortly after 7am the weather was still questionable, but we figured we might as well go outside and do something useful with the day.  After a leisurely breakfast we headed to an area just above the hut on Mt Daly and did a mini-snow school with Tom where we dug a test pit, discussed the snow and avalanche conditions and recorded all the info properly in our snow pit logbooks. A good refresher for the AST-2 course Mike and I took a couple months ago.

 

Tom Climbing to Lilliput Col

Once we were done with our pit we decided to make and attempt to climb Mt Daly. The weather was still mediocre, snowing fairly heavily (1.5cm/hour) and the wind was picking up.  We boot-packed about ¼ of the way up the snow slopes and rocks and Jen and I decided that the high winds, heavy snow and no views were really not a lot of fun and that the summit would not contain many rewards, so we retreated back to the hut.  

 

Skiing down the back side of Lilliput Col

 As we worked our way down it was shocking how quickly our uptrack had filled in and we were struggling a bit to find the path back down. Tom ended up coming down to help us out and guide us back to the hut, which ended up being very useful as we got onto some slopes that were sluffing and we had to down-climb some of the areas with stiffer snow and rocks; it was a bit of a relief to be accompanied by a strong climber and have some guidance in those sections. Stef, Mike and Deon were going to make a push for the summit, but a few minutes after we turned around, Stef got hit by a small sluff coming off the rocks above so they turned back too. In the words of Stef, that experience was definitely “Type 2 Fun”.   

 

Powder turns on Balfour Glacier

We ended up back at the hut just in time for a warm lunch. As we were making lunch for the day we realized that all those "extra" sandwiches we'd been eating all week maybe weren't "extras" after all.... Looks like we're having trail mix and granola bars for lunch tomorrow; oops! Good thing the last day shouldn't be too long of a ski.

 

Climbing back up the Balfour Glacier

That afternoon the weather cleared so we re-packed our gear to get out for a tour. We climbed up to the Lilliput Col, skied a steep line off the backside and accessed the Balfour glacier. After traversing some flat/low angle sections, we hit a steeper portion of the glacier and enjoyed a 2000 ft powder run down the Balfour Glacier, some of the best skiing of the trip! So much fun!

 

Heading back to the Hut

 From there we had to climb back up to col and then we traversed to a steeper face on Lilliput to make some epic powder turns back down onto the icefield. Another hour or so brought us across the icefields and back to the hut where we had 5 more people join us for our last night of the trip.  It made for a crowded hut, but a highly amusing night of charades.

Friday, April 12 – “Descent Day”

Day 6:  Scott Duncan Hut to West Louise Lodge (Hwy 1) Trailhead

13km, 4800 ft El. Loss

Traversing Below Mt Niles

 Friday marked the 6^th and final day of our traverse. It was exciting that we had almost accomplished this amazing journey, but also sad that it was coming to an end and we would be returning to reality.  We hit the trail at 7:30am with much lighter packs (all our food was gone) and made the final climb of the trip up to the base of Mt Niles. 

Enjoying the Views

 The views on this last day were to die for, looking across the valley at numerous 11,000ft peaks: Victoria, Lefroy, Huber, Hungabee. We all spread out for the traverse along the slopes of Mt Niles as they are known avalanche paths and we cruised along quickly with no issues. After 6 days in the alpine surrounded by nothing but rocks and snow, we skied down some fun runs, quickly losing elevation, and began to enter the forest. 

Lakeside Picnic

 At this point, Stef, Deon and Mike headed out for a steep tree line while the rest of us went with Tom to find a more moderate run through the trees.  The ski down through the sparse trees was actually quite fun, which is kind of exciting as I think it shows a slight progressing in my skiing; I used to despise skiing anywhere near trees.  Once we reached the bottom of the tree run we started a traverse which weaved through a creek and through the forest until we emerged at Sherbrook Lake.   

Sherbrook Lake

We met up with Stef’s group at the lake and enjoyed a picnic in the warm sun before continuing on. Once across the lake we traversed an undulating trail for a while longer before we began to lose elevation and made quick work of the ski out, survival style, along the Sherbrook hiking trail.  We emerged into the West Louise Lodge Parking lot at around 12:30 pm, officially marking the end of our 6-day adventure. 

We made it! West Louise Lodge Parking lot/Trail head

 Reflection:

The trip across the Wapta Icefields turned out better than I could have imagined. Until this year I have always had a bitter-sweet relationship with ski touring, I love being outside and traveling through the mountains in the winter, but the downhill skiing aspect of always felt like a “necessary evil”; I never really understood the enjoyment that most other seemed to get out of it and it always seemed a constant struggle to ski down through deep snow, variable conditions and trees.  This season I spent 40 days on my skis and took some backcountry specific lessons last year, determined to increase my skiing abilities and my fitness in the backcountry.  I feel like the sport of ski touring has finally started to come together for me, with a couple of yo-yo skiing days this year that felt like pure bliss and now wrapping up the season with an epic traverse;  I’m finally hooked.  

 

View from Bow Hut

I started the week on the Wapta excited, but apprehensive about the trip. Would I be able to keep up with everyone? Am I a strong enough skier to get through the downhills? How about this 40lb pack I have to carry, on my skis, for 6 days? I haven’t skied with an overnight pack since the Garibaldi Neve Traverse in 2008, and that was only a 3 day trip! I haven’t ever skied for more than 3 days in row, what was I thinking signing on for this!?!

Sunrise on Mt Balfour

 The trip had it its challenges, but it was nothing that couldn’t be handled and thanks to our wonderful group with all of their positive energy, patients and comradery, we all managed to help each other out and make it through our individual challenges. Any time we were beyond our comfort levels, Tom or Stef was right there teaching us new skills and providing guidance.  Overall, the trip was better than I could have ever asked for, with the magnificent  atmosphere and landscape all while traveling with a fabulous group of people and learning non-stop along the way. It was an excellent way to wrap up the 2012/2013 ski season and did a great job of improving my self confidence with regards to ski touring and winter backcountry travel. It opened my eyes to all the epic trips we could consider in the future; maybe I’ll even consider trying a ski traverse where we have to sleep in tents..... :)

 

A big thank you to Tom and Stef for all you hard work. Everything from organizing the trip  (we didn’t exactly make that simple with the revolving door of participants), to planning food, prepping meals en-route, to sharing your backcountry skills and knowledge with us by not only getting us safely across the traverse but by taking us on several exciting side trips and teaching us new skills along the way.  And a shout out to everyone else I spent the week skiing with, I couldn't have asked for a better group of people - Thanks for the fun trip and I hope to get together again soon on future adventures together!

The Team: Al, Tom, Stef, Jen, Mike, Amber (Deon is taking the Photo)

 Click Here for a full Photo Album

Trip Participants:

Tom Wolfe (ACMG Mountain Guide)

Stefanie Falz (Tail Guide)

Amber McMinn

Michael McMinn

Jennifer Coffman

Deon Molloy

Al Tinholt

MCR Report: