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)

Click here for more pics

Frosty Mountain Fun

Frosty Mountain is a 2408m high peak in Manning Park, BC. It is the highest peak in the park. For the past few years I've been volunteering at the Frosty Mountain Trail Race where one year we hiked 7km up the Frosty Mountain Trail to set up an aid station. I've always heard great stories about the terrain and views and have wanted to see it for myself for the past couple years.

Last weekend Mike and I met our friends Steve and Bobbi-Jo Oliver at the Lightning Lake campground in Manning Park with the intentions of tackling the Frosty Mountain Hike. The weather was kind of touch and go; We lucked out on Friday night with nice enough weather to allow us to cook dinner and enjoy a camp fire but when we woke up on Saturday morning it was raining. We got up anyways and started to get ready for our hike and lucky for us, by the time we were ready to go the rain had stopped! It was still pretty cloudy out but at least it was dry. we ended up having great luck with the weather all day.

The route we chose was to start at the Frosty Mountain Trail Head at Lightning Lakes, hike to the summit and then hike back out via the Windy Joe/Pacific Crest Trail. We dropped one car at the Windy Joe trail head so we didn't have to hike the 4km along the road at the end of the day to get back to Lightning Lakes. This turned out to be an excellent decision and I will never do that hike with that additional 4km. The route we hiked turned out to be about 25km long with 4000 ft of elevation gain. It took us about 8.5 hours car to car, including a 20 min break at Frosty Camp and a 45min break at the summit. If you ever attempt this hike with one vehicle I'd recommend hiking it as an out and back on the Frosty Mountain Trail from Lightning Lakes instead of doing the loop that we did.

We started our hike at 9:30 am at lightning lakes after dropping off a car down the road at the Windy Joe trail head. The hike starts at the back side of Lightning Lake and immediately begins to climb for the first 4 or 5 km. At about 2 km into the hike you get your first glimpse of the mountains in the background and the lakes below when you reach a view point. At km 3 there are distance markers in the trees that continue for the rest of the hike to allow you to track your progress.

After about 5 km you reach a plateau and your first of many meadows along the hike. From here the trail remains fairly flat with a few small climbs until reaching Frosty Mountain Wilderness camp (7km). This is a nice spot for a rest on some of the make shift benches. There is also a shelter here if it is raining and a stream where water bottles can be refilled.

After the camp the climbing begins again for a couple of kilometers. at about 9km you reach some more sub-alpine meadows and an old larch forest that is quite pleasent to hike through. The grade also lessons in this area and the trees thin out giving you a great view of the mountains ahead and the lakes and valleys below.

When we reached the sub-alpine the peaks were all in the clouds and we were a bit disappointed that we had hiked all that way to potentially not get any view from the summit once we got there. But lucky for us as we continued to hike the clouds quickly lifted and disappeared all together giving us blue-bird skies and amazing views!

At 1o km you are in the alpine and hiking up the scree that covers the flanks of Frosty Mountain. There are however great trails laid out thru the scree making progress quite simple and enjoyable. The hike gets fairly steep at this point as you are gaining the ridge of the mountain. At 11km you reach a sign marking the intersection of the Windy Joe trail and the Frosty Mountain Trail.

We turned right at this point and followed the ridge all the way to the summit of Frosty Mountain. The ridge looks intimidating from the sign but in reality it has minimal exposure and is an easy 20 - 30 min walk to the summit on a well-used trail.

The Summit of Frosty Mountain is amazing! If you do the hike be sure to have time in your day to relax at the top. The views of the mountains surrounding you and the lakes and valleys way below are stunning. There is also an area surrounded by rock walls that makes a nice little spot to have lunch protected from any wind. We spent about 45 min at the top having a snack, taking photos and enjoying the scenery. It took us 4 hours to reach the summit (including our break at the Frosty Camp and a few photo stops)

After our break at the top we made a b-line for the car with no further breaks. We hiked back along the ridge to the trail sign/junction and headed down the Windy Joe Trail to complete a full loop hike. The second half of the hike back to car is approximately 13 km from this sign.
The first 3km of the Windy Joe trail switch back thru the alpine along the flanks of Frosty Mountain and meander through some sub-alpine meadows; always heading steadily downhill.

After that the forest starts to thicken and you are back into the trees. At the around 9km (?) marker (measure from the trail head at the bottom) you reach an area where a forest fire has killed all the trees; it is quite a site as you hike through all the stark white snags surrounding you.

Once you pass this area the trail is fairly unexciting; basically a 10km slog through the trees to get back to the car. In this section of trail you mostly head steadily down hill with a few small sections of slight uphill and flat meadows. At 19km (8km after the trail intersection) you reach another intersection. DO NOT head right toward the camp, instead head left and this will take you to a logging road which switchbacks down the mountain towards the Windy Joe trail head. After about 4km along the road you reach a trail on your left marked "Pacific Crest Trail"; follow this trail for about 2-3km through a marsh and over some boardwalks where it will spit you out at the trail head and your waiting vehicle down the road to the left. Once we got here we were very happy that we had dropped a car and didn't have to make the 4 km slog up the road back to lightning lakes.

If you only had one car you could potentially hike back to the lightning lakes trail head along the "Little Muddy Trail" that parallels the road if you were so inclined, but like I mentioned before, I would just hike to the summit of Frosty Mountain from the Lightning Lake Trail head and then go back down the same way went up instead of doing the loop. The top half of the Windy Joe trail is nice, but the 10km slog thru the trees at the end leaves something to be desired. You wouldn't miss much by hiking the Frosty Mountain trail both ways.

We ended up getting back to our camp site at about 6:30pm where we had some snacks, dinner and a well deserved beer. Just as we were cleaning up from dinner it started to rain. We fully lucked out with the good weather window for the day! We all spent the rest of the evening hiding from the rain in Steve and BJ's Boler playing an exciting game of "Settlers of Catan". The next morning it was still raining so we quickly packed up camp and enjoyed a warm breakfast at the Manning Park Lodge before parting ways for our journeys home.

Click Here for Full Photo Album

Blackcomb Buttress: Our Unicorn!

Last Weekend Mike and I got up bright and early on Sunday morning to head out to Whistler to go for our third attempt to climb the Blackcomb Buttress, a PD, low-5th climbing route to the 8000ft summit of Blackcomb Peak.

A little bit of history: As mentioned above this is the third attempt we've made at climbing Blackcomb Buttress. In theory it shouldn't be too difficult of a route to climb, however the weather never seems to co-operate for us. We made our first attempt on the July long weekend last year (2009) and after spending $40 for a chairlift ride up we hiked to the base of the talus fields and discovered that there was still way too much snow on the route to climb it safely. We spent the day practicing anchor building in the talus field and hiking at Whistler. We went back later that year in August when we were sure that the snow would be gone and we thought we were well prepared. This time we brought a tent and overnight gear and camped out beside Blackcomb lake, right below the buttress in hopes of having an early start and a good weather window in the morning. We went to bed under beautifully clear skies and woke up at 5am to a socked in and mega cloudy day making the decision to go back to sleep for a few hours and then have leisurely hike back to the chairlifts to head home an easy, but disappointing choice to make.

A few pics from our attempt/camp in August 2009:

And that brings us to Sunday's attempt (Take 3). After experiencing how quick it was to hike from the chairlifts to the base of the route at Blackcomb Lake the year before (about 45 min on sidewalk-like trails) we decided to try to climb the peak in one day. According to the ascent times listed in the guide book it should be possible to take the first chairlift up in the morning, climb the mountain and be done in time to catch the last chair lift down that same night. This is, however, a tight window. The first chair up isn't until 10am and the last chair down is at 5pm; the climb is estimated to take 6 hours round trip. This doesn't leave a lot of spare time, however, if you do miss the last chair all it means is a looooong hike down Blackcomb mountain, which sucks, but isn't the end of the world. The downside to doing the route in one day using the chairlifts is that you can not get an early start and weather in the moutnains tends to be better (and safer) early in the morning.

We left North Van at 6:30am on Sunday morning and after a quick breakfast at Timmy's we were on our way to Whistler. We had an uneventful drive along the sea to sky and arrived in Whistler shortly after 8am. Along the way we noticed the weather was deteriorating the further North we went but the forecast had promised no rain until that evening so we thought we'd go for it, even with the dark clouds looming in the distance. We bought our lift tickets, harassed the lifties to let us up the mountain early (to no avail) and grabbed a coffee while we waited for the lifts to officially open. The lifties let us board the chairs at 9:45, 15 min earlier than expected. Every minute counts on this climb so we were happy. The last two times we've been up to Blackcomb Buttress we have taken the Whislter Gondola followed by the Peak to Peak over to Blackcomb. This time however we took the Wizard and Solar Coaster chairs to the top, which turned out to be about 20min faster. We were at the top of the lifts by 10:15 and at Blackcomb Lake (the base of the Buttress) by 10:50am.

Marmot beside Blackcomb Lake

We took a minute here to do some route planning and then we were off and heading up the scree slope to the base of the Bu tress. The scree slope was fairly easy hiking that alternated between loose scree, big rocks and grass/dirt trails. It was steep but not too technical so we could make good time on the approach. It took us about an hour to hike/climb up the approach and reach the start of the 3rd/4th class scrambling. At this point the route quickly went from a reasonably easy hike to fairly technical scrambling. Not having much experience with scrambling or unroped climbing I was a bit uncomfortable ascending this bottom portion of the route as it quickly steepened, which slowed us down a bit. We scrambled over the first few steps unroped and then we harnessed up and short roped the next step.

Approach to the Buttress

At the Base of the Buttress

At this point we were traversing to climbers left to gain the easier rib up the Buttress. We came to a step that was quite steep (almost vertical) where we stopped to reassess. We spent a few minutes deciding if we should rope up and simu-climb this step and this is when the snow started. It was only snowing lightly but the dark clouds in the distance made us decide that we should probably cut our losses before we got into anything too technical. So, once again we turned back and retreated off of Blackcomb Buttress (for the Third time!), officially making it seem incredibly elusive to us, i.e. our Unicorn!

Black Tusk and Bad Weather

We took our time and enjoyed the hike back to the chair lifts and the ride down to the village where we took a stroll through the Whistler Farmer's Market followed by a great dinner of beer and Nachos in Squamish.

Bad weather and Blackcomb Lake

Retreating; Blackcomb Lake in distance

Photo Album:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/37015411@N06/sets/72157624728446831/

Ready to Rock!

We're all packed up and ready to roll! I always forget how much work it is to organize, pack and figure out the logistics of planning an extend trip into the mountains. There's so much to think about to make sure you have all the appropriate gear, clothes and food. We've put together gear and clothes lists to make sure nothing is forgotten and made a daily menu for our food, complete with calories per meal, to make sure we have everything we need to get us through some long days and to prevent over packing. We are aiming to consume 3500 -4000 calories per day for climbing days, but at the same time we do not want to pack too much food. The last thing I want to do is haul in any extra weight on our uphill slog to base camp!

We have 3 sets of gear, food, etc. set out:

- One for our Fast and light overnight (maybe two night) trip up Uto Peak, which fits in a 35 L pack and weighs around 35lbs. (It's a big accomplishment for me to camp over night, with all my climbing gear, crampons and ice axe and keep my pack around 30lbs!) There are no extras coming with us, not even a book or toothbrush. Lets hope for no rain days as being tent-bound with no book or entertainment will be horrifying!

Uto Peak; Summer 2008

-A second bag for our 6 day stay in Hermit Meadows, which is in a 65L pack which weighs about 55lbs since we have significantly more food as well as some "luxury" items like a book, cards, change of clothes, soap and a toothbrush!

Hermit Meadows

-and a 3rd set of gear for our second week of the trip where we plan on doing car-camping based climbs (mountains and cragging). This is pure luxury; we even get to have pillows and a BBQ! Sweet! It'll be a nice treat to eat fresh food too instead of KD and boil-in-a-bag meals.

The hardest part of the organization was the food by far. Trying to plan every meal for every day for two weeks was not easy. especially when weight and calorie intake were both issues. It involved several evenings of calorie counting and weight comparisons to find light weight foods with the highest calories.

Now its time to pack everything in the truck and keep our fingers crossed for good climbing weather!