Smith Rock Crags
Words...
Vantage
Smith
Vantage
Smith
Given the 30% chance of precip forecasted for Smith for Saturday, Shirley & I headed back to Vantage, WA with its promise of superior weather. We were not disappointed though our choice of Middle East Wall was a chilly one. Consequently, I did all the leading on Saturday. We did Sex Party (5.10a) – very nice route and despite what the beta out there says it’s mostly thin hands (#0.75 to #1 Camalot). That is not a problem as you can easily stem your way up. We also did Theresa's Lingerie (5.9) and The Elders (5.10a) – these are right next to each other with the former being nice but nothing special and the latter being more interesting due to the inwardly flaring nature of the crack (easy climbing though). We finished off the day on Slim And Curvy (5.10b) whose entire grade is set by the opening two moves (then it’s 5.8-5.9 stemming). An OK route. As Smith was really what we wanted for the weekend, we headed south on Saturday afternoon.
Sunday morning we ran into our friends Haydar and Andrew in the Parking lot. They headed off for the main area while we hiked around the Smith Group. Shirley wanted a rematch with Kunza Korner (5.10c) which she did a year ago with a hang. This time she cruised the route cleanly and with no grunting. After that we hiked over to the Mesa Verde Wall wall and Shirley led Screaming Yellow Zonkers (5.10b) again. Superfun route – somehow can never get enough of that nubbin-pulling. Finished off the day by TR-ing some other stuff. On the way out, we shot photos of Haydar sending Kunza. A fun weekend.
THE END (of mini TR)
