Smith: Basalt Areas Climber's Log

Viewing: 1-5 of 5
bedellympian

bedellympian - Nov 12, 2012 11:58 pm Date Climbed: Aug 11, 2012

multiple

really liking wildfire in the lower gorge for trad training. gruff, badfinger, on the road, even pure palm. very sustained but really great and so close to the parking lot!

verdeleone

verdeleone - May 10, 2007 11:49 am Date Climbed: May 6, 2007

Multiple Routes  Sucess!

With University of Oregon Rock 3 class. Practiced anchor building and managed to toprope some easy routes -- first time climbing outside. We were mostly set up from Burn Baby Burn-5.7 (one of mine!) down to Torrid Zone-5.12 (not one of mine). Firestarter 5.10c seemed to be a popular climb with the folks that knew what they were doing, along with If I Ran the Circus and Woman in the Meadow, both 5.10somethings.

rpc

rpc - Sep 18, 2006 11:50 pm

The Gorge

Many trips in many different seasons. One trip with Martin and Haydar. Got on lots of routes but struggled (hung) on each of them. Took falls on routes that have previously been able to onsight (Cruel Sister & Wildfire)....can only blame it on a long break from climbing :)



"Discovered" the Gorge this October after going to Smith for 3 or 4 years. Trying to tick off some quality routes - barely scratched the surface thus far. "Track record" to date:



Cruel Sister: clean; clean; clean [much easier than Karate Crack IMHO; best 10a hand carck we've tasted at Smith to date; 1 #3.5 and 1 #4 Camalot at top ~ fist and rattly fist for me meaning it's harder for smaller handed folks]; FELL! Shirley led with a hang.

Blood Clot: rested; fell [short but thin crux that continues to spank me - place a small cam and just go for it ....I guess; good pro all the way]. Can do it cleanly on TR but redpoint eludes me... :(

Quasar: rested [thin and hard for the grade IMHO; keeps you hanging on your arms quite a bit; good pro all the way]

Last Days: clean; Shirley led with hangs [nothing special; straightforward but harder than it looked from base; good pro]

Morning Star: rested [DAMN! What a route! One of the best cracks we've tasted at Smith at any grade so far I think!!!! Clean and stellar!!! Lower half was very reasonable. Crux is midway up - thin but short and eats nuts; good pro all the way]

Mantra: clean (almosted slipped off though) [tricky and slippery lower half; small pro near start but felt safe enough]

Gruff: rested [did traversing start in from left; direct looks very bouldery; I thought it tasted a little like Quasar?? Good pro]; rested 'gain.

Wildfire: clean; clean [since this was my first 10b onsight at Smith, it must be soft for the grade.....my kind of climb - demanding on the legs and crux is over after the initial 25-foot stemming dihedral. Double finger cracks at top are cool; good pro]; fell

Off Tempo: rested [10a OW. Very clean. Not too long. Must've been the cold.....the hang had nothing to do with my sucking ;) Takes cams upwards of #3.5 Camalot]; still no send.

Badfinger: rested [gorgeous route with hard cruxes X2, perfect rock and perfect pro all the way]

As You Like It: great route (easier if you're tall I think) but I took. Going for top anchors on Much Ado.. is WAY hard (not sure if it's part of route) for me.

Azog: Shirley's onsight. OK route. Not very memorable.

Soron: Shirley's onsight. Cool route (esp. the stem box). Crux is the leftward exit under roof.

Brothers Child: onsighted both pitches. Must be a soft 5.10c since I've never onsighted a line at that grade before. Cool 2-short pitches with the upper one (10c) looking way easier than it actually is (that's how I got suckered onto it ;)

St. Paddee's Day: clean. Nice line despite the low star rating. Varied.

hkutuk

hkutuk - Jul 23, 2006 9:22 pm

Best Cracks at Smith

First time in the Gorge, climbed with Martin, Radek and Shirley (February 5, 2006). Followed Radek's great leads on:
Wildfire (5.10b) - Slick finger crack, must stem/smear on the faces, pretty hard and got spanked.
Gruff (5.10a) - Bouldery start traverse to the right, sustained hard but not too bad.
Badfinger (5.10b) - Several bulges to overcome, quite hard and sustained no rest spots.
Cruel Sister (5.10a) - Nice hand crack which gets wider than fist on top, fun route.

Martin Cash

Martin Cash - Feb 6, 2006 1:00 pm

Route Climbed: Multiple Date Climbed: February 5, 2006

Visited here for the first time with Radek, Shirley, and Haydar. I found the routes to be very strenuous and demanding. TRed some routes lead by Radek. Got my butt kicked, I can tell I haven't done much climbing since late October.

Wildfire - 5.10B - 2X - Very nice route with the crux coming in the first 30 feet. You really need to use the stem or it feels way harder. Did much better the second time. Pretty easy (9ish) above the dihedral. Fun topout to the anchor with some stemming then a balancy traverse.

Gruff - 5.10A - Nice route. Pretty sustained with no rests for the lower half. Good no hands rests up high.

Badfinger - 5.10B - Beautiful route! Really sustained with some nice bulges to give it variety. Great finger jambs. I need to get stronger so I can lead this thing.

Viewing: 1-5 of 5
Return to 'Smith: Basalt Areas' main page