Oregon - Part 2

After a brief stop in Crater Lake (the water is really blue), we headed to central Oregon to do some climbing at Smith Rock.

We stayed with Pete's cousin Mike and his wife Jen in Redmond, OR. We got there Tuesday afternoon, had a beer and some snacks, and then headed out to the crag that evening to do some climbing. In the 48 hours that we were there, we hit Smith Rock four times. Naturally, the heatwave followed us to Oregon, so we had to climb in the morning and late afternoon, with a siesta (and tortilla fiesta) over lunch.

For most of our trip, we had been doing multi-pitch trad, and so it was fun to switch to some shorter sport routes for a change, and climb some harder stuff. There is a lot of variety at Smith (more than 1,800 routes, as the guide says), so we could take a break from the crack climbs with their super painful foot jams, and substitute them with equally painful nubbins and crimpers. Mike served as our rope gun and guide - which required finding not only good routes, but good routes in the shade.

Emily leading Phone Call From Satan (5.9)

Pete leading Caffeine Free (5.10a)

Emily cleaning 9-Gallon Buckets (5.10c), Mike leading Cool Ranch Flavor (5.11a)

Pete capturing Emily on Screaming Yellow Zonkers (5.10b)

Jen on Screaming Yellow Zonkers

Pete on Moons of Pluto (5.10d)

Biceps on Sunset Slab (5.9)

Pete on Moons with the Sisters in the background

Crimpers!

Emily leading up Cosmos (5.10a)

The last day we headed out to Scout Lake for some evening swimming and grilling out. We met some of Mike and Jen's friends, and had a great time. Pete, Mike and Troy spent most of the evening spinning a giant log in the water.

On Friday, we stopped in Portland for dinner with more of Pete's cousins, and then headed to Mt. Adams.