I spent last week in the chilly confines of Barrow, Alaska, and when I left on Thursday evening the temps had dipped down to -35 degrees F. Brrr. When I deplaned in Anchorage, it was a balmy 10 degrees F. Several hours later on Friday morning, I walked out into the early morning gray of Portland to find tropical temperatures hovering around 50 degrees F. The 85 degree swing wreaked havoc on my system, and I promptly fell asleep.
I finally woke up at 6 am on Saturday morning after about 15 hours of sleep, and Kristin piled me into the car with our climbing gear and a duffle bag of clothes. I immediately fell back asleep and, apart from a quick bagel break, stayed that way until we rolled into Smith Rock at 10 am. Coming off of a red eye from Barrow, 18 hours of shut eye and a drive down to Smith Rock, I was still pumped to see the glow of the morning sun off the Picnic Lunch Wall. I love Oregon.
We spent the next two days climbing mostly trad lines on the front side, including Lion's Jaw, New Testament, Wartley's and then, at the end of the day on Sunday, Solar. In between, we managed to sneak in a few pitches of sport climbing as well, with the highlight being Fish and Chips, a really unique line in Shipwreck Gully with a pumpy, steep finish - very UnSmith like for 5.10 sport climbing. Exhausted from all the travel, the camera stayed in the pack most of the weekend, but I did strap it on for our short multi-pitch on Solar. Enjoy.
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| Kristin on the fun 5.9 corner pitch on Solar |
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| And the rappel with contrail above |
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