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Although I didn't have much time, I had to go to Oregon anyway for a number of reasons, so I got to climb at Smith Rock a little bit. I climbed briefly the Friday before Labor Day (and nearly burst into flames - why did I climb in the sun?), then headed to the Portland Area to run some errands, avoid the crowds, and visit people.
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I headed back out Tuesday afternoon, cleverly skipping a downpour that morning. I met up with Ted from Manchester that afternoon and we got in a good evening session. I have climbed at Smith Rock a fair bit, but not recently. Luckily I was fresh and remembered some of the beta, so I could keep up with Ted. The next day, I wasn't so fresh, and got really worked on a number of hard climbs. After a rest day, the pattern repeated itself with me getting worked, and Ted sending. He had a really good trip, sending Chain Reaction, Aggro Monkey, Crack Babies, Fine Jade, and Latest Rage among other things. I want to be a good climber when I grow up. The only new climb I worked on was "crack babies", a steep 5.12b that I had only been on once before. I managed to work out all the moves, but on the redpoint attempts, I kept falling in the same place. That was a bit frustrating, but as they say, "If you're not sending, you're training". Well, I did a lot of Training.
After Ted left I climbed with Ryan and Ralph. I didn't get very many climbing pictures because it was mostly just the 2 of us climbing, however I took lots of scenery shots and did go out with 3 people twice, which allows for a lot more photo opportunities.
The last day, I went for mileage and managed to climb 9 5.10s and a 5.11, of which 6 I had never been on before (stuff on Mesa Verde like "Screaming Yellow Zonkers" and "Moons of Pluto". Needless to say, it was a good way to wear out my fingers and toes before leaving. This taste of Smith make me want to go back.
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Here are links to some of my older Smith Rock Pages...
Chain Reaction obsession(11-2003)
Smith Rock page (2002) (update 2005)
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On the drive back to Arizona, I decided to stop for the night by Walker Lake, in Nevada, as it was late and dark and I was tired. This was a good plan, but I started down a dirt road towards the lake, and it got sandier and looser as it headed downhill, which was a bad plan. I thought there was a better road down by the shore, so I figured if I could make it there, I'd be ok. There was a fairly strong tailwind, so the dust blew out in front of me decreasing visibility. In any case, I didn't even make it down to where I thought the road along the shore was. With the accent on the "thought". After I bogged down, I got out to look around, and realized with an even deeper sinking feeling that the only way out was the way I came down. Things were not looking good. I got out my shovel and my chains, and dropped the tire pressure a bit (eventually I was down to about 12 psi), and I found a piece of industrial conveyor belt (seems I wasn't the only person to make this mistake). After about an hour of digging and moving the belt and so forth I got the truck turned around, but it was on a bit of a hill, and then I dug one of the back drive wheels in up to the axle. So out came the jack and some pieces of firewood I found, and I jacked it up, put wood under the wheel, and lowered it back down. I got about 20 inches before it dug in again. I repeated the process. This was getting frustrating. By then things were pretty late, so I pulled out my sleeping bag and a tarp and spent a fitful night sleeping on the sand (I normally would have slept in my truck, but it was tilted so much that wasn't an option). I didn't really think I was going to be able to get myself the 400 or so feet I had to go uphill at about 30 inches an hour, but I figured I'd try some more the next day before I tried to find someone with a 4WD or tried to call a towtruck. I really wasn't very optimistic, but I did have a dream where Matt and Nandini helped push me out - thanks guys.
The next morning I got up before the sunrise, and started working on the truck again. First I looked for any other way out (fruitlessly, but I did find another chunk of inner tube, and after digging in once more I thought of using my foot-mats too. By moving the mats ahead, I was able to inch along. Finally I got off of the loosest steep part, and tried to go for it. I bogged down after about 5 feet. I inched a bit more and then set up a launch pad. This time I managed to get enough momentum to keep trucking up another steep bit. I almost stopped, but kept the speed up and didn't stop 'til I was on a decent road. Yahoo. It had taken me about 6 hours of work to get unstuck, but I was pretty happy to have made it without professional intervention. I walked back down to pick up my mats and shovel and jack. Then I removed the chains and limped to the next town to pump up the tires. Of course there was no gas station there, so I pumped them for a while with a bicycle pump and headed to the next town. There I found a gas station with free air, and was back in business, but no longer ahead of schedule.