Rocky Butte 

The Butte is dirty and the rock isn't perfect, but, if you live in Portland and want to catch a climb after work, or ride your bike to the crag, this is your only choice. If you give it a chance, you can fall in love with the dirty appeal of the 'Butte.

My buddies and I committed to cleaning up the Butte everytime we climbed there. Bring a plastic bag and don't leave til it's full. If everyone does it ... it makes a difference.

There seems to be a lot of dry tooling going on out at the 'Butte. Some of the faces are scarred pretty badly.

Rocky Butte, was a quarry before it was used as target practice by the Military Academy that used to occupy the Domes. It's possible that some of the scars are from dry tooling, but more likely, you're seeing the bullet scars.

Unfortunately, a lot of older, established climbs at Rocky Butte are sporting new-ish drytooling scars. Sixteen years ago, they weren't there.


Chad

Yeah, the scars are definitely from dry-tooling. It's pretty easy to tell the difference between axe/crampon scars and bullet scars.

And wow-- that statement sure says something about this place, doesn't it!

I've got to admit, yes it's easy to find and access, but no, it's just not worth it. So much noise from the highway forces you to yell to your climber when they are only 40 feet away!