Smith Rock places to set a portaledge ?

Hello I was if wondering anyone knew of good spot with moderate exposure in the smith rock climbing area to set up a portaledge. I need to practice setting it up and  practice getting on and off of it before I take it out on the big stone. Does anyone know a place that I wouldn’t be in the way too much and could practice? 

Can’t tell ya any specific routes but make sure you set it up WHILE HANGING on something SLABBY to emulate what you’ll encounter on the big stone. I made the mistake of practicing setting up the ledge on a completely overhanging bolt ladder while standing on the ground and had a hell of a time setting it up for the first bivy on the wall. Nothing like climbing for 12 hours just to spend 2 hours setting up the ledge, saying F it, and sleeping on a 15 degree angle

Since we're on the subject of portaledge setup, I'll share my #1 best tip on hanging-belay portaledge setup, it involves the dreaded spreader bar.  This is for the Metolius double ledge, but I bet this technique would be useful for BD double ledge too.  I learned this from Mark Hudon.

Take a sling and girth hitch the air-side long rail.  Hook this sling to some appropriate point at the bolt or ledge masterpoint.  Step on the wall-side long rail and push down, thus stretching the fabric. Pop the spreader bar on easy peasy.

Here it is.

How to set up a Metolius Ledge

I have a Metolius Double, this is how I do it. It usually takes me about ten minutes. 

Get the ledge hanging from the bolt you'll be sleeping on. Tie your rope over there with a good sized loop, attach yourself to the loop via your Gri-gri and lower down so the the long side poles are at about your shins. Make sure the ledge hanging straps are fully lengthened. 

Get the long side poles together and get the ledge nice and organized. I call this the "canoe" position. Get the straps all straight and the end poles folded nicely into the bed material between the two long poles. Make sure the bed tightening straps are fully loosened and that the bed is fairly centered on the long poles. 

I have a 1/2" webbing loop girth hitched to the center of the outside pole next to the ledge harness strap. In fact, I've duct taped it there permanently. Clip a biner into the hero loop and reach up and clip it into the same spot the whole ledge is hanging from, high enough so that the whole ledge is now laying flat against the wall, hanging completely from the outside pole. This will keep it out of the wind and will also allow you to swing back and forth and set the end poles. 

Swing to one end and set the end pole, snug up the bed straps a little bit. Swing over to the other end and do the same. Swing to the middle, Grab the spreader bar and put one end into the wall side pole, get your toe alongside it, cup its outside end in your hand, give the wall side pole a little bounce with your foot and pop the spreader bar into the air side pole at the same time. 

Your ledge should now be assembled, still hanging flat against the wall. Unclip the hero loop, drop the ledge down flat, crawl into it and tighten up the bed straps. After that, tighten up the hanging straps and then position it up and down, using the Yates adjustable daisy you have connected to the main ledge tie in point. I like to have the ledge about 12 to 8 inches below the bottom of the haul bags so that I can comfortably stand on the ledge to get into my bags. I tie a little sling from the end the bags are on (better to have them overhanging your feet rather than your head) to another part of the anchor so that it doesn't swing out when I'm standing on that end. 

When you disassemble the ledge, lengthen the ledge harness straps, loosen the bed straps and all the rest in reverse order. Don't forget that if you stuff the ledge into its haul sack nice and neat and organized, it will come out of the haul sack, at the end of the day, when you're beat and tired and maybe in the dark or rain, all nice and neat and organized, making it far easier to set up. 

There ya go. Make sure you practice this, actually hanging, half a dozen times at your local climbing gym.

Hoof it out to student wall, there's never anyone out there. 

Mark Hudon wrote:

Here it is.

... 

There ya go. Make sure you practice this, actually hanging, half a dozen times at your local climbing gym.

No climbing gym out here would remotely entertain this. 

Sylvester Jakubowski wrote:

No climbing gym out here would remotely entertain this. 

Get creative. 

Mark Hudon wrote:

Get creative. 

Indeed. I practiced setting mine up off a small bridge in a drainage ditch, hanging it off some metal railing.

Big wall climbing is all about problem solving.

North Point at Smith. You can park right there, drag your ledge out and access anchors from the top or below.