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Need advice on climbing at Smith Rock
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Hi, my friend and I are planning to climb at Smith Rock in late September. Our level is around 5.11 sports and maybe easy 5.12. It's our first time to be there and we really want to get some suggestions about routes we shouldn't miss. Is five full days enough for us to explore as many classic routes as we can? We also climb trad, but not sure if it's worthy to fly over with our trad gear if we only stay five days there. All advices are welcome and highly appreciated!!! |
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There are a ton of good climbs in smith, probably 20 at each grade. With that said trying to make a list now wont be helpful, the temperature and sun will dictate your decisions. Though a onsight of chain reaction in direct sun at 90 degrees would be impressive AF. |
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So many good routes, you almost can't go wrong. As Princess mentions, it's tough to say what you should put on your list now, though. How hot and smoky it is will likely determine a lot. September can still be blazing hot during the day, and if it's a bad fire season it can be almost unbearable outside. It's probably not worth it to fly with your trad gear unless you are super-psyched on trad, or want to detour up to Trout Creek for a day or two. |
Yvonne YZ wrote: HAHAHAHA. I needed a good laugh. Buy the guide book, read through it, check off routes of interest and wander around. |
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I'll commit. Here are a few classics and a couple I personally think are fun: Multi Pitch: |
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Thank everyone for your reply! I really appreciate your advices. One more question, do I have to rent a SUV to drive to crag? Thanks a lot!!! |
E MuuD wrote: Thank you so much for such detailed crag information! |
Yvonne YZ wrote: Renting the smallest car would be fine, but I would def want a car. |
Princess Puppy Lovr wrote: Great! Thank you! |
Yvonne YZ wrote: Only if you want to park next to the van lifers. |
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Like others have said, the advice on what to climb will really depend on the conditions at the time. Late September can bring really nice temps but can also still be hot. Last year we had summer weather until mid October and then abruptly jumped into almost winter like conditions. And as others have mentioned Smoke can be a real problem during that time of year. Fingers crossed with all the precip we got this winter it won't be too much of an issue, but if it is smokey best to avoid and find somewhere else to take your trip if you have flexibility. All that being said, most likely you'll find good climbing weather during the time and will probably be stoked to spend most of your time in the shade. For 11s I think some to put up on your list include Vomit Launch, Toxic, Bloodshot, blue light special. Those are all in gullies that face east/west so will be in the shade for at least half of the day. Bad moon rising is a fun 11a on the backside with some really fun 10s nearby as well and will have shade for a good portion of the day, usually less crowded than things on the frontside. Lama wall gets shade earlier than most other areas of the frontside and has fun 11s/12s. There's also some good 11s in the marsupials so that can be another good option to chase shade and avoid crowds. Magic light and overboard are popular and often crowded for a reason, cause they're really fun, easily accessible, and a lot of climbers use them as part of their warm up circuit. But if its hot, they're best climbed either early before the sun hits the wall, or late in the evening after the sun has set behind the smith rock group. You mentioned maybe easy 12s. Some good ones to break into the grade or ease in to smith rock 12s are full cool ranch, 1st anchors of heinous, latin lover, panic attack, and if you like thuggy bouldery type climbs torrid zone at the north point is fun, probably easy for the grade, and will also get good amounts of shade. Lastly, if you leave the trad gear at home but want to get some multipitch, both Monkey Space on the Monkey and Gulag Archipelago are really fun 11 sport multipitches that are memorable and worth doing. |
Yvonne YZ wrote: If you are flying across the country or the world to go sport climbing somewhere in late summer, don't go to Smith Rock. I love Smith, but it's hard to imagine choosing it for an expensive international or cross-continent flight and car rental trip in any month, let alone then. (unless you have some other unrelated reasons to be in central Oregon then) If you are super set on the general region, maybe fly to Seattle and rent a car, and then choose based on the weather to go to Squamish/Check, or Skaha, or Smith. |
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I agree with Blake but not even just the heat really the smoke could ruin your whole trip. I think when my brother did the pct through bend in September they actually straight kicked him off the trail. I would try to move it to the end of October or begin of November. |
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Thank you so much for all informative advices! |
Princess Puppy Lovr wrote: I’d agree that you can do better in the western us than Smith in late September, but the sad reality of the time we’re living in is that the smoke can shut you down virtually anywhere you’d want to go and is next to impossible to predict. The best move would be to do kind of like Blake says and fly somewhere with a lot of options within striking distance (Sacramento, Salt Lake, maybe Vegas, or Seattle and then plan to make a plan once you have an idea of weather and what’s on fire vs not on fire. That being said, relatively few sport climbing areas in the western us are as visually aesthetic as Smith, so maybe they’re stoked on it for those or other historic reasons. |
E MuuD wrote: Get on Dreamin!!! ;-) it's sort of like all those soft 12- climbs in Ten Sleep! |
