Smith Rock frontside panorama from the south side
picture of Smith Rx

Tom Grundy's Smith Rock 2007 Page

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.

Lightning from the campground
picture of lightning
Mt Jefferson seen through Asterisk Pass
picture of mt Jefferson

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.

Another picture of Ship Rock's reflection
picture of Smith Rock
The Monkey Face
picture of Smith Rock
I exhibit Poor technique on "Crack Babies"
- Ryan's Pic
picture of Smith Rock

Here are links to some of my older Smith Rock Pages...
Chain Reaction obsession(11-2003)
Smith Rock page (2002) (update 2005)

gopher snake at campground
picture of snake

Stuck Truck

bad luck, stuck truck
picture of truck

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.


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