Astro Monkey

Lost in Space

After climbing Monkey Space a couple of weeks ago I as eager to check out some of the other multi-pitch sport routes at Smith. These are from a route called Lost in Space which is on the NE face of the Smith Rock Group (just left of White Satin). Overall this was a great route, with pitches of 5.6, 10c, 10b, and 5.9, to a cool little summit with a different perspective on the park than I'm used to. The exposed third pitch alone is worth the trip up there and would see endless traffic if it was at the base of Morning Glory wall. I would highly recommend avoiding the super chossy last pitch by down-climbing off to the gully on the right. You can still go to the summit but don't have to worry about knocking out your belayer!

Lila following pitch 2

The start of pitch 3

Following pitch 3

Is it windy up here?
Wait, isn't it June?

Dreamin' about Safe Sex

Sorry to all my faithful followers for the lack of updates (I think there are 8 of you). I've been super busy finishing up my first year at PSU. The post title is not about finals week but rather a climb I did with some friends that weekend. The original plan was to climb a route called Dreamer, one of the classic long routes of Washington, but we unfortunately overslept at the trailhead after getting there very late on Friday night and got stuck behind a party of five. We ended up doing the first couple pitches of Dreamer and moved over to the "Safe Sex" variation. This still made for a great climb with an awesome summit but we were bummed to miss out on some of the upper crack pitches of Dreamer.

On the approach

Green Giant Buttress

Bobito and Jovina at the base

Some times you just have to be there...

Lil'a on pitch 2

Mmm.. granite...









Awesome summit views!