Smith Rock has the Best Bathrooms

This morning we wrapped up the final destination of our road trip. We spent just over a week climbing in Smith Rock State Park, Oregon – time for some decent route sampling, but not long enough for any substantial projecting. We had some rough luck with weather, which ranged from sweltering hot, to rain and thunderstorms, to good temps accompanied by frigid winds. The conditions and timing led us to figure out very quickly that we needed to drop any expectations and just enjoy climbing whatever we could. Smith Rock is both a physically and mentally challenging place. The climbing is difficult and engaging, and the run-outs are serious… it is a place that puts all aspects of the climber to the test. 

We made the most of our climbing despite the challenges we faced, and we did it with wonderful company and really above average bathrooms. We spent the week with Kirsten and Yannick, and by the weekend were joined by Dan and Nicole as well as Tristan and Mika. It was a great way to cap off the trip!

Several of the destinations we visited over the course of our road trip have limited toileting facilities. Maybe a single portapotty. Maybe “primitive” camping where cat-hole-digging is required. Maybe permanent outhouses that are so appalling you can’t go in them anyways. Smith Rock, on the other hand, has their toilet game on point. Here is a sampling of a few of the best ones…

Skull Hollow Outhouses

On this trip to Smith Rock we camped at Skull Hollow, which is a 10-15 minute drive from the park. At Skull Hollow the campsites are cheap and big and the outhouses (regular pit toilets) are the cleanest. Even on the weekend they are spic and span, fully stocked with tp, and somehow never stinky. It’s an outhouse miracle!

Bivy Camping Bathrooms

This heated structure is a treat to climbers – we greatly appreciated it on our previous trips to Smith. Flush toilets, running water and soap, showers…

Approach Trail Bathroom

This structure offers two options. (1) Good old fashioned composting toilet, and (2) Repurposed urine-diversion toilet. The urine-diversion toilet has a foot pedal that you pump to roll a conveyor belt which removes solid waste. Pretty neat!

River Trail Bathroom

These phoenix composting toilets are surrounded by incredible scenery provided by the Crooked River and the Smith Rock Group. What more could one ask for?

Other great bathrooms in Smith Rock include the flush toilets at the Day Use parking lot, and the single-stall private washrooms in Redpoint Climbers Supply. At Redpoint you can enjoy beer on tap, coffee, climbing equipment, free wifi, AND a great bathroom experience. 

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It was cool coming back to Smith Rock as stronger and more experienced climbers than we were last time around. With so much more available to us we were able to climb many neat routes, but as always, we also had to leave a lot behind for next trip. Here are a few of our highlights:

Shep making sure everyone is in order for the shot! Photo credit: Dan Beland

Dan on his send of the classic "Aggro Monkey" (5.13b)

Kirsten warming up on "Chicken McNuggets" (5.10b)

Kim climbing the full and runout "Heinous Cling" (5.12c R). Photo credit: Yannick Neufeld-Cumming

Yannick on his onsight attempt of "Darkness at Noon" (5.13a)

Graham setting up for the dyno on "The Burl Master" (5.13c). Photo credit: Nicole Gillette

Kim on her flash of "Up For Grabs" (5.11d). Photo credit: Kirsten Hundza

Nicole cranking the burly moves on "Heresy" (5.11c)

Dan on his quick send of "Oxygen" (5.13b)

The Skull Hollow campsite

Nicole, Kirsten and Graham - chillin' in the Aggro Gully

Just a couple dudes

What's a trip to Smith without this iconic shot??

#utahisrad

Utah is a rock climber’s dream land. The state has so much high quality climbing to offer, spanning almost every discipline. We were immediately drawn into the incredible limestone sport climbing in the south west corner of Utah around St George.

We met up with Yannick and Kirsten to spend the following four weeks climbing with them. Our good friend Cory was also down for a few weeks visiting family and was able to squeeze in a week of climbing with us, and we had the pleasure of seeing Yannick’s dad, Robert! We spent our first few days at The Grail in Lime Kiln Canyon, technically part of the Arizona strip. The Grail offered a slap-in-the-face intro with its dead vertical, long (sometimes as long as 55m) routes. It was great to feel a pump again. The middle of the main wall offers the best rock quality: blue/grey stone consisting of phenomenal edges and features with often slabby feet. The area is a technical climbers’ heaven.

Graham on his flash of "Vesper" (5.12b)

A rare shot of us climbing together...... thanks to Kirsten Hundza!

Kim on her onsight of "Greyhound" (5.12a). Photo credit: Kirsten Hundza

In addition to The Grail, we spent most of our time at two other crags about 45 minutes out of St George: Wailing Wall in the Welcome Springs area, and Black and Tan at the Woodbury Crags. The styles at these two walls complement each other beautifully – Wailing Wall offers mostly vertical or slightly overhanging routes 5.11+ and up, and the style ranges from sustained powerful routes, to lines with hard technical cruxes. Black and Tan on the other hand has mostly shorter routes, often with heinously difficult, steep boulder problems. A delightful combo! Some of our highlights from the month included Graham ticking the three 13c classics at Wailing Wall, “Treebeard”, “The Cross”, and “Pucker”, Kirsten sending her first 5.12a, “Jumanji” at Black and Tan, Kim finishing off her project “Resurrection” (5.13b) and climbing her 10^th 5.13, and Yannick sending “The Cross” (5.13c). Throughout March, we reunited with several other friends and met a lot of wonderful new people that we were lucky to spend our time with as well!

Kim warming up at Black and Tan. Photo credit: Bonar McCallum

Graham on his send of "Talking Smack" (5.13b) at Black and Tan. Photo credit: Bonar McCallum

Kim on "Minus Five" (5.13a) at Black and Tan, which she sent second go! Photo credit: Kirsten Hundza

Bonar cranking out the steep roof moves on "Smoking Drum" (5.13b) at Black and Tan

Kirsten sends "Jumanji", her first 5.12a!!!!!!!!

Yannick on his send of "The Cross" (5.13c) at Wailing Wall

Graham mid-crux on "Treebeard" (5.13c) at Wailing Wall

Graham on his send of "Pucker" (5.13c) at Wailing Wall

Our new friend Melissa, making use of her full reach on "Pucker" (5.13c)

Lea cranking out her send of "Dull Boy" (5.12a) at Black and Tan

Enjoying a campfire on our last night in St George

We wrapped up around St George in early April and headed north. We stopped for a day in Zion National Park, where we made use of our endurance on the long overhanging bolted routes at the Namaste Wall in Kolob Canyon. Wow! The juggy huecos on this wall were incredibly fun and pumpy to climb.

Kirsten staring down the Namaste Wall in Kolob Canyon

Graham on his send of "Namaste" (5.12a)

Kim working the crux on "Huecos Rancheros" (5.12c)

On the next day we arrived in Orangeville, home to Joe’s Valley. Knowing we would have only about a week, we got right to it, immediately climbing three days on. Heavy rain kept us inside on our rest day, and then we punched out another four days in a row before leaving. Bouldering that many days on is tough on the body, but it was worth it! Graham finished off “Worm Turns” (V10/11) and “Resident Evil” (V9/10), Yannick made quick work of the classic “Worst Case Scenario” (V9) among other goodies, Kim finished off some projects from last year like “Kill By Numbers” (V5) and “Double Delicious” (V6) and Kirsten sent her first two V5s, “Gatorade” and “Mono E Mono”! We had the pleasure of staying and visiting with our friend Nikki and her pup Stella while we were in Joes, which was super great as well. What a switch to have the comforts of a house to return to after a day on the rock.

Yannick warming up in Left Fork

Graham finishing up "Big Joe" (V7)

Kim working her project "Planet of the Apes" (V7)

Graham on his send of "Resident Evil" (V9/10)

Kirsten setting up for the throw on "Stand Up Comedian" (V5)

Yannick on his send of the super tough "Scary Monsters" (V6)

Kim on her send of the techy problem "Gatorade" (V5)

Graham warming up in the Boysize area

Kim eyeing up the final tough move on "Double Delicious" (V6)

Having spotters adds peace of mind on "Worst Case Scenario" (V9)

Graham working moves on "Battletoads" (V10)

Stella and Nikki! Stella a bit nervous in the FalcVan....

Typical weather in Joe's..... sunny and stormy simultaneously!

We had a good run in Utah, but even after six weeks we barely scratched the surface. Hopefully we’ll make it back next year to sample even more of what this state has to offer. For now though… off to Smith Rock, Oregon!

Black-throated Sparrow one morning at Black and Tan

Six weeks of Bishop fun

Bishop is hands down one of our very favourite rock climbing destinations. The quaint town, diverse and affordable camping, amazing human beings, incredible scenery, and a plethora of world class bouldering make it hard to beat. 

The Buttermilks after a snow

Last year we did two short(ish) stints in Bishop, and we loved it enough to plan six weeks there this winter. Six weeks is a great amount of time to spend in one area because you can really start to get intimate with it. We sampled classics and worked hard projects without feeling rushed, and we had ample time to forge real friendships.

There are two quintessential things that really make a trip: (1) the people, and (2) the rock climbing. We enjoyed this trip to Bishop with some pretty stellar humans, new friends and old, all of whom really made our time there spectacular. We started out the trip with our good friends Yannick, Kirsten, Dan, and Patrick (and puppy Jackson!). 

Kirsten conquering her fear of spooky slab aretes!

Dan keeping his cool on the highball top-out of "Bowling Pin" (V4)

Team sending! Graham and Yannick on "High Plains Drifter" (V7)

Patrick warming up - Puppy Jackson with the spot

We met up with friends from last year, Mel and Danny, Bishop’s iconic badass climbing couple. Mel and Danny introduced us to many wonderful new friends, like Tammy, Taylor (inspiring female entrepreneur: owner of Static Climbing), Forrest, Charlie, and Joe - to name a few.

Melanie and Danny, touring us around some Pollen Grains highballs

We became good friends with Shelma Jun (founder of Flash Foxy) who was in town to put on the inaugural Women’s Climbing Festival. Shelma is one motivated lady – an inspirational mover and shaker for women in climbing. Over the two weeks surrounding the festival we met many other wonderful people who are passionate about improving the climbing community for everyone. Check out the thought-provoking words of Georgie Abel or the by-climbers for-climbers media content over at Moja Gear.  Kim wrote a short online piece covering the festival for Gripped Magazine, here.

Taylor, Jobi, Shelma, Kim, Evelyn, Becca, Natalie, Taylor and Julie - a few of the awesome ladies together for the Woman's Climbing Festival

Shelma and Evelyn working "Go Granny Go" (V5) in the Milks

Great friends!

Shortly before leaving, Bonar and Lea arrived in town, and we were lucky to spend a couple days with them before taking off.

Lea demonstrating her slab skills

Climbing-wise, it was super cool to come back to Bishop stronger than the year before. Graham climbed several double-digit classics including “Stained Glass” (V10), “Zen Flute” (V10), and “Xavier’s Roof” (V11). Kim sent her first V8s, “Gastonia” and “Junior’s Achievement”, as well as her first V9, “Gastonia Sit”. We also both ticked a bunch beautiful classics that we’d had our eyes on from the year before, like “Seven Spanish Angels” (V6), “High Plains Drifter” (V7), “Robinson’s Rubber Tester” (V0), and “Green Hornet” (V4).

Graham on his send of "Xavier's Roof" (V11)

The "Zen Flute" (V10) dyno

Kim on her send of "Gastonia" (V8/9)

Graham working "Robinson's Rubber Tester" (V0) - so hard!

Kim demonstrating the "static" beta on "Seven Spanish Angels" (V6)

Graham on his send of "Get Carter" (V7)

Kim working moves on her project, "Cindy Swank" (V7).... next time!

Graham climbing the slabby highball classic, "John Bachar Memorial Problem" (V1)

Kim on the send of her project, "Jug Start to Acid Wash Right" (V7)

Graham on his send of "Green Hornet" (V4)

Kim on her send of "Strength in Numbers" (V5). Photo credit: Daniel Winsor

Graham sampling moves on "Less Poetry Please" (V8)

Kim working "Go Granny Ho" (V7). Photo credit: David Le

Graham on the send of his project, "Brian's Project" (V8)

We were sad to say good bye to Bishop, but we are excited for a shift to sport climbing. It’s been three months since we’ve tied into a rope, so we’re anticipating a bit of work to build back our endurance, but we’re stoked to test the power we’ve built on the limestone climbing of the St George area in Utah. 

Unknown climber on the "Southwest Arete" (5.9)

Climbing makes us happy <3