The Menagerie is Back!

I love the Menagerie, and its finally open! I'm super psyched and hope to spend as much time up there this year as possible so move over Wolf, the Menagerie is back! And its time to start putting up some new routes! Tom Bauman and I went out earlier this month and looked at some of the rocks in The Outback area, I saw a sweet looking down hill face on The Mouse and I vowed to return.

A week and a half later I was back with Steve Elder. Earlier in the day we climbed "The Newt Route" on The Bridge, this is a super-mega classic that was Chris and Peter Fralicks first first ascnent! A must do if you ever visit the Menagerie. After that we headed on in to The Outback the most unexplored area of the Menagerie. I had my eyes set on that down hill face on The Mouse, but I also knew that Tom and Jeff Thomas had put up a 5.7 some where on The Mouse and was somewhat worried that this might be the same line and that I could'nt see the bolts, or there where not any bolts. So I hate to mess with a Bauman route unknowingly wich has been a common mistake by many in the past due to his sometimes lack of bolts.

Starting up the face I had imagined to be only 5.7 I was confronted with a much harder move than I had anticipated and a lot steeper rock making for much more akward stances. I had to make a small lunge for a hold 10' off the uneven deck, surley 5.9. I climbed up to what I thought would be a bomber incut knob to hang a sling on and drill a bolt, but turns out it was all sloper and not evern slingable. I did manage an okay stance 20' off the deck but the rock was steep and I didnt know if I could keep my feet long enough for a whole bolt. I got a really shitty hook with just the tip in a little hole enough for me for me to feel safe to drill but not enough to feel safe to weight. Luckily the rock was not super hard and in went the first bolt, thus aleveating any stress. The rest of the climb was sweet, two more bolts, one from a great stance and the other from and okay hook, a cool steep summit bulge and I was on the top. I drilled a new anchor and rapped off to give Steve a chance to lead it. A solid 5.9 on some great stone with pro in all the right spots. And as it turns out as we rapped off, I saw Tom and Jeffs bolts going up an easier looking groove midway uphill, I finally scooped the prime line! We decided to make a round trip out of it and head back to the car over Keith's Knob, the first half was enjoyable walking through big timber, but the second half was you classic Menagerie bushwhacking, but hey whats a day in the Menagerie with out a few scratches on you legs. The Outback is the place to be right now, and I'm psyched to go back!

I'll use this post to keep track of new routes in the Menagerie this year, hopefully they just keep goin up =)

The Mouse - The Hanta Virus - 5.9 F.A. Tyler Adams & Steve Elder, 8/13/2011

The route climbs the sold looking downhill face.  A crux move gains the face from the left side, after this the climb remains much easier. Continue up to the first bolt at about 15', then climb up and right to a bolt at a good stance. Climb up and left left to a bolt below the summit overhang, and continue straight up on good holds to the summit. Protection: Bolts

The first bolt! 
Photo: Steve Elder

The second bolt and a great stance!  
Photo: Steve Elder

The solid down hill face of The Mouse.

  Steve scoping the route.

The uphill side of Split Pinnacle, and no thats not the split!

The Bridge from atop Keith's Knob.

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Brian Gilbert and I headed back to the Badger group and added another face climb to Split Pinnacle, replaced its summit anchor and also replaced the lead bolts and anchor bolts on "Frontierland" on The Badger. The outback is where its at!

Split Pinnacle - Smoke Signals - 5.8 F.A. Tyler Adams & Brian Gilbert 8/20/2011

Starts to the left of the split that defines Split Pinnacle. Sustained face climbing leads up past two bolts to a ledge between the to summit pinnacles. Step left and make a tricky move past a bolt to the summit. Protection: Bolts

First bolt. Photo: Brian Gilbert

Second bolt, with the hardest stance. Photo: Brian Gilbert

Third bolt. Photo: Brian Gilbert

Summit! Photo: Brian Gilbert

The uphill side of The Mouse with the top of Split Pinnacle below.

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Chris Fralick and I got on Electric Lady Land on The Bridge in September. We replaced half of the belay anchor at the notch under The Bridge which is shared with "Her Honor to Defend" and did a little bit of scrubbing on the mossy traverse to the the crack. This route is an absolute must do if you visit the Menagerie. This was an extreme first ascent when done by Tom Bauman before cams where used for protection. Try it on nuts and hexes if you think your as strong at Tom! With cams now it makes placing protection on the traverse much easier, but it is at time awkward and strenuous.  

Chris Fralick on the mossy traverse on Electric Lady Land.

In the thick of it!

1/2 new belay.

Chris coils the rope on top of The Bridge with The Porpoise in the background.  

Walking off.

Hanging out under The Bridge while Chris rips off some Moss.

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Here are some more pictures and a video from this past fall in the Menagerie....

From L to R: Boulder Dome, Cockatoo Tower, Royal Arch, The Coyote, The Siamese Twins, Lost Tower Buttress, Turkey Point and The Turkey Monster. Taken from Panorama Point.

Steve Elder leads More Bolts Than Balls on Panorama Point.

The master, Tom Bauman hangs at the base of Cockatoo Tower.

Bros monkeying around at the base of Electric Lady Land. OOOUUUGHHH!!! OOOUUUGHHH!!! OOOUUUGHHH!!!  

Placing a bolt on a new route on the North Rabbit Ear.

Pete Guagliardo follows pitch one of "The South Face" of the South Rabbit Ear, while Brian Gilbert and Greg Orton sort out the racl below. October 2011 Photo: Chris Winter

Turkey Monster. Photo: Greg Orton

Turkey Monster. Photo: Greg Orton

Second ascent of the Snake.

The Snake

Threading the rappel bolt hidden in the trees. Think you can find the Snake?

Bill getting psyched for "Hanta Virus"

Psyched on the Mouse!

Great rock on the Badger, but nearly impossible to get a good picture!

Old stuff on the West Face Diheadral on Rooster Rock.

Chris getting ready to lead the crux of the West Face Diheadral.

Chillen out on a cold April day on the sweet belay ledge on the West Face Diheadral. 

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In late October Brian Gilbert and I ventured up into Beer Creek to climb some of the spires outside of the wilderness area. We got on top of Mountain House Spire, The Polar Bear and The Penguin. All great climbs, the Fry route on Mountain House Spire is a little mossy adding some spice along with the ancient 1/4" bolts. But the rock on the second part is super solid, and the tension traverse is pretty fun. The Polar Bear and The Penguin were both bolted by the Bosch Cowboy and are 5.10d and 5.10a respectively and are actually both great climbs with The Polar Bear being the best of all.  

Brian at the base of Mountain House Spire.

The uphill side of Mountain House Spire where three of the four routes begin. 

Brian on top of The Penguin.

Brian on top of The Polar Bear. 

And five minutes later it was gone.... 

Choss From Above!

Not only is Steve Elder a bad ass climber, he's a bad ass pilot as well. He took me up in his 68' Piper Cherokee to do some crag spotting. Didn't many great shots, but the perspective you gain from above is wild!

Wolf

Wolf

Horse Cock

Chicken, Hen & Rooster

The Bridge

The Ears

Needle Rock

Opal Creek Wall

Detroit Area Crags

Your Co-Pilot

Edit: Hard to believe that when I posted this ten months ago I was sitting in the right seat of Steve's plane not having a clue what was going on. I probably didn't know what the altimeter was. Now I have personally landed at 68 different airports in Oregon, Washington and California, logged 250+ hours and am more than half way through my instrument training..... Funny how things change. Thanks Steve for the inspiration!

The Horse Cock!

The Cock!

Horse Cock Rock is one hell of a pillar, located east of Sweet Home.  The Cock is right up there with the Turkey Monster and other sheer pillars around Oregon. With only one route to the summit, almost all on bolts, it makes for a relativly stress free day in the hills. First attempted by Bob Eckstrand and Steve Knutson back in 1967. After climbing the first free pitch and reaching the blank upper section they retreated. Pete Pollard and Darryl Gotwauld returned in April of 1980 to make the first ascent. Jim Anglin and Mike Hartley made the second ascent later that year. When Brian Gilbert and I climbed it in 2008 with a tiny bit of beta from Jim Anglin, we found no evidence of a recent ascent except for some new bolts on the 1st pitch and a bail sling. There was no visable summit anchor, so we drilled a new two bolt anchor wich makes it easy to make one rappel with two ropes that puts you right back at your packs. Originally climbed in three pitches it makes more sense to do it in only two pitches, and avoid an uncomfortable hanging belay. Don't miss this classic Oregon summit!

Soft Space - 5.8 A2
FA: Pete Pollard & Darryl Gotwauld, April 1980
Pitch 1 (5.8): From the uphill sadle climb up obvious wide crack system using some bolts and larger sized cams for protection. Some bolts where added two this pitch, most likely by the "Lebanon Bolt Cowboy". Natural protection is availible so its possible they may be removed at somepoint. The crux is located just below the belay ledge. Mind some loose blocks on the pitch.
Pitch 2 (5.7 A2): Begin with two bolts off of the belay to a short nailing crux, using RURPs or knifeblade's. Continue past more bolts and a couple of rivets, with a hook move or two. When the bolts end, nail a couple more pins or just star free climbing, to a trough to the right climb past a hangerless 1/4" bolt and continue to the flat and spacious summit with a single bolt and tree anchor. The free climbing is quite runout, but the rock is super solid. Rappel with two ropes, from two bolts on the uphill side of the Cock. Protection: A couple of cams to 4", a small selection on thin pitons from RUPS to Lost Arrow, a medium sized hook and some wire rivet hangers.



Tyler Adams on Pitch 2. September 2008

Steve Elder following pitch 1. July 2011



Killing time on the belay ledge. July 2011

Sun and steepness. July 2011

Cleanin on pitch 2. July 2011

Steve Elder on the summit. July 2011.

Steve on rappel. July 2011

Oregon Cascades 2011

So with new routes getting kicked off at Wolf in Janurary, I'll keep a running update of new routes at Wolf, The Menagerie and other cascade crags!

• Wolf Rock - "Balrog" 5.8 - FA: Chris Fralick & Tyler Adams - Janurary 2011
        Chris and I went to Wolf during the low snow of Janurary with the intention of poking around on what was thought to be "Death March". Apoun arrival to the cliff we just started walking around looking for options. I eyed a solid looking buttress about 150' left of the start to "The Mystery Route".  It was on, I started up but with only four bolts, only got 70' up untill I ran out of bolts. Chris took over and added one more bolt and pushed through the routes crux and put in an anchor. The route will someday continue to the top but for now makes another fine sport pitch at the base.
• Wolf Rock - "The Flying Scorpion" 5.9 - FA P1-P2: Tyler Adams & Jeff Thomas - January 2011  FA P3: Steve Elder & Tyler Adams June 2011
         Jeff Thomas and I hiked into Wolf to figure out where he and Doug Philips went when they did Freaky Easy. We figured out that they started on Space Cowboy before Traversing out left for two new pitches. We decided to add an independent start, we got two pitches in and started the third, then Steve Elder and I returned to complete the third pitch. I started up and got the first four bolts in the Steve punched through the small roof marking the routes crux. A little loose rock, but solid bolts and memorable climbing on the third pitch make this route a classic. Pitch one and two can be linked. The route is named after a rather large scorpion that was found on the third pitch belay ledge, he took a small flight with some of the rocks originally perched on the ledge. Pretty crazy though a scorpion 300' feet off the ground on a ledge in Oregon! Pitch 1 (5.7):  Begins behind the tree that covers the trail, about 20' left of Space Cowboy. The first bolt it about 20' up, a yellow TCU protects the climbing to the first bolt. Climb past that bolt to a small ledge. traverse up and left past four more bolts to a nice ledge and an anchor. Pitch 2 (5.6): Climbs a short but nice 50' ramp using medium size cams for protection up to another belay ledge. Pitch 3 (5.9): Step to the right and climb up past four bolts heading toward the small roof, clip a bolt around the roof, muscle through the roof on good holds, and step right to another bolt and easier climbing past one more to a small belay ledge at the base of the prominent right facing diheadral. Continue on the freakishly run out "Freaky Easy", or rappel to the top of pitch two, then use two ropes to rappel to the ground or rappel to the top of pitch one and then to the groud with one rope. Protection: Bolts and cams to 2".
 
Jeff Thomas on Pitch 2
• Wolf Rock - "Gothmog" 5.9 - FA: Tyler Adams & Peter Fralick - May 1st, 2011
         Gothmog is another nice 5.9 sport pitch that climbs to the same anchor as the first pitch of Balrog. Six bolts lead out a nice steep buldge with some fun classic Wolf Rock style climbing. More ascents means cleaner rock so go get on it!
• Wolf Rock - "Edge of Mordor" 5.9 - FA P1: Tyler Adams & Bill Amos - Summer 2010, FA P2: Tyler Adams & Chris Fralick - June 2011, FA P3 Tyler Adams & Steve Elder - June 2011
         Bill Amos and I had bolted the first pitch last summer, we returned this year two add two more pitches to eventually join the top of Cerberus, where one can then traverse to join the fourth pitch of the Morgul Vale and continue to the summit. Pitch 1 (5.8): Start around the same spot at the orginal Gigantor pitch, but follow the left line of bolts. Climb past ten bolts and eventually tend right past two more bolts to an awsome belay ledge. Pitch 2 (5.9):  From the belay climb easy rock past a bolt to another bolt at the entrance to the corner, chimney up the wide slot, then stem, and lieback your way up to a bolt, wild climbing leads out a small overhang and up another 40' to and exposed belay stance with two bolt. Pitch 3 (5.9): Traverse right past three bolts and a cam placement, to the belay atop Cerberus. Protection: Bolts and gear to 4". 

 Drillen' on Pitch 3   Photo: Chris Fralick

New Topo

Smith Rock Update

So with the guide out I'd like to keep an updates of the new routes I've been doing. 

• "Spare Air"  5.7 A3+  FA: Tyler Adams & Ryan Lawson - January 2010
  This route begins to the left of Scarface in one the East side of the Christian Brothers. Insanley steep! Start with a couple steep hooks, to a bolt. Nail beaks up seams past four bolts to a belay just left of the "5.15 project" belay. 27 beak placements where used on the first ascent: Finish on the last pitch of "Air to Spare".  About 50' of beaks off the belay leads to rotten free climbing (5.7) left and into the "Hobbit Hole". Figure out one of many ways to get out of the "Hobbit Hole".
  Protection: Beaks, 2 LAs, 2 baby angles, some cams to 4".

 
Tyler Adams jumaring past pitch one on day 2.
 
Ryan Lawson starting pitch 2. Photos: Jake Ringold
• "Taco Tuesday"  5.6  FA: Tyler Adams & Adam Cox - June 2010
  Located on the "Swiss Cheese Wall" just to left of the Marsupial Wall. This is the left of three routes there. Jim Ablao bolted the other two in May of 2010, the furthest right is 5.10a and to its left 5.8. Both of high quality. Taco Tuesday starts up a ramp heading towards the right, then move left and more or less straight up easy buckets to the anchor.
  Protection: 6 bolts.

 
Adam Cox chillen at the base.

The Sups!
• "no name"  5.9  FA: Tyler Adams & Cathy Power - January 2011
  About as secluded as possible but now that theres two routes out there why not check it out! Located near the route And Justice for All wich is about a half mile to the east of the Kangaroo. "no name" starts about 15' to the right of And Justice for All. Climb up steep jugs past seven bolts to an anchor.
  Protection: 7 bolts.

 
Killer action shot!
 
Yay! First first ascent!
• "The Bratwurst"  A1 or 5.13?  FA: Tyler Adams & Will Nazarian - Febuary 2011
  Located on the South face of the Kangaroo. Bolted on lead inteded to be a free climb. Could be aided with some beaks but why bother. Super solid stone. Hopefully free soon.
  Protection: 7 bolts.

• "Free Hookers"  5.9  FA: Tyler Adams & Jake Hector - March 2011
  Free Hookers is a free route that crosses my first first ascent at Smith "Loose Hookers" 5.6 A1.  Free Hookers was bolted on lead and is pretty good quality if you looking for a fun, reasonably protected adventure route to the top of the Mudpile. I acctually added a bolt where the routes cross!  Its fun see what I climbed with out bolts when I was such a noob. The start begins about 15' uphill from the start of Loose Hookers. Climb left past two bolts in rotten looking rock continue left and up to another bolt. Head right to a bolt and mantle left into a scoop, climb past another bolt to a low angled slab to a fixed KB. Continue 40' up easy rock to the summit.
  Protecion: 5 bolts, 1 fixed KB.
  
• "Lost Again" 5.10a FA:  Tyler Adams & Alan Watts - March 2011
  I was able to get Alan out of climbing retirement for this off the beaten path route it located on Dissapearing Tower to the East of The Wombat. The route starts on the uphill side. We tryed what we belive to be the original route to the top, when a missing fixed pin created an unprotected boulder move we looked elsewhere. From the uphill saddle I traveresd out onto the South face. A 30' traverse to the right leads to a short but physical overhanging crack. Surmont this crack and gain a large ledge. Place some protection in the obvious crack then traverse right and climb to the summit via the face to the right not using the crack. A classic Smith adventure route.
  Protection: Gear to 3".

Alan Watts on top of Lost Hardware Pinnacle, Dissapearing Tower is to the left.

• Brad Englunds Pecker - "Piolet de Oro" 5.6 A1  FA: Tyler Adams, Bill Amos & Dustin Fric, April 2011
  Brad's Pecker, was named in honor of Brad Englund who has inspired me to just keep doin what I'm doin and love every minnute of it. The pecker is located just north west of the New World Buttress. The pecker is on of the finers summits of Smith. Sure to fall down sometime in the next thousand years, if you took a sledge hammer to it you could have it on the ground by the end of the day. So go get some while its still there. Begin with a rotten mantel to then aid past four bolts to another mantel onto the summit. Figure out how to rappel off the one anchor bolt.

• Angel Flight Buttress - "Call Yer Mom" 5.9   FA: Tyler Adams, Forrest Kaye & Ian Roth, 5/8/2011
          While rapping into replace the bolts on Angel Flight Buttress, I swung over to the left arete and spoted this line. You share one of the same bolts on the Angel Flight Buttress route, but the bolts on Call Yer Mom do not interfere at all with the original Angel Fligh Buttress line. So with this route it adds another fine 5.9  to the cluster of 5.9 over in that area. While dodging intermitent rain squalls we managed to nail the FA on mothers day, hence the name. Thanks Mom!

Forrest on the second ascent.

Ian belays Forrest in a minor drizzle.