Smith Rocks Climbing, 1978
Saturday, June 19th, 2010
Smith Rocks, Oregon. Pete Pollard (front) and me walking along the Crooked River at Smith Rocks toward Asterisk Pass. We went over the pass and hiked back north on the other side to the base of Monkey Face where we climbed a nice route called West Face Variation on Monkey Face.
This picture was taken by Faye Nakamura who did the climb with us.
Yes… in another life I was a semi-serious climber.
That’s me leading the first pitch on West Face Variation on Monkey Face. This was a warm-up route for something else we did that weekend but I can’t remember what it was. Pete Pollard was belaying me while Faye Nakamura took the picture.
The three of us swapped leads on this and if memory serves I got the scary lead out of the monkey’s mouth. The free rappel off the top is "memorable" if memory serves.
no effing way, I’d be scared to death.!
Sheryl, like with many things in life, you start small and work up. I started on a 30 foot cliff in Eugene and 7 years later I was doing walls in Yosemite. Now that I don’t do it anymore I don’t care for being on a ladder cleaning my gutters but at the time, climbs like this were comfortable for me.
I must say, it’s nice to have this in my past, it makes me tired thinking about it.
Richard, even though I know you did many tough, serious climbs, this is amazing to see. Wow!
It was a fun time in my life Gary. Hey, a few years later I met you!
Rich,
Being someone who now lives nearby to Monkey Face, I’ve hiked up and down the surrounding trails. I’m always amazed and impressed at the folks who climb these rocks and walls, like you did.
I’m content to hike up Misery Ridge and down the Mesa (trails around the Monkey Face). I got a kick out of your comment about what it’s like to climb a ladder nowadays. I used to run marathons and now I jog miles on a good day. Everything for a season right?
BTW, the black and white adds to the feeling of it being another life.
Right Sandy. And, in many ways it was another life: my then girlfriend Faye Nakamura who shot these images used a Nikon film camera and developed and printed the images herself. She was and continues to be an accomplished artist. But, these days the images could be shot with an iPhone and posted to this weblog from the top of Monkey Face no doubt.