Smith Rock

We had a great weekend!  We took Friday off work and went climbing at Smith Rock.  We got to Mike and Marcia’s around 10:00am.  After chatting with Mike for a bit, we went climbing.  We started on the  Phoenix Buttress area.  The weather was overcast and cool, but warm enough to

climb.  When we got to the Phoenix area, we were excited to see we were the only people there.  While Mike set a top rope on the 5.8 climb, we were bombarded by rocks – actually, several small pebbles fell around us.  There were a lot of birds high above the anchors and we wondered if they were intentionally throwing rocks on us.  One of the rocks was the size of a quarter and fell near us.  It was enough to make us wonder.

It wasn’t my best day of climbing, but it was the first outdoor day of the season.  We figured it would be a little tough for me.  Thegood news was that the heights wasn’t much of an issue.  The bad news was that I got frustrated because I climbed like a novice and I knew I was better.  I bailed my first attempt up the 5.8.  Mike onsighted a 5.11a along an arrett that he had not climbed before.  He rocked!  Then, I tried the 5.8 again and red pointed it.  I did much better.

We moved to the Christian Brothers area and climbed Revelations(5.9).  I bailed again and got slightly frustrated.  But that’s OK.  I know heights isn’t the big concern, though it still made my leg shake a bit.  I need to learn to turn off my brain and just enjoy the climbing. We both thought it was great to be outdoors!!  We’ll make a piont to climb outside more before our trip to Bishop.

After climbing, we met Mom and Dad at the Deschutes Brewery.  It’s always fun to go to the brewery and try their seasonal beer.  Mike bought a great shirt there.  Then, we spent the rest of the weekend at Mom and Dad’s.  We had a wonderful Easter dinner last night!!  Neighbors Tom and Cathy came to dinner; they are really nice people.  It was a relaxing weekend!