Smith Rock Zebra/Zion

As we headed down to Smith the excitement was overwhelming, my girlfriend Deni and I had plans to climb, ski, camp out under the stars, and have an absolutely amazing weekend void of homework, responsibility and the incessant buzzing of smartphones.

Our first sight of Smith's famous walls Saturday morning sent us buzzing around camp with excitement, preparing for a big day of climbing. Our goal was to climb Zebra/Zion, a big four pitch trad and sport route on Morning Glory Wall.

Hello Smith Rocks

Soon we were at the base of the route, looking up I was slightly intimidated having not been on real rock since October I knew I would be a little rusty and didn't know what to expect from the 5.10a/b crux pitch.

Morning glory wall 

Deni quickly dispatched the first pitch, a 5.10b sport climb called Gumby. I followed up the tiny crimps and edges into huge huecos and then joined her at the hanging belay.

At the Belay

After a brief visit :) I racked up and climbed up to the crux, plugged in a few cams and powered through the crux, then the subsequent steep hand crack to a perfect belay ledge. 

Crux pitch stoke! 

After the crux pitch.... an airy traverse....an epic juggy flake you want to last forever....

Thumbs up!

Enjoying the day!

Look no hands! 

Steps from the top! 

"following the paths others have laid, puts you in same destination as all those before you". This thought surfaced in my mind as I floated along the airy traverse of Zebra/Zion. A fragment of a novel or something I read at some point in the past. I cautiously settled into the first holds of the traverse, my left hand found a small pocket to put two fingers in and my right hand crimped onto a sharp end of rock. I looked down in search of foot holds to support my weight on, finally I found a pair of tiny edges just big enough for the soft rubber of my shoes to stick on. Between my feet tiny people milled around two hundred feet below, getting ready to climb or taking pictures of the incredible rock features, undoubtedly I was nothing but a small speck. Secretly I hoped somebody was watching with awe and fear, cheering me on and finding inspiration in my bravery.

A few minutes later I was through the traverse and climbing quickly up a beautifully featured slab to the next belay station. Leaving the security of a beautiful crack for the unprotected traverse was terrifying and awesome, falling would have been sketch, but years of climbing and experienced urged me to satisfy my craving for adventure in the high places of the world. Long ago I choose a path, dedicating myself to climbing and the mountains, this epic traverse was part of that path.

Good bye Smith Rocks....until another day

Sandy Glacier Head Wall, Mt. Hood

I spent this last weekend on Mt. Hood's remote Sandy Head wall a very interesting and cool climb with David Cap, a great friend and my Denali partner from last year! With a day and a half to spend in the mountains we thought the Sandy Headwall would be a good challenge plus it would be relatively safe from rockfall being on the western side hidden from the sun for the whole morning we would be on it. After meeting up with David at Timberline we began our very casual approach to Illumination rock where we planned to bivy.

Hiking up the ski area (Photo by David Cap)

The mighty Illumination rock

We arrived at Illumination Saddle around 6pm where we met a friendly climber from British Columbia who we chatted with while choking down freeze-dried dinners and melting snow. Swirling clouds around the summit brought about suspicions that the crappy weather predicted for Sunday may be coming in a day early. Nevertheless we crawled into out tent with optimism for the next day. We woke up with clear skies and busily prepared ourselves to start climbing. In twenty minutes we were ready to go, leaving our tents and sleeping bags around 3:30am. We dropped from Illumination saddle onto the Reid glacier with no problem and a few maneuvers around giant crevasses put us at the base of the scary Yocum ridge, where we planned to cross. The snow and rock crossing was a bit treacherous but eventually we were on the Sandy glacier and cruising toward its impressive headwall.

David down climbing to a snow bridge to get us on the Sandy glacier

David coming up through a narrow gap low on the Headwall 

As we worked our way up the headwall it got steeper and more interesting as the cathedral of rock and ice narrowed. Rather than just plodding up steep snow we found some decent alpine ice to swing our tools into and a couple ice screws and pickets were placed. Surprisingly very little debris fell from above us apparently our strategy to avoid the sun and inherent rock fall on the west side of the mountain was working!

Upper portion of the Sandy Headwall

David climbing through the rock band

Lance leads placing a picket and screw (photo by David Cap)

Into the sun! (photo by David Cap)

David at the top of the Sandy Headwall 

After finishing up the head wall we took a break to enjoy the mountain, as well as some snacks and water. I asked David how he felt, "there are no words to describe such a great climb" was his response! I couldn't agree more!

From there we finished our climb to the summit where we took the obligatory summit shots and watched wicked clouds snake their way up the crater and over the summit ridge.

Lance with the summit behind (photo by David Cap)

David enjoys the glorious day

After almost a year without sharing the mountains together I was glad to get out with David. The last time I had seen this guy we were parting ways on Denali's West Buttress where he had decided he'd had enough, while I stubbornly persisted another 5 days.