This past month has been awesome. I moved in to a new apartment a few weeks ago, and that, pared with a growing sense of community and a good rhythm at work, has me starting to feel at home here in Bend. I basically do four things: work, climb at Smith, climb at the rock gym, and hang with friends at the cluster of incredible breweries littering this place. Somehow, those four things eat up just about all of my time. I’m sure it will wear me out eventually but for now, I wouldn’t have it any other way.
I’m keeping it brief with this one. Just wanted to share some shots from the past few weekends at Smith. The weather has been prime, and the company delightful. Enjoy!
In addition to feeling more settled at work and in the Bend community, I am definitely feeling much more confident with the technical climbing style of Smith than I was a month ago. These past few weekends I ticked many of the classic routes I wanted to do in the .12- range, and on Sunday managed to onsight a rad and technical .12a called Latin Lover. It has been a while since I onsighted anything at this difficulty, and it was definitely a confidence booster. Now I am getting pretty excited to get after the harder stuff. There are plenty more moderate classics to do, but the hard ones just look so cool!
On Sunday I also was fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time, and see Paige Claassen finish her latest project, To Bolt or Not To Be (.14a). This climb, first done by Frenchman JB Tribout in 1986, was the first 5.14 on American soil, and became the first 5.14 climbed by an American when Scott Franklin repeated it the following year. This thing is long, sustained, gorgeous, absurdly technical, and packs about as much history as a single pitch can handle. It was rad and very inspiring to see it climbed. Well done Paige!
Parting Shots: Lorn gives a crack at a high-line spanning the mouth of Cocaine Gully.
The Adventures of Sloth 