We had 5 days booked in Oregon, and we were scheduled to leave Dayton at 9am ideally giving us half a day of climbing gaining the 3 hours upon landing in Portland. Unfortunately our connecting flight was delayed 4 hours then canceled, so we were re-routed from Denver to Chicago and from there to Portland. That fiasco lost our afternoon options and we didn't get into Terrebonne until late Wednesday night to the tune of fairly constant rain.
Thursday continued to rain so we hiked around the Ogden viewpoint as well as the Deschuttes river trail before Tumalo Falls and visiting friends and enjoying some good beer in Bend.
Sunrise is at 7:37am and at that point we are pulling into the "day use" lot at Smith. Only stopping to snap a couple photos of a kit of otters we snaked around to the northwest face of the wall and rack up for Where I May Roam, a 5 pitch "mega odyssey". The first pitch is straight forward and rises up a pillar that is detached from the main face. After belaying Sara up the first pitch, the next lead starts stepping from the pillar up onto the face, clipping a bolt, then continuing on up. Up on the top of the next pitch, the mega odyssey description starts to come to fruition as you lean back from the wall and look out to the three sisters.
Pitch 3 is a traverse, mostly left but leaves you with a couple interesting sections. Slab climbing on small knobs has become fairly comfortable, or at least tolerable. But traversing on those knobs is still slightly less enjoyable. According to the topo, you continue left all the way to the anchor, passing a couple other bolt lines (to harder routes) in the process. But I found myself at a juncture: I had passed a bolt line going straight up that I knew was harder, but there were bolts down and to the left of me, and nothing that I could immediately see about 15′ above me. I had good feet here, swapping my weight knobs while alternating hands to chalk up. It looked like there could be a place for anchors if you climb straight up, but no sight of bolts or chains. Not wanting to down climb or take a harder line, I proceeded straight up the wall. Fortunately I arrived at an anchor that was hidden by the arete jutting out from the wall.
Sara followed up, and when she arrived we pulled out the book again, just to confirm we were in the right place. We were, which was great. But after the last lead, I was starting to get elvis leg just looking up at the start after reading the description in the book: “after a tricky start exposed moves lead to an easy finish”. Ugh, I like the easy finish. But a tricky start and exposed moves left me a little anxious. I didn’t perceive the start of pitch 4 as all that tricky, but with a crack to move upward and the amount of traditional routes we’ve been climbing lately, I feel that likely put me in a place to succeed.
Leaning out from the crack I couldn’t quite reach the first bolt, but I could hold the base of the biner and force the gate open by pressing it thru the bolt to get the first draw in. Technical slab moves bring you up to the second bolt, then the exposure hits you. From here you are working your way up the arete out above the crooked river. Looking down there is no rock, or anything for that matter between you and the ground, other than 400′ of air. Tip toeing up the rock, it gently veers back more onto the face, and I feel like I’ve all of the sudden become a much more brave and confident climber. The slab wanders up to a few incut holds, leaning back on them you pull over the ledge to the base of the 5th pitch. I can’t help but be curious why the anchors were so close the ledge (as I sat there terrified), but I belayed Sara up who seemed to cruise the pitch with ease.
Just sitting at that belay made my stomach lurch, so I was thrilled to start on the final pitch, 5.8 slab to a short headwall. The slab was cruiser, and the headwall was reminiscent of the red: vertical climbing on jugs, yes please! Leaning back over the crooked river, my left hand was up on a side pull and my right on a knob. High stepping onto the platform was an out of body experience. I felt like I could see myself making that move with all of Smith Rock in the background, knowing at this moment we’ve completed the “mega odyssey” that is Wherever I May Roam.
After a couple photos, we rapped off the backside of the platform, and attempted to continue down the northeast face. What I didn’t realize, is that only the first rappel is on the east side. The subsequent rappels are off the west face. After an uncomfortably long time and the thought of the possibility of being an embarrassing rescue story, we found the anchors and rapped back to the ground. After doing a couple other short routes on our way out, we linked up with Siemer in Portland, crashed with him, then flew out in the morning.
