Mother's and Outhouse Crags

Summary Haiku

Stench fills the nose
Spectators clap and cheer us
What the FEATHER-BAG!

START & END TIMES:

We had a long, chill climbing day with friends (Rust and Lawrence of Oregon). We arrived at around 8 a.m. and left around 6 p.m.
We went to two walls (Mother's and Outhouse) to hit 5.7s Rick and I haven't done, but we hit some of the other climbs too.

DATE OF CLIMBS: October 12, 2019
WALLS HIT: 2 (Mother's and Outhouse)
NUMBER OF CLIMBS: 4
NUMBER OF PITCHES: 4
NUMBER OF FALLS: 0
NUMBER OF TAKES: 0
VERTICAL 5.7 FEET CLIMBED: 360
TOTAL VERTICAL FEET ON THE TOUR SO FAR: 3,980
NUMBER OF CLIMBS REMAINING: 192
VERTICAL FEET REMAINING: ~46,182
DIRTY UNDERWEAR ENCOUNTERED: 0
DIRTY UNDERWEAR ENCOUNTERED TO DATE: 3 (still - we've seemed to hit an underwear hiatus - not that we mind...)

Rusty, Rick, Stef, and Lawrence

The Routes

Mother's Crag

A fun crag with a short approach and a bunch of easy and protectable trad climbs (with the exception of Yo Mama which is rated X and you can't really TR it from the Crag Hag anchor. You might be able to build an anchor to the left near the top of Crag Hag, to TR Yo Mama, but we didn't bother looking. We were ready to move onto the Outhouse!)

Climb: Mike's Route (Trad) (5.7+)(90')
Wall: Mother's Crag
Conclusion WTF? What the FUN!

A basic and straight-forward climb. It's rated a 7+ but we really didn't find it to have any "plus" about it. There was only one short section of slick rock with reduced holds that might give pause, but a tall person can pretty much reach his or her way through it. A shorter person might feel uncomfortable for a move or two.

Rick leading Mike's Route

Climb: Crag Hag (Trad) (5.7+)(90')
Wall: Mother's Crag
Conclusion WTF? What the FEATHER-BAG!

We were expecting to get some WTFr's out of these 7+'s and it actually only got easier.
We weren't sure which side of the tree the climb went, so I picked right to begin with. After Rick was seconded up, we looked at each other and said, "That couldn't have been the correct way to go it was WAAAYY too easy. Let's go back down and climb to the left side of the tree. Well, that was even easier - haha!
There is a pine tree with tat for the rappel. I'm not sure why that tree was used. There is a closer pine tree that's just as big. I belayed from the closer pine tree to avoid running the rope over a bunch of dirt, pine needles, pine sap, and loose rocks. I also moved a lot of loose rocks from the edge of the climb top-out to prevent them from being knocked loose by the rope onto Rick. Check for rocks near the top-out because sand and rocks seem to accumulate there.

Crag Hag - A fun climb, supposedly a 7+. This climb was considerably easier than the 5.5 a couple climbs over (Motorcycle Mama - next photo - a similar looking climb. Motorcycle Mama was interesting, fun, and quite different from Crag Hag).

Motorcycle Mama (5.5) - a super fun climb with a touch of spice for the grade. Considerably more challenging than Crag Hag.

Outhouse Wall

PeeEewww! The Outhouse Wall is called the Outhouse because, you guessed it, the crag is peering over the outhouse next to the Willow Springs picnic area. If the breeze (or lack thereof) is just so, you can get the ever-so-gag-inducing odors wafting up your nostrils, encouraging you to climb faster (Yes, such the good hosts we are by taking our friends here. Fortunately they liked the climbs enough that they forgave us.)

The picnic area is also directly below the wall and you will be the Red Rock Cirque De Soleil entertainment for the picnicers and passers-by. We received some claps and whoops for our gallant efforts on these 5.7 climbs. It can certainly fluff up the ego if you need some boosts on a down day (just ignore the smell - or maybe you'll get lucky and you'll miss the smell all together.)

Now onto the climbs.

Climb: Partly Sonnie (Toprope) (5.7)(60')
Wall: Outhouse
Conclusion WTF? What the FUN!

This climb can only be found in Mountain Project (not in the Handren guidebook).
You can access the top of this climb by scrambling up on the far left side of the formation.
There are bolted anchors (which is not mentioned in the MP description). Bring long anchor material because the bolts are quite far back.
This climb is rated as half-a-star in Mountain Project but we enjoyed it. There is a large section of sandy, very hollow rock that you might want to be careful yarding on, but we found this climb to offer challenge and diversity.

Partly Sonnie

Climb: Spiderline (Trad) (5.7)(120')
Wall: Outhouse
Conclusion WTF? What the FEISTY!

Fun? Definitely. Feisty? Yeppers.
- This was definitely a much more serious 5.7 compared to those one's at Mother's Wall.
- It's feisty on the top half because the rock gets a little slick, the holds decrease considerably, and you have to really search to find protection in the cracks of the petina. Bring small nuts/wires and tiny cams for this upper section (and bigger stuff for the off-width below - Rick only had up to a #4 and had to reach deep to make the placement. You could probably place a #5 without having to reach as deep.). There is decking potential on the upper ledge if you aren't able to find pro (which is particularly scarce the first 15' or so off the ledge).
- There are two ways to top-out. Rick went through the notch which is protectable and possibly a bit more interesting and challenging than going left of the notch.
You need a full 70m rope to rappel down or you can walk-off to climber's left.