SUMMARY HAIKU
A rarely-climbed climb
Inside a run-off gully
A pleasant surprise
A rarely-climbed climb
Inside a run-off gully
A pleasant surprise
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Length: 200 ft
Pitches: 2 (Rick lead the whole 200 feet in 1 pitch) Type: Trad Protection: Pro to 3" (a 4" might work if you want to set up a belay in the larger crack for pitch 2 - but we didn't do that,) with an emphasis on smaller sizes including RPs/tiny brass nuts Good for Newer Trad Lead? Possibly pitch 1 though the start is a little spicy with minimal pro and decking potential by the time you can get in a 2nd piece. Probably not pitch 2 because of the sparce and tiny pro. Conclusion WTF? What the FUN FIND! |
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Smiley Face is located in the steep rappel gully for the First Creek Slabs climbs. It is a 200 foot climb that can be done in 1 or 2 pitches. Rick lead this one and chose to do it in one pitch.
If you break it into two pitches, it's probably best to build your own anchor rather than using the tat anchor on the tree (the tree is too far left to access the face without doing a long traverse and contending with rope drag.) The climb ends at the bolted anchors that are also used for the descents of many climbs. Be aware that this gully can get busy with people rappelling on in-season weekends. We did it early in the day so as not to have a rope tossed down while leading on thin gear.
We were initially uncertain about this climb for several reasons:
What did we actually experience? This climb ended up being a really pleasant surprise!
If you break it into two pitches, it's probably best to build your own anchor rather than using the tat anchor on the tree (the tree is too far left to access the face without doing a long traverse and contending with rope drag.) The climb ends at the bolted anchors that are also used for the descents of many climbs. Be aware that this gully can get busy with people rappelling on in-season weekends. We did it early in the day so as not to have a rope tossed down while leading on thin gear.
We were initially uncertain about this climb for several reasons:
- First, it's in an area that sees rain run-off so we thought the rock might either be slick or questionable.
- Second, we scoped it out when rappelling down after doing other climbs, and the top section looked somewhat blank for protection, or at least requiring very small gear. We knew we didn't want to do this climb until we had a good selection of RPs in-hand.
- Third, it's rated 1.5 stars in Mountain Project and no one has ticked it off - so it's rarely done and there's very little beta.
What did we actually experience? This climb ended up being a really pleasant surprise!
- The rock was excellent.
- There are a couple of spicy and heady spots, and yes, it required small to tiny pro in the last 60+ feet of the climb (grab it when you can!), but when you can find a placement, it's pretty decent.
- We were both definitely "Smiley Face" at the top - not from relief but from actual pure enjoyment! We really dug it! This is one of those unexpected pleasant surprises. So we are calling it a What the FUN FIND!
Climb Stats to Date
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DATE OF CLIMB: November 4, 2020
WALLS HIT: 2 (The other wall Romper Room) NUMBER OF 5.7 CLIMBS TODAY: 3 NUMBER OF 5.7 PITCHES TODAY: 3 (we strung a 2-pitch climb into 1 pitch) NUMBER OF FALLS: 0 NUMBER OF TAKES: 0 5.7 VERTICAL FEET CLIMBED TODAY: 405' DIRTY UNDERWEAR ENCOUNTERED TODAY: 0 TOTAL CLIMBS SO FAR: 149 TOTAL PITCHES SO FAR: 197 TOTAL 5.7 VERTICAL FEET ON THE TOUR SO FAR: 17,605' NUMBER OF CLIMBS REMAINING: 92 (out of 237) VERTICAL FEET REMAINING: 33,062' DIRTY UNDERWEAR ENCOUNTERED TO DATE: 5 |
FALLS SO FAR:
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