Super Slab

Climbing is fun. So this past weekend, 4 of us at Smith Rock decided to romp up 1 area before heading home from a weekend of skiing and snowboarding.

Climbing involves two essential items: Exhilaration and Saftey.

Climbs are defined as a route, and the first ascent party has all the say in how the route should be climbed. This creates great discussions over style and ethics. For our route on this day, we had 3 segments or "pitches" of climbing. The middle pitch is a mild sideways scamper, rather than a vertical ascention.

In ye olden days, when climbs were mild, climbers often decided to forgo saftey measures. "Hey, if you can get to this point, you won't worry about this little bit further", was the prevalent philosophy. In doing this, they risk a bit of safety for more exhilaration, turning a mild scramble into a headtrip by making you risk injury. People later follow such routes sometimes unknowing how each in their party will feel on such a pitch. Such was our 2nd pitch of Super Slab.





Number 7 is our route




It's only 10 feet high climbing, and it's on holds large enough be considered a ladder. But when you put it 60 feet in the air, it becomes a little more "exciting" to climb. Away we went!

I led first, then built the anchor. Hanmi followed me, then Mark, then Tamar. All crowded in, I led off again as soon as Tamar showed up. It was cold and we were all getting a little snippy. Once on the climb, I was in heaven, great moves on solid gear. I did exactly what was described above, I placed gear ever 15-20 feet, even though that's considered run-out. I just wanted to get up the climb swiftly and give Mark some sense of a committed lead. Hanmi seconded superbly, and then Mark sport lead without much trouble, and Tamar cleaned.

Rap and home! I certainly appreciated hot tea at the Black Bear Even if the meals are outrageously large.