Category Archives: Rock Climbing

Stories from Rock Climbing, or something in that general area

Apr30

BCEP, 2023 – The first session, climbing at the MMC

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Last year, I took the BCEP class with the Mazamas – Basic Climbing Education Program. It was interesting; a great chance to review my well-trained skills, practice some that I hadn’t used in ages, and get to meet some new climbing and outdoors people. It was fun, and ticked all the boxes that I had hoped that it would.

My faith in the outdoors community reinvigorated, I quickly and happily volunteered to help teach BCEP this year. I was expecting to assist with the same group that I’d taken the class with the previous year, since leaders tend to continue teaching year over year, so I was a bit surprised when I was placed with a different group… but it turns out, this new group was just starting out – the first year the leader had led a BCEP team on their own.

The chance to help out with a new group, and to help build a similar culture of excitement and optimism for the outdoors? All while getting to show people the unbridled joy of rock climbing? Of seeing new views off the side of a mountain?

Well. Sign me right the heck up.


Saturday, 18-Mar-2023


As the intro says, I helped teach BCEP this year! It’s been a long time since I’d assisted with a climbing class in any way, probably since the summer of 2019 or so, and even longer since I’d really been an official assistant. I was super excited, but unfortunately had missed the first few events thanks to being in Ireland when they happened.

I know, I know… bad form, Ben!

But in my defense, Ireland was planned before BCEP, and I had been assigned to this group instead of choosing it, so… yeah. Not my fault, I swear!



Anyways, the first event that I assisted with was perfect for me – the first climbing session in the Mazamas mountaineering center! Harkening back to my own course as a student, the MMC has a few short walls that’re used to teach students the basics of rock climbing – how to secure a harness, how to tie in, how to belay… and even how to rappel!

It was an excellent day – I taught at the rappel station, mainly, and had a blast walking the students through the process while helping encourage them to ask questions and understand the entire system, instead of just memorizing the sequence of events required. It was great, and absolutely scratched that itch to teach that I’ve had in the back of my head.


It would be a few more weeks until we actually climbed real rocks together at Horsethief, but I still got to see the shift in people as they become more and more confident… going from someone fumbling with a carabiner to someone confidently hopping off a ledge with their rappel device locked into place.



I did, of course, get a quick climb in myself. You can’t blame me! Assistants get to have fun too, sometimes!

Feb21

The first climb of the year… at 18 Deg.F

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Sunday, 29-Jan-2023

How long has it been since I’ve climbed at Smith? Let’s see…

According to my photo record, It’s… been a really long time. We’re leaving it at that.


Jess and I left Bend early-ish… and by “early-ish” I mean “not even remotely early”. The dawn had broken over a solidly single-digit temperature, with thick snow and ice covering both the truck and the world around us. We slept in, relaxed, and took our time showering and getting packed up.

It wasn’t like the world would thaw before noon, anyways.




A quick breakfast in Terrebonne helped us rally and energize, and gave the world a little bit more time to dethaw and start warming up to more bearable temperatures. By the time we left the truck behind and began our descent into the gorge it was a (relatively) balmy 18 Deg.F by our thermometer.

The rock, of course, helped reflect the heat of the sun back into us. By the time we’d roped up and I’d started climbing, the rock face was legitimately warm – literally warm to the touch. I didn’t feel the need for a jacket, despite the cold, and even ended up rolling up my pant legs to help vent some of the heat that climbing generated.

What did we climb?
Five Gallon Buckets, 5.8, Sport, Lead then top rope.




Yep, just the one…

We got two runs of the climb in when we realized the danger – While the Sun wasn’t hitting the horizon for another two and a half hours, it didn’t need to hit the horizon. The Smith Rock cluster was in the path of the sun, and the shade was creeping up on us surprisingly quickly. There were only two other teams nearby, and of them only one was climbing… and that climbing team was rapidly packing up to avoid being plunged into darkness and cold.

(As a quick interesting note – there were three teams climbing this Sunday at Smith. Ourselves, climbing a 5.8. A team to the East, climbing a 5.12c and a 5.13a. And a third team of 12, re-bolting a handful of routes. Yep – we hang with super cool folks!)



With the shade fast approaching, I took a quick final run of the route to clean the anchors. We had warm gear with us, of course, but nothing that I’d be comfortable leading in… so instead of continuing the climbing, we started into the exploring. We hikes around, checked out Asterisk’s Pass, and got the chance to appreciate the sun dropping down lower.

We packed up our gear, and headed out. The desert passed, the trees grew, and we stopped to take pictures of a beautiful sunset.



We dined at a small restaurant in Rhododendron, and continued our way home. The snow gave way, then the trees followed suit. The city grew up in their place, and soon enough we were unpacking the truck once again after a very good weekend!

Sep13

Exploring and climbing a new crag – Hanging Mountain!

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Sunday, 21-Aug-2022

When I confirmed my flights, I quickly reached out to Daniel. I miss climbing outdoors, as does he, and late-August is definitely a good time to get onto the wall. It’s hot, true, but also minorly less likely to be rainy… so I’ll take it.

After deliberation, we locked into a destination – Hanging Mountain, a new crag recently opened to the public. I’d first heard about it last November, when flying out for Dillon’s bachelor party, but honestly didn’t know much about it, aside from that it was in Western Mass. We dove into some research, locked in the details, and headed out early on Sunday morning.

Well… early-ish. I mean, it’s Daniel, right? And me. We do mornings… but not really.

As far as new crags go, it was amazing. As far as established crags go, it was also amazing. The rock was solid, the trails well cut, and the belay areas tolerably sized. The areas were beautifully close together, and it was basically abandoned on the Sunday that found us scaling the heights.

It.

Was.

Awesome!




So what did we climb, you may ask? Well. We climbed all the things!

Acorn Face / Squirrel Wall:
– Lost and Found, 5.7, Sport lead
– Radiant Sky, 5.10d top rope, one cheat move… I admit.

Progressive Buttress:
– Green New Deal, 5.7+, Sport lead
– Nevertheless, 5.8-, Sport lead
– She Persists, 5.8, Sport lead
– Feel the Bern, 5.10, Top rope