A small dose of crack

Every once in awhile, the vendors that supply REI with goods like to kiss up. They want to show off the new stuff they have coming out so we are more inclined to sell said stuff to our customers. Usually, they like to schedule a time to come in, bring the staff donuts and coffee and sit down to discuss their new wares. Sometimes though, they set up demo days and let the staff come out and actually use the products. One such day was just this past week and Marmot was our host.

I wasn't planning on going, but realized I had Friday off so I said "what the heck" and talked B into it. "You could take photos of something..." really was all it took and he was game. So, after rolling out of bed just a bit late, we headed east, bound for Trout Creek, a climbing area in central Oregon.

With directions that included the phrases "if you've hit the railroad tracks, you've missed the turn" and "go under the trestle, then through the tunnel" and "the road dead ends at the river", Trout Creek is a haul and a half to get to. We rolled in right around noon and started looking for the climbing. And really, all we saw was the Deschutes river. Hmmmm. Lucky for us, two fellow REI employees came walking into the campground.

"Hey," I said, "how do we get to the climbing area?"

"Oh," they replied, "it's up there. It will probably take you about an hour to hike in. Have fun!"

"Up there" meant the columnar basalt at the top of this hill:

Yikes.

After a mile down a gravel access road, we stumbled upon the trail up to the climbing. Yes, that's right, I said up. Trails made by climbers tend to be very... direct. One thing I have learned about climbers is that they don't like to waste time, they just get there. However, the real treat was at the top, where we climbed over, around and through a boulder field to get to the wall.

That's when I realized that all the climbing to be had here was crack climbing. Ugh. I really don't like crack climbing. You have to cram your hands, elbows, shoulders, knees, feet into anything that will hold you and sort of boost yourself up the wall. It hurts and it's super tiring. And, after the boulder field, I was done. So, no climbing for me.

But, the view was spectacular and B had a great time shooting landscapes and some of the climbers. That's Tommy Caldwell up on the wall. He's pretty much the Kobe Bryant of rock climbing. He's good, real good.

When it comes down to it, technically, we drove four hours round trip to hike to the top of a rock outcropping and sit around for two hours. Aren't demo days the best?