27/27 Sent!

I climbed 27 pitches for my 27th birthday at Smith yesterday. We planned where and what we'd climb the week before and ended up doing almost everything according to plan. The biggest challenge was to minimize the transitioning time between climbs. We decided to climb as much as we could at three walls: Red Wall, Phoenix, and Morning Glory, which all have a lot of moderate (5.8-5.11a) climbs. When it comes to simul-climbing, simul-rapping, and doing anything else while belaying except belaying, these are varsity techniques/reductions of redundancy within the system and should be used with care. That said, yesterday was one of the most fun days I've had on rock!

We started relatively late because we got home late the night before. We were at the Red Wall by 9:20am. I had a double rack, stoppers, about 25 draws/slings, belay gloves, micro traction, a couple lockers, cord, and a grigri. We climbed with a single 70 and simul-climbed and simul-rapped to save time.

Moscow (5.6 trad 3P) Got scared leading this one.

Bay of the Pigs (10d 2P) I was at the top of my game! Such a fun route!

Super slab (5.6 trad 3P) So much fun!

Orgasmophoria (10c 2P) I'm tired. I'm hungry. "Max, I will belay you to the anchor and you can take the second pitch!" Not my proudest moment.

First pitch of Orgasmophoria

10 pitches done. Next to the Phoenix area. Max took over the leads and we were able to climb 7 pitches in two hours. We ate while belaying. And I also ate while climbing.

Phoenix (10a) Crimpy

Drill' em and Fill 'Em (10a) Wandery and crimpy. I'm starving.

JT's route (10b) One of the best 10bs in the park!

Hissing Llamas (5.8) Best 5.8 in the park!

Llama Enlightenment (10c) Angel onsighted this a couple weeks back. Juggy!

Wannabe Llamas (5.8) Short and most awkward 5.8 in the park. Not fun.

Entering relativity (11a) I'm not sure if this is really an 11a but it sure felt like it.

17 pitches done. Next to the Morning glory. We got 6 more pitches in and were at 23 pitches by 7:15pm.

Gumby (10b) Harder than I remembered. Getting hungry again.

Light on the Path (5.9) At this point climbs started melting together. I don't remember anything about the climb except that Wally came over and gave me a Sin Dawg while I was belaying Max. Thank you Wally!

5 Gallon (5.8) Super classic! Take a number.

9 Gallon (10c) Best 10c in the park! There are three sets of anchors on this route. It could count as three pitches. But since the extensions don't count I had to go all the way to the top. Angel put it up. I struggled with the first move. Getting tired.

Mike put up Magic light (11a) for Max and Angel put up Purple Headed Warrior (5.7) for me. My first lead at Smith!

Cool ranch (11b/10a) ...but we both skipped the crux by staying left. Hehehehehe.

Sin Dawg to the rescue! It has 1600 calories. Wally sent Latest Rage (12b), yeah!

4 pitches to go! We started the last climb of the day Zebra/Zion (10b sport/trad 4P) around 7:30pm. It's one of my favorite routes at Smith. Max led four pitches with one rack in one pitch. I'm impressed. We run the whole rope out which worked perfectly for what we were trying to do: be done before dark. I topped out sometime before 9pm. We took a picture, posted it, and scrambled down Cocaine gully in our climbing shoes.

The last pitch of Zebra/Zion, the best 5.9 crack at Smith.

Angel and Mike had left early to get 5 dollar pad thai (Mondays only) from Thai O in Redmond. We ate and hung out in the parking lot. I drove us to Eugene that same night and went to bed 1:00am. The end.

Oh, one more thing. I spent my actual birthday at the coast with Max's family and friends. Corrie and Thad had contacted my mum via fb to find out what kind of cake I like. Chocolate cheesecake was spot on! Thank you everyone!