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Kris Haskins Staff Webpage |
Portland - Multnomah falls and cragging |
| April 25-26, 2009 |
This weekend we went down to Portland to see Emily and Gianluca as he is returning to Italy soon (too soon), and Emily is rapidly approaching her date with Grad school at Penn. Mel and I headed down their late on Friday due to a few CD making tasks, and rolled into their place around 11:30 where we were promptly greeted with beers and company ... Awesome!
The next day our plan was to go to Multnomah Falls, and then head out to do some climbing afterwards. I am planning on doing ride the lightning this coming weekend, so I wanted to get out and do some cragging this weekend to get a bit prepared. Fortunately, everyone agreed to indulge me and come climbing. So, we started off by visiting the Portland REI to pick up a copy of Portland Rock. I also picked up a few more alpine draws since shopping down there is tax free which is pretty nice. After hitting up REI, it was time to head to the falls
We were advised by a couple of friends to take the scenic road to the falls, and we were not dissappointed. Mel was kind hungry since we had skipped breakfast, so we stopped by the local store where we got some food. Gianluca was amazing packing away a hotdog and a German sausage with everything on it. After that, we drove to the top of a cliff. There is a cool lookout on top of a cliff which we checked out.
Mel, Emily, and Gianluca by the lookout
After the quick stop up top, we were on our way to the falls. They were pretty crowded, and we pulled in just in time to take the parking spot of someone that was leaving. I was wary about leaving my gear in the car, so I shouldered the pack full of climbing gear and we headed toward the falls. The falls are really big, and quite impressive. There was a trail to the top of the falls, so we set out to hike to the top. The trail was mostly paved and provided a nice journey to the top. Once there, there is a platform near the edge of the falls that gives a pretty great view. I was hoping they would have a clear platform over the falls kind of like the one at the grand canyon, but no such luck.
Mel and I at Multnomah falls
The top of the falls
After the falls, we headed out to Broughton Bluff, which is a climbing area about 20 minutes out of Portland and directly on our way back. It had been kind of raining on and off all day, but when we got to the base the rock was dry so I roped up for Giant's Staircase, a fun and short 5.6 trad climb
Me leading the staircase
Mel climbing the staircase
Gianluca on the staircase
After the staircase, I went up the fun Edges and Ledges(5.8). The first portion is trad which consisted of nice jams to a pillar top then bolted face climbing. I had to hang on the bolts as I had not looked at the topo properly and tried to go straight up the blank face rather than contour around left to the positive holds on the other face. After that, it started to rain so we called it a day. We headed back to the house for some beers and movie.
Me starting out Edges and Ledges
Almost to the top of the pillar
On the safety of bolted terrain
The next morning we got up and went out to breakfast at the cup and saucer. The breakfast food was pretty good, but the scones that came with breakfast were really good. I think next time I may go there just for some scones and skip the other food. After the fuel up, everyone was in food comaville, but I conned them into coming with me to check out rocky butte quarry, another super close crag. This one is by the freeway, and is super dirty and kind of weird. There really aren't a whole lot of ways to get down unless you rap of anchors at the top or go on the perimeter trail and bushwack up from below. Also, there is a lot of broken glass, garbage, and we saw a used hypodermic needle ... great. It was also pretty hard to identify the actual routes, and I think a lot of them are supposed to be top roped anyway. We spent a whole lot of time wandering around before we finally found the one route I climbed, midnight warrior (5.8). After that, we tried to find another area but ended up giving up on it and going home. This is definately one area I would not visit again, unless perhaps I went with a local who knew their way around. Broughton was a similar distance and a way nice crag. The pitch I did climb was fun though with some sinker finger locks.
Starting out on Midnight Warrior
Higher up
At the top
After the sketch crag, we went home and packed up our stuff. After a beer and some goodbyes, Mel and I were off. This was a fantastic trip down to see some friends, and it was nice to be able to con them into coming climbing with me :). If anyone wants to borrow it, I have the portland rock guidebook. I recommend checking out Broughton if you are headed to Portland and wanna climb, and I would like to get down and check out Beacon rock if anyone is interested.