Broughton's Bluff
date: 05 Sep 2008 -- updated: 06 Sep 2008
For a little over a year, I have been learning to climb rock. Apart from a few bouldering skirmishes down at the beach, I have always climbed indoors at a climbing gym, either Stoneworks or The Circuit. Before the summer was out, I wanted to climb outside at least once, to get the experience and to see how well I might do. So yesterday I hired Matt from Stoneworks to be my ropegun, and we spent several hours at Broughton's Bluff, a basalt crag located right next to the Sandy River and the entrance to the Columbia Gorge.
First, we warmed up on a few approach pitches to the 'Sesame Express' route which is up higher. The first one, shown below, is rated 5.7, and was not bad for my first outdoor climb. You work your way up the central pillar with the two prominent cracks on either side of it, then, once above you traverse a bit left, heave yourself over the block and scoot through a small chimney towards the tree visible at the top.
Then we tried the route just to the right of the first one, rated 5.8, which requires a bit of stemming and chimney work, but which wasn't too difficult either. On each of these first two routes the hardest thing for me was trusting the rope, the holds and my feet to keep me on the rock.
The third route was my first real challenge. Rated 5.9, it is straightforward column work until you get about a third of the way up. Then you must use a largish crack off to the left and heave yourself up over a hump, where the beginner feels a lot more exposed, and you must stem in a much more committed way to succeed. By the time I got over the hump, which required a bit of fisting inside the crack, I was a bit torched and had to rest splayed over the hump. Then it was (for me) very slow careful work on my tip-toes and some small crimpers, all off-balance a bit, before I could reach some nice edges and complete the route. I did it!
