Hells Canyon 2019

Go back to Hells Canyon.

Hells Canyon

Hells Canyon.

Been meaning to check this place out for some 8 years now. Original plan was to head to City Of Rocks for a weekend quickie. Friday night, somewhere by Pendleton, we realized that we were just not psyched enough about City climbing to continue the driving marathon and the Hells Canyon idea popped into our heads as a reasonable alternative. And so we turned north at Baker City.

Got a late (OK, very late) start on Saturday and headed up for the tallest looking piece of cliff – the west face of The Flatiron. Found some old beta from Chris Winter in our emails about two 3-pitch lines that he’s done on that face. We found those with little issues and headed up. Climbing was fun, very well protected and with a style that reminded us of El Potrero. Things got pretty hot once the sun hit the face. We were planning on camping out and climbing on Sunday but then we got a surprise: we started pulling off multiple ticks from ourselves and dozens of them off of Benny. The thought of being in a tent with our tick-ridden dog was less than appealing and so we called it good and went home. If we come back, it’ll be earlier in the season – too hot, too many ticks in early May.

2022 Post Script

Hells Canyon

Think You’re In Heaven.

Found some information on what it was that we climbed. First pitch (5.10b) is called Halfway To Hell. We the joined Think You’re In Heaven (But You’re Really In Hell) for its pitches 2 (5.10a) and 3 (5.11a). No wonder that third pitch felt noticeably harder.

Photos

Hells Canyon

Shirley and Benny starting the ~25 minute approach to the west face of The Flatiron (May 2019).

Hells Canyon

The Flatiron as seen from the campground (May 2019).

Hells Canyon

Enjoying the late morning approach (May 2019).

Hells Canyon

Views down Allison Creek drainage (May 2019).

Hells Canyon

Shirley and Benny on approach (May 2019).

Hells Canyon

The south face of The Flatiron (May 2019).

Hells Canyon

Shirley nearing the base of the west face of The Flatiron (May 2018).

Hells Canyon

Shirley and Benny at the base of our chosen route (May 2019).

Hells Canyon

Leading pitch 1 of an unknown (to us) route (May 2019).

Hells Canyon

View upriver (May 2019).

Hells Canyon

Nearing the top of the pitch (May 2019).

Hells Canyon

Shirley on pitch 1 (May 2019).

Hells Canyon

Topping out on pitch 1 (May 2019).

Hells Canyon

Starting up pitch 2 (May 2019).

Hells Canyon

Shirley on pitch 2 with our car visible at the campground below (May 2019).

Hells Canyon

Starting the lead of the crux third pitch (May 2019).

Hells Canyon

Higher on pitch 3 (May 2019).

Hells Canyon

Looking back at Shirley from the lead of pitch 3 above the crux (May 2019).

Hells Canyon

You bypass the obvious roof on its right side (May 2019).

Hells Canyon

Nearing the top of pitch 3 (May 2019).

Hells Canyon

Hells Canyon pano from the route (May 2019).

Hells Canyon

Shirley nearing the top (May 2019).

Hells Canyon

The views (May 2019).

Hells Canyon

Shirley at the top of our route (May 2019).

Hells Canyonn

Shirley rapping off (May 2019).

Hells Canyon

Starting the hike down (May 2019).

Hells Canyon

Shirley and the Snake River (May 2019).

Hells Canyon

Enjoying the sunshine on the hike down…the leash is to keep somebody from looking for rattlers (May 2019).

Hells Canyon

The south face of The Flatiron from the hike down (May 2019).

Hells Canyon

A cool off (May 2019).

Hells Canyon

Hiking back to the car (May 2019).

Hells Canyon

The search for ticks begins (it would last 4 days; May 2019).

Hells Canyon

A dip in the stagnant Snake River to round out the day (May 2019).

Hells Canyon

A wet dog (May 2019).

Go back to Hells Canyon.