Southwest Face Of Steins Pillar

Southwest Face (Steins Pillar)

Go back to Steins Pillar.

The Words

Steins Pillar
Shirley topping out on pitch 2.
Northeast Face (Steins Pillar)
Steins Pillar.

Despite a marginal forecast, we were able to convince our friends Andrew and Ye to join us for some Oregon chossaneering in the foothills of the Ochocos on Halloween. We climbed the Southwest Face route as two teams of two (11 years and one day – exactly – after Shirley and I have done the Northeast Face aid route). I gotta say that it’s a pretty stellar line! Great position on the face of a proud tower and with just a touch of marginal rock. Some shenanigans (for me) on the overhanging, monkey jugs of pitch 3 but a blast nonetheless especially given the company. Back in very rainy Portland in the evening. Thanks to our companions for providing the drive for us to re-discover the joys of local adventure climbing.

The Video

Steins Pillar
Click for video.
A slide show of the time lapse series taken by our camera sitting atop a tripod.

The Pics

Steins Pillar
Ye, Shirley and Andrew getting ready to head out from the trailhead (Oct. 2015).

Steins Pillar
Ye rolling his special burrito at the Steins trailhead (Oct. 2015).

Steins Pillar
Starting up pitch 1 of the Southwest Face route on Steins (Oct. 2015).

Steins Pillar
More pitch 1. Photo by Ye.

Steins Pillar
We combined pitches 1 and 2 to avoid a shitty hanging belay atop P1. Pitch 1 by the way is a very fun finger crack (Oct. 2015).

Steins Pillar
Linking pitch 1 and 2 (Oct. 2015).

Steins Pillar
Shirley on pitch 2 (Oct. 2015).

Steins Pillar
Shirley on pitch 2 of Southwest Face (Oct. 2015).

Steins Pillar
Shirley nearing the final traverse on pitch 2; Ye and Andrew are waiting to get started at the base (Oct. 2015).

Steins Pillar
Shirley topping out on pitch 2….is that flake solid? Sure it is!! Pull away!!

Steins Pillar
Starting pitch 3 belayed by Shirley (Oct. 2015).

Steins Pillar
Shirley belaying me on the 3rd pitch; Ye is launching into the second (Oct. 2015).

Steins Pillar
Ye on the crux of pitch 2 (combined with the first pitch).

Steins Pillar
The bolts end and you’re plugging some micros in a small dihedral. Ye enjoying his lead (Oct. 2015).

Steins Pillar
Ye midway through the lead of pitch 2 (blue jacket); I’m nearing the pitch 3 belay with Shirley belaying (red jacket).

Steins Pillar
Looking down towards Mill Creek Road and the farms (Oct. 2015).

Steins Pillar
Shirley starting up pitch 3. Ye’s just below at the belay (Oct. 2015).

Steins Pillar
Andrew rocking pitch 2 (red jacket) belayed by Ye (Oct. 2015).

Steins Pillar
Shirley on the steep third pitch of Southwest Face. Ye is belaying Andrew atop P2 and Andrew is launching onto the face climbing that is pitch 2 (Oct. 2015).

Steins Pillar
Somewhere on that formation is our camera clicking away in time-lapse mode (Oct. 2015).

Steins Pillar
Shirley topping out on pitch 3 – a steep (hard for me), gym-monkey type climbing (Oct. 2015).

Steins Pillar
Leading the final (4th) pitch of the Southwest Face – nice exposure, easier climbing (Oct. 2015).

Steins Pillar
View back towards Shirley at the belay (Oct. 2015).

Steins Pillar
Leading the final pitch belayed by Shirley. Andrew and Ye are at the belay atop pitch 2 (Oct. 2015).

Steins Pillar
Though the Northeast Face route is (used to be?) replete with home-made gear, this was the only relic we encountered on the upgraded Southwest Face route (Oct. 2015).

Steins Pillar
Shirley topping out on the 4th and final pitch.

Steins Pillar
Shirley nearing the summit (Oct. 2015).

Steins Pillar
Twin Pillars as seen from the summit of Steins Pillar some 10+ miles away (with the aid of a 30X optical zoom).

Steins Pillar
Click for high res. Ye (blue) is leading pitch 3 belayed by Andrew (red). Shirley (red) and I (orange) are on the summit (Oct. 2015).

Steins Pillar
Ye arriving on the summit.

Steins Pillar
Ye and Andrew celebrating Halloween atop Steins (Oct. 30th, 2015).

Steins Pillar
Steins Pillar crew celebrating with a hip flask of Buffalo Trace (Halloween 2015).

Go back to Steins Pillar.