PRINT: Rock Climb Reason To Be, Smith Rock

Reason To Be

5.11a, Sport, 80 ft (24 m),

Avg: 3.1 from 55 votes
FA: James Lillibridge and Andreas Schmidt 1988
Oregon > Central Oregon > Smith Rock > (q) Mesa Verde Wall

Access Issue: 2023 Seasonal Raptor Nesting Closures Details

JULY 5 UPDATE FROM PARK MANAGEMENT:

ALL SEASONAL CLIMBING CLOSURES FOR CLIMBING AND SLACKLINING WILL BE LIFTED ON FRIDAY, JULY 7TH THIS WEEK.
THANKS, EVERYONE FOR YOUR HELP IN OBSERVING RESTRICTIONS DURING THE NESTING SEASON!

There are many seasonal raptor closures with varying dates and specific boundaries. These generally effect The Monument, Kiss of the Lepers, Picnic Lunch Wall and/or Smith Rock group, and possibly elsewhere. These usually run from February to the beginning of August, but each closure is usually shorter than this, and is dependent on the birds' behavior. Check this site for details: smithrock.com/seasonal-clos…

Description

Spicy.
Climb the arete to the right of Tale of Two Shitties using the arete and crimps. The climbing and rock are excellent, the bolts are a bit spaced making it a lil' scary. Bolts anywhere other than where they are would be extremely hard to clip. Perhaps a bit hard for the grade (aren't all 10.d's at Smith?)

Location

to the right and below Tale of Two Shitties.

Protection

Rebolted 2022-5-14 with wave resin anchors. Mussy hooks installed at the top. High Desert Climbers Alliance.

Photos [Hide ALL Photos]

Reason To Be

Working the arete of Reason To Be with Monkey Face in the background. Photo: Corey Gargano

Justin Hollenbeck on "Reason to be." Smith Rock, Oregon.

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Comments [Hide ALL Comments]

Mark D
Portland, OR

one of the best 5.10 aretes at smith. well worth the walk. Apr 3, 2006

bryans

sweet climb. you'll wish it was longer, though you'll probably be pumped as it is. would be a "name" climb if it was on the frontside. Jun 19, 2006

Peter Franzen
Phoenix, AZ

5.10d

Good climb but the bolt placements are pretty bad in my opinion. For both the second and third bolts I found stances a few feet below them that would've made much better places to clip from. It's nice and spicy though, which can be fun.

I actually felt that the crux came at the last couple of moves before the jugs at the top, just after clipping the final bolt. All the holds up there seem to be sidepulls making for a couple of delicate smears.

Also, as of Sept. 23rd, 2006 all of the bolts were spinners. Sep 24, 2006

peachy spohn
Portland

An amazing arete with very fun moves. I think the new Watts guide is correct with the grade of .11a. Highly recommended. Jun 27, 2011

Jon Golle
Tacoma, Wa

I found the first bolt to be loose. The hanger was spinning and the bolt was moving in the hole. Aug 17, 2015

Phildlm

5.11a

Agreed. This isn't a 10d. It's an 11a. There are easier 11a's in the park for sure. It's pumpy and requires excellent footwork. I think this is one of those routes that puts your footwork to the test. It also puts your finger pads to the test with pretty small and sharp right hand holds on the face. Mar 24, 2016

Jacob Jones1993
Kirkland WA

Awesome climb, however every bolt but the last one spins Sep 6, 2016

Carl Sampurna
Boulder, CO

The 1st bolt stud is rusty and loose in its hole, it should be replaced ASAP Jul 17, 2017

1Eric Rhicard
Tucson

Fun climb but the second or third is hard to clip if you are shorter than 5'6". Aug 24, 2017

Michael Daly

First bolt is still rusty, and all are loose. Also, there is no way this climb is 80', I would think 60 at the tallest Jun 24, 2020

James Lillibridge

FA info is incorrect. Route was put up by myself and Andreas Schmidt (it was his idea and he got the FA). Alan Watts was nice enough to let us borrow a Bosch (he happened to be at Metolius or Entreprise (can't recall which) when we were there). Kinda funny cause my sister has a framed photo of me drilling one of the route's bolts, thinking I was climbing. Really happy to see people dig the route! BTW, I knew Greg and think he was a good guy, but he didn't put up the route (I think in an earlier guidebook Jim Yoder got credit). We called it 11a and spicy was the name of the game back then, so we were just trying to follow Alan's lead in the area. Sep 23, 2020