Jessie's Line
5.11 YDS 6c+ French 23 Ewbanks VIII- UIAA 23 ZA E4 5c British PG13
| Type: | Trad, 85 ft (26 m) |
| GPS: | 44.36798, -121.13081 |
| FA: | Chuck Buzzard & Alan Watts - June, 1984 |
| Page Views: | 117 total · 8/month |
| Shared By: | Josh Janes on May 5, 2025 |
| Admins: | Kevin Piarulli, Nate Ball |
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
Jessie's Line is an underrated but excellent climb that tackles the last unbroken, full-length corner on the Wildfire Wall. I'm not sure why it doesn't get done (at least I've seen neither people nor chalk on it), but I suspect it is due to the "R" rating in Alan's guidebook and the description which uses words like "scary" and "dubious" with respect to the start in particular.
I take things like that seriously so I elected to check this thing out on rappel first, but what I found was a very good 0.3 Camalot in a small pod just large enough to accept it (and a pretty good RP at the base of this same pod). The climbing up to this point is easy, and the first crux (probably 10+ ish) terminates with your feet just above this piece. Here you get bomber gear, and for the most part that continues all the way to the anchor.
The hardest bits come much higher and are well-protected. Lastly, Alan also mentions "[skirting] right around a thin section at the crux", but I saw no possibility of this. Following the direct path keeping to the corner the entire way seemed like the only option? All in all, this climb is great and worthy of another look if you wrote it off based on its reputation.



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