When Eli Olson, a 9th grade Honors Literature student at Estacada High School about 30 miles southeast of Portland contacted us to help him with his final project assignment—To find a way to get my work out into the world, we were moved. He was allowed to write about anything he wanted to, and he chose to write about the history of sport climbing at Smith Rock, where it all began for North America. He originally started his essay last year but didn’t get to finish with the impact of COVID on the school system. By the time he got to pick up his project again, it evolved from the history of climbing in the U.S. that was mainly focused on Yosemite, until he learned about Smith Rock. Now he encourages others to push their boundaries and try sport climbing.
Magical. Mystical. These are terms many visitors use to describe the unique rock formations of Smith Rock State Park and the sense of awe they inspire. They are also the words Wilson Wewa, a spiritual leader and oral historian of the Pauite Tribe of the Warm Springs Reservation, used when asked what to describe the area. As the last enrolled speaker of the Pauite language in Warm Springs, he alone can still sing the ancient songs of his people at funerals and Washut ceremonies.
Steven Dimmitt loves to ask questions. Specifically, he loves sitting down with experts in the climbing world and get them to share any habits, routines, and insights or “nuggets” that he and others can learn from in his Nugget Climbing Podcast that he records in his mobile studio. For this particular episode, he got “The Godfather of Smith Rock,” Alan Watts, to talk about: eating every other day, his paradigm shift from freeing aid climbs to face climbing, wearing Wolfgang’s shirt, meeting Adam Ondra, and his “little slice of contribution.”
Alan Watts and Mike Volk didn't believe that having fun climbing at Smith Rock every day in the '80s would lead to the creation of an internationally famous rock climbing destination, but the secret of this special place got out.
On August 10, 1996, the raging Smith Rock fire wiped out most vegetation for one-third of its 600 acres.
