Still Finding Balance—Route Developer Chris Hatzai On the Yin/Yang of Smith Rock's Pull
Chris Hatzai has been featured several times on SmithRock.com, both in a eulogy to friend and fellow route developer, Alex Reed, as well as updates on route development at in the Monument and Marsupials areas of Smith Rock State Park. We reached out to him for any further updates he had to share. What he shared went so much further.
NOVEMBER 18, 2019
STILL FINDING BALANCE
by Chris Hatzai
banner image by Quentin G LR
What I feel and know to be true in my heart, feels most alive when I’m up clinging to these walls of tuff I love so much.
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As each year passes, my hair grows a little thinner, my mid section becomes slightly soggier. Still, the love and enthusiasm I have for being at Smith Rock has not waned in the least. If anything, it’s growing.
5 of the 6 years that I’ve lived in Central Oregon have all been 120+ day years out at the park. With one year in particular going to Smith Rock over 180+ days.
Chris on Powder in the Eyes, The Dihedrals. Image courtesy of Ashley DuFresne.
Swinging from a static line in the freezing fog, bolting and roasting away in the hot summer sun, 5am parking lot starts in the hot season, and getting chilled-to-the-bone during the winter season vying the elements for the opportunity to grab onto the one hold that shut you down all summer long.!@#$% ... Sorry. Like i’m saying though, the stoke is real.
The past 5 years at Smith Rock State Park have been some of the most influential and memorable years of my life. Climbing my best and being able to express creativity through route development has been monumental in finding true happiness. Having faced many tough life situations in my younger years left me stunted as an adult. Fortunately, the family of friends whom I consistently see and get to play with, at a place I absolutely love, has been a key part to my own personal healing process.
On the top of Gulag Archapelago. Image courtesy of Noel Sigona.
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Out at the crag this past weekend climbing with friends, having a mellow day of stringing up top ropes for friends, there was a point when I wasn’t climbing and was just hanging out. Stepping 100 feet back from the Monument and standing on a patch of matted- down cheatgrass, I looked back to see 3 friends climbing, 3 friends belaying, and several other groups down on the other end of the wall. The areas we’ve been working on for years now are shaping into regularly climbed areas at Smith Rock.
To look up at every route I’ve established and be able to momentarily, in real-time live vicariously through another person’s movements and actions while they’re on a route is one of the coolest feelings ever. Just like the first time you figured out how to back-flag, or when you learned how to sink below a sloper to find the “good” spot amongst a slippery curve of nothingness. Those breakthrough moments in climbing for me are transitioning to seeing new routes getting established and new areas get developed.
Now, I get about as much satisfaction from seeing my friends send a project or helping build a new terrace/pathway as I do sending a project of my own.
Friends on Imposter Complex, Sarah Regan climbing, Maddie Collins belaying. Image courtesy of Sarah Regan posted to Mountain Project.
Chris belaying John Collins. Image courtesy of Alan Collins.
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In my 34 years, I learned young that life is fleeting. Boy is it short. Maybe it’s the fear of getting old and not performing, being unable to run with the pack any longer. Or maybe it’s watching my father and two of my best friends lose their lives way before they were supposed to go. Or maybe, it’s wanting to hang onto this moment in time for as long as possible, in the place that makes me feel most alive. Whatever it is, this yearning to want to be climbing and/or developing all of the time out at Smith Rock has not stopped growing since I moved here.
As my roots grow stronger and dig themselves in a little deeper each year out at Smith, the thought of “What’s next?” in this phase of life, is starting to bubble over and spill onto the front burner of my mind. So what is next..?
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I’m feeling like time is not a luxury anymore. The very thought of what the future may hold prompted me to go on a route developing spree this past summer. After helping my roommate Sarah Regan develop her first 2 climbing routes on the Monument, The Tutorial 5.10a and the Imposter Complex 5.10b, I quickly caught the bug again. After bolting four new 5.11’s on the Monument along with Mike Mejaski adding another one of his own 5.10’s to the mix, Time Step 5.10b, there haves been 7 new routes added to the far right side of the Monument ranging from 5.10a - 5.11d this year.
Topo of Monument Area routes courtesy of Mountain Project.
After working on the Monument, I knew this was the year to start developing on the Little Three Finger Jack, aka L3FJ. For years I would stare at this formation every time I hiked past it going to the Hank Wall or up to the Marsupials. It’s hard not to. Being one of the largest formations in the area and being home to the largest Golden Eagle’s nest in the park, this tower demands attention. Along with its striking visual beauty, the physical attributes of this formation are incredible. The rock quality is some of the best I’ve seen so far out at Smith. The hold shapes and climbing styles on this tower are as varied as they are unique. Slopers, crimps, blocky jugs, tiered roofs, slabs and faces?! What more could you ask for?
Little Three Fingered Jack. Image courtesy of Chris Hatzai.
John Collins on Country Rhoads. Image courtesy of Alan Collins.
6 independent routes have been developed so far on the L3FJ with a few more independent lines in the works.
The 4 routes established so far on the wall range from 5.12a - 5.13b/c. Country Rhoads 5.12a established by Evan Rhoads, Heart of Gold 5.12c developed and established by Kevin Piarulli, Asian Persuasion 5.12c and Gravy Train 5.13b/c established by Alan Collins are some of the stand- out routes on the wall and some of the best of their grades at Smith Rock.
Click on the images below to enlarge.
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I know I won’t be bolting routes forever. But it’s hard to think of this phase of my life someday coming to an end. While I will never willingly stop climbing, I do see the shelf life of my route development efforts at Smith Rock. The financial and physical tolls it takes to develop a climbing area, coupled with the fact we’re working with a non-renewable resource, paints a very clear picture of how much longer I can realistically keep going HAM out at the park.
With that said, I haven’t reached that “light at the end of the tunnel” just quite just yet. There are still futuristic routes calling my name I feel that I need to develop. With having such a lofty goal almost to completion, it would be a shame to walk away now.
So here I am again coming towards the end of another developing season, telling myself “just one more year.” This time though, this time it’s different. After having just finished bolting my 32nd full-length pitch at Smith Rock, I knew when I got back down to the ground that late afternoon, that the vision was almost complete. And while there is still an abundance of rock over in the Monument area and up in the Marsupials, the king lines I’ve eyed up for years are almost all checked off the list. “I’m so close—just one more year!”
So, as my fondness for baseball caps grows and as my food portion sizes keep getting smaller and smaller, whatever the future holds and wherever life takes me, one thing is absolutely certain. My stoke and enthusiasm for wanting to be out at Smith Rock will not be lessening anytime soon. 5 years of route development out at the park has left me with a lifetime of projects.
Now it’s time to get my butt in gear and really try hard.
ABOUT CHRIS HATZAI
baker by trade
works at metolius to be able to climb
grew as a route developer with guidance from friends (Mainly alan collins and his father john)
found the hank wall and climbing was changed forever
climbing for 9 years, hope to climb at least that many more
climbing has changed my life, as has smith rock—two things that will hopefully be with me forever
and alex REED, so 3 things actually