In early August (09), I hopped in the car with my friend Gavin Ferguson for a Rep/Retail trip for 3 days. In between his stops, we hit three of Southern Oregon’s old & obscure climbing areas. He took me to the Rabbit Ears, near the head of the Rouge River, and showed me a single pitch, ground up route he had put up 15 years ago. After fearfully onsighting his sandbaged, runout route, I was inspired by the 500 foot towers of unclimbed rock. A week later, I decided to start my journey up an unclimbed wall of the east Ear. The only existing routes up this spire were an old 5.8X and a 5.4 exposed hike to the top. I couldn’t find a partner for the first trip down, so I decide to start this route as a rope solo, ground up. After 2 days, 50 scary feet, and 2 bolts later, I realized I should do the remainder with a partner. Back in Terrebonne, I ran into Tom Johns from NZ and the game began. Also joining us was Wes from So. Cal. Him and Tom met in J-tree this Spring, Wes’ stomping grounds near his home in San Diego (which means a whale’s vagina).
Wes and Tom put up another route to the left of Wondering Soul. Most likely a four star 5.8. Ends and the D.P.H. Ledge. The 1st pitch took about 4 days. Solid climbing and cleaning through 60 meters. Pumpy and heady. When we got the anchor in on the first pitch, we had about 9 bolts and a few gear placements in 60 meters.
Some people would scuff at this, but we later added 3 bolts to protect injury prone/death falls. We decide we wanted people to actually enjoy this route. This pitch will still draw some serious excitement. After the easy 2nd pitch, Tom started this traverse pitch we call “Walk of the Gods”. I had to get my balls in tact to finish it the next morning. Shit, he did some bold climbing. I finished over a small roof to some choss on the D.P.H. Ledge. 5.9, 3 bolts and face gear. We hit a dead end at the D.P.H. (Dirty Pirate Hooker) Ledge. We got a bit discouraged.
We redirected the route going right. This is a four star pitch, especially after more traffic. This Kiwi has no fear. Sings when he gets scared. I yell like a redneck. Wes followed us up on the FFA by Tractioning the tag line. All three of us enjoyed the First Free Ascent of the Wandering Soul.
At the beginning of my last visit, I picked up a hitchhiker near La Pine. His name was Mike. A strange one from Colorado Springs. He had been on the road for 6 months looking for work and soul searching. He ended up camping with us. The last day, he quit smoking cigs and also decided to spread his deceased child’s ashes at the Rabbit Ears. Ironically, we had named our route Wandering Soul prior to meeting Mike. He told me these three days have been life changing for him. Such an inspiring world. I belayed him on a pitch then dropped him off in Union Creek with a small care package to continue on with his journey; A fold up bowl I got from Gavin, a “phatty” and a Coors Light.
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