Squamish, March 22-24, 2005

This past week was spring break for the University of Washington, and despite the fact that I don’t work overly hard, and didn’t really need a break, when a weather window opened in Squamish I decided to head north for a few days. I picked up Eric (one of those rare UW climbing club members who actually climb) at 7:00 am on Tuesday and we got on the I-5 and headed for the homeland. We arrived around 11:00 am, with the only incident being the check engine light in my truck being on, but it seemed to run okay still, so we kept going. My reasoning was, that if I was going to be stuck somewhere with car trouble, Squamish would a pretty good spot to choose. Upon arrival, the weather was nice, but pretty windy, so we decided to head to the Smoke Bluffs to find some sheltered, south facing climbs. We started on a fun 5.9 called Up, Up and Away, which Eric led. It was a bit wet in the crack, and I was happy to let the seasoned alpine climber have the lead on that one. We then moved on to Quarryman, which I led, with the 5.10b finish, which didn’t feel very hard and was only one move (maybe not even) of 5.10. Next, Eric led a 5.10d called Climb and Punishment, which was really fun, with Eric just missing the onsight. Next we did Penny Lane (5.9), in order to set a top rope on Crime of the Century (5.11c). This one was really hard, but I surprised myself by at least being able to do all the moves (with several hangs), although it felt desperate and I could tell that my thin crack technique is far from dialed. Next we moved on to a wide 5.10b called Split Beaver. Eric was excited to try this one, so he led it, and after logging some air time, made it to the top. Next I tried, and after many hangs and much thrashing, I arrived at the anchors. That climb is stinking hard. Maybe it helps if you know how to climb wide cracks, but I don’t, and boy was it a painful experience. After getting bouted on the Split Beaver, we decided to go do some fun (er, I mean, different) climbing, and headed for the base of the grand wall to do some bouldering. We started at Gibbs Cave, where I tried my designated project for this year, a V8 called Gibbs Cave. This problem is so stinking awesome. My little brother Fras sent it last summer, and in the fall I had managed to do all the moves, so I wanted to see how much I had lost over the winter, so I got on it first. It felt pretty good, I was able to do all the moves, and could link through to the second last hard move. Here is a photo sequence that Eric took of me on it (with detailed beta if anyone wants to go send it):

First, grab the two crappy edges to start, and paste your right foot on the rail way out right:

Fire out right and catch a sloping edge, holding on hard to stop the swing:

Stabilize and set up to go with your left hand:

Fire left and catch a pretty good edge:

Adjust the right foot further left on the rail, and move your right hand to another good edge with a nice incut you can crimp on:

Bump your left hand up to a good sloper:

Move your right foot up to the next rail up from where it was and move your right hand up to a small, terrible sloper:

Cut your feet and swing them across, smearing your left foot at the left end of the rail:

Now fire up left and SQUEEZE on a bad stinking sloper, and don’t fall off like I am doing below:

That is the crux move for me, I only managed to do it once while we were there. It is really hard for me. If you can hold that, then desperately slap your right hand up to a decent sloper, then move your foot up and pop to a jug, and you are done (except for the high and easy top out). This is an awesome problem, and I am excited to get back on it again soon. We then headed over and did some stuff by the Animal Magnetism boulder, including Up from the Depths, Holm Boy, and Jacks Baby. We then worked our way through the forest, ticking off many more classics. Eric had a few tries on the classic V4 called The Black Mark, coming pretty close to sticking the crux move, seen in the photos below:

By then it was getting pretty dark, so we headed back to the Apron Parking Lot, made dinner, and went to bed. The next day we got up early and it was cool and windy so we decided to head for the sun in the Smoke Bluffs again. I don’t feel like typing any more so I won’t list all the routes we did, but we did a few more 5.10s, and it was fun. We then headed back to the boulders, I had some more tries on Gibbs Cave, Eric sent the classic High V0 (pictured below), and had a few more tries on the Black Mark (also pictured below):

We again climbed until darkness fell at around 7:00, for another full day of climbing. The next morning we got up early and headed over to the Squaw to do a 6 pitch 5.10b called Birds of Prey. It took us an hour and 15 minutes to do the approach after not finding the trail, then being confused about what part of the cliff we were on, but we eventually started up it. I led the first two pitches of 5.8 low-angle finger crack as one (with Eric doing a bit of simul-climbing to allow me to make it to the belay). Next Eric led a 5.10b steep corner hand crack, which was really fun, followed by some face moves to gain the next belay. We then scrambled up a pitch of fourth class, and I led the final two pitches, a 5.7 and 5.10a corner system, again running them together into one long pitch. It was a bit wet in spots, but a super fun route, and highly recommended. It might be better to wait until a bit later in the season though, there was a fair bit of dirt and slime in the cracks at this time of the year. I then went and did some more bouldering, but was pretty tired just messing around on fun easier stuff, and Eric went and soloed St. Vitus Dance, a 3 pitch 5.9 hand crack. We then drove back to Seattle, hitting some bad traffic in Vancouver, but without incident other than that.