Squamish: Aug. 12-13, 16-17
On Friday night my friend Barlow from
And Easy in an Easy Chair:
From the grin on Barlow’s face you can tell what a classic problem that one is! We then went and tried a V6 called Stinger that I have been working on lately. I was super close to sending it last trip, falling off the easy topout move, but this time I wasn’t feeling strong on it, and we moved on to greener pastures. We did some more classic stuff like Tradkiller (V4) and Heartbreak Hotel (V2), and then went and tried a V7 called Sticky Fingers. It is an awesome problem, the friction on it is insanely good. No send, but it felt like it was pretty possible. Here is a sequence of the crux move:
Sweet! You start on a good finger slot and make a big cross to a smaller finger slot in the overhanging rail. Some more hard moves follow to gain the lip, and then the topout is not too bad. Definitely one to work on for the future. This one was feeling a bit tough for us at this point, so we moved on to a V5 to the right of it called Sticky Wicket. It was pretty cool, just one really hard move from a sidepull to a sloper at the lip. At first we couldn’t even figure out how to pull on, but by the end we were coming pretty close, until we ran out of skin. Here are some photos of the crux:
We then toured back through the forest, doing other classic problems mostly in the V4 range, such as Mantle Madness:
Eventually we made it back to the car around 8:00 after
finishing on The Mantis (V4) and Titanic (V3), and headed to the Brewpub for
the best fries on planet earth (yammer jammers, so stinkin’ amazing that every time I eat them I think my head
is going to fall off). In the pub we met
up with Dave Back, Deion from
The next day we were super sore from bouldering from noon until 8 pm the day before, but we were
in the Squamish, so of course we went climbing. We
went to the Petrifying Wall at
We recharged on Monday and Tuesday, and
on Wednesday morning we headed back up to Squamish
for more punishment for our already too thin tips. We arrived around noon, and decided to go bouldering. We did a
bunch of moderate stuff including some good things in the Survivor area that I
had never done, such as a V5 called Moss Toupee, and a V4 called Launch Break:
We then went over to Stinger so I could
try it again. Much to my delight I
managed to send on my first go, setting right the unjust treatment I had
received when I fell off the topout the first time I
should have sent it. We then tried Sticky
Fingers and Sticky Wicket again with no success, and moved out onto the talus
to do the Cutting Edge (V4):
We bouldered
until around 5:30 or so, and then decided it was time to rack up and remember
how to trad climb before our big objective for the
next day (The Grand Wall). We headed
over to the Apron, and set off up St. Vitus’ Dance, a 4 pitch 5.9. We quickly did the 5.7 and 5.8 approach
pitches (mostly 4th class) to gain the base of the route, and then
Barlow headed up the money pitch, a nice 5.9 hand crack that steepened as the
pitch progressed. I then led the next
pitch, another 5.9 hand crack pitch with some traversing between cracks, and
Barlow lead the next pitch which was mostly easy with a few 5.9 moves to
surmount a short roof, and then we both scrambled up the final 4th class
pitch, before descending Broadway Ledge in the dark (in flip flops), getting
back to the car around 9:30 to round out a full day of climbing. We then headed over to the Brewpub for some well
earned yammer jammers.
We then went and slept in the parking lot at the camp ground, and got up at 7:00 the next morning to rack up for the big day. We took my rack plus one of Barlow’s hand size cams (I have a double set of cams, a couple of aliens, and nuts). We got to the base of Apron Strings around 8:00 after breakfast and sorting gear for the day, and found a party on the first pitch. I looked up, and the guy had a pretty big runout, and I thought, wow, he must be strong and confident. A minute later I heard a yell, looked up, and he came lobbing off for a huge fall. He seemed to hit his side pretty hard on a ledge/rib, but seemed okay, and was able to get back on and finish the pitch, albeit putting way more gear in and hanging on all of it. The first time he had tried to run it out through the hard section where the lieback crack thins and you can only get finger tips in, and when he got to the easy ground he was too pumped to place gear.
They took a long time on this pitch, so we were happy that they bailed after that, being a bit psyched out (and having pscyhed us out in the process). We then started up, and Barlow led the first pitch (5.10b) since I had put in my request to lead the Split Pillar, so swinging leads meant that Barlow had the first pitch. He hung on a piece part way through, but then go back on and did it clean. I think it was a combination of not being warmed up and seeing the guy before take a monster whip. I followed it cleanly, but it was pretty hard. I led the next pitch without any problems, a 5.9 corner to a nice low angle handcrack. Barlow led the next pitch, a 5.7 face climb up a dyke (the first pitch of Merci Me), almost a full rope length with only three bolts, super run out. The climbing wasn’t too bad, just edging on positive holds, you just had to tell yourself not to look down and contemplate the monster fall you would take if you messed up. I then took the next pitch, starting with more super runout 5.8 face climbing up the dyke before traversing right with a short 5.9 section of slab that felt considerably easier than that. Barlow then led the next 5.10b pitch which traversed right, downclimbing a bit, before rising up to the base of the Split Pillar (with 3 bolts for aid).
Looking up at he Split Pillar was a bit intimidating, it is pretty steep and sustained, and I had heard it was one of the tougher pitches on the route despite the grade. I psyched myself up, grabbed the cams, and set off. Much to my delight, it was locker hand jams most of the way up, even when it got wider near the top you could find the odd bomber hand jam in a constriction, and the feet were super solid since it was in a corner. I was able to onsight it cleanly, and it was so awesome, super steep and sustained, incredible. For sure the best pitch of granite trad climbing I have done. Barlow then led the next pitch, a 5.11a called the Sword, it was pretty tough but he got it clean. I followed it, and found it to be the hardest yet, but got it clean. The cruxes were shorter on it, but I may have been tired from the last pitch as even seconding I got pretty pumped on them, and was barely able to hold on by the end of the pitch. We then aided the bolt ladder section, and I set off on Perry's lieback, a 5.11a offwidth lieback that is bolt protected. It wasn't hard, but I got super pumped and took a fall near the end where the lip changes from a positive edge to being more blunt. Barlow put on the afterburners and motored through it clean, and then led the next pitch, a 5.10a traversing pitch with some tricky slab moves. I then led the final pitch, a 5.10c undercling flake that finished with some super fun steep but easy climbing up a juggy flake. It felt a lot easier than 10c, and was a great way to end the climb. We traversed off Bellygood Ledge, a few sketchy super exposed sections but just scrambling, and then headed back down the trail. We were so stinkin' tired, but it was an awesome awesome day. We then went and lay on crash pads in the sun and ate pop tarts.
After a few minutes talking about how burned we were and
that maybe we should go swim in the lake at Murrin
and relax, we came to our senses, realized that we were in Squamish
and there was still more daylight left in the day, and went bouldering.
We did a bunch of easier stuff around Easy
in an Easy Chair before getting intense burning feelings in our arms and not
being able to lift up the crash pads anymore. At his point we called it a day, and headed
for DQ to eat blizzards and observe the youth of Squamish
(they wear big gold chains and marijuana headbands and ride BMXs)
before heading back to