Squamish!

Laura and I had spent a lot of time up at Squamish earlier this summer, but we hadn't been back up in 6 weeks or so, probably because last time we were up there our car broke down, not a fun experience. But with breakdown coverage bought the day before we were prepared this time. I got off work early so Tony, Laura and I headed on up the road. We got in about 6.30 enough time for an evening bouldering session so we dumped our stuff at the campsite and headed for the forest. There were still some familiar faces kicking around from earlier in the summer which was good to see, the last of the Scottish crew were still around for their last week.
We were greeted at Animal Magnetism boulder by Micah and Liz who had headed up earlier in the day. Micah was buzzing from having sent Lounge Act (V6) second go this trip, and was now working the sit-down start to Holmboy the best V6 in the forest. I got my shoes on and made a cool repeat showing Micah my beta. Micah proceeded to ignore my beta and made it through the crux doing it his own way, he got to the good hold at the top of the rail, but then was too pumped to reach the jug and came off, heartbreaker! We decided to save some skin for the rest of the weekend so went back to the campsite for some campground burritos Mmm tasty.

A view of the Stawamus Chief from the campsite

The next morning we headed over to the Smoke Bluffs for some trad action. My last time in Squamish I cruised The Exasperator a classic 10c finger crack on the base of the Grand Wall, so was feeling confident. I decided to try some easier classics like Penny Lane (5.9) and Octopus Garden (5.8) this time, which was fun, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't have my moments on them. I definitely need to work on my jamming skills, I think I plugged in something like 5 pieces of gear in a 15ft section on Octopus Garden. All this sport climbing has turned me into a wuss! I ended the morning on a high note though by cruising a 10b finger crack, which I felt a lot more confident on, I reckon it would get E2 5c back in the UK.

Dom bearing down on Its About Time V6

After lunch Micah and I hit the boulders while Tony and Laura headed back for more trad action, I think they managed to climb the whole day on only 5 star (out of 5) routes! Micah and I started out with a quick send of the hard V4 Timeless, then over to It's About Time one of the best boulder problems in the forest in my opinion. I had done the V5 start of It's About Time before, but was still working on the V6 hanging start. Micah dispatched the V5 second go, then we worked on the V6 start. Micah did the V6 start pretty quickly afterward with a lot of me shouting in his ear to stay on. And he returned the favor shortly afterwards, shouting encouragement at me when I sent it. We were feeling good at sending a V4, V5 then V6, so decided to up it a notch and try some V7's. First was Anubis a steep 2 move power problem, we could do the first move, but gave up on the second move slapping to a cheese grater sloper, we decided that it wasn't worth the pain. We moved on to a slightly less painful V7 Airtight Garage. This problem had been my nemesis this summer, I had gotten close so many times. I don't even like the problem, its just that I'm so close I feel obliged to finish it off. But after an hour or repetedly falling off we decided it wasn't very fun and moved on with much less skin than we started with. Eating fries that night was a bit painful on our tender tips.

Micah flashing the classic lowball The Mantis (V4)

The next morning micah and I bouldered again while Laura and Tony tradded it up. Micah was low on power and couldn't finish of Holmboy, I guess it'll have to wait til next time. WE then got on a V7 I had been recommended called Immunity Challege in the Survivor area. It is such a sweet line, it take a line of micro basalt crimps on a steep boulder. Its long for a squamish problem as well, 12 hard moves with little rest. At first I didn't think I could hang the crimps, but I fought through the pain and within an hour I had all the moves sussed I just had to link them all. We were low on time and I knew my skin could only take one more good attempt, I screamed my way through the opening crimps with micah shouting at me to stay on. I latched the lip of the boulder, made the crux throw up to the good crimp, but just couldn't hold on for the cross-through to the jug, just one move off! I knew that was it for me I guess it'll have to wait til next trip, maybe next year. But at least I have something to look forward to eh? Definitely an inspiring line.

Dom sticks the sloper on Airtight Garage V7

We got some lunch then we all headed out for a group boulder session, just doing some easier stuff V2's and 3's, and Micah got a couple more V5's to top off the weekend. We made the obligatory stop off at the Wigan Pier for the best Fish and Chips this side of the Atlantic before we headed home. We were back in Olympia by 2am. All in all a good weekend!

Also Congrats to Nick who finally sent his long term project Chain Reation 12c (7b+) this weekend down at Smith!