On Monday morning, Laura and I set off up the road for the first Squamish trip of the summer, Nick and Andrew, a new friend from the gym joined us. We made good time arriving up at Squamish in the early afternoon, and were surprised to find plenty of empty campsites, we later found out this was due to the new camping fee policy there, the site which cost us $9 a night last summer now costs $20 a night for the 4 of us, no wonder there are less dirtbag climbers spending their whole summer there now. We headed straight out to the boulders where we got on some easy classics, it was Andrews first time in Squamish and first time bouldering outside so we showed him some good ones to get started on, he managed to redpoint a V2, which is no easy feat in Squamish. I got on Airtight Garage a V7 that I have been trying for the last 3 summers, I really hate this problem but for some reason I feel the need to keep throwing myself at it because I always feel soo close on it. This time I got even closer than ever, pulling up on the good crimp going for the top, but true to form it kept spitting me off. After about an hour trying this problem I decided to cut my losses and move on. I think its time to forget about this problem, I always loose so much skin trying it, and its just not a fun boulder problem so I’ve decided never to try it again, if anyone ever sees me trying it they have my permission to pull me off it. We wrapped up our little bouldering session soon afterwards and decided to head out to the Smoke Bluffs for some trad action. This was much more fun and relaxed, I led five fun trad routes from 5.7 to 10b, my favorite by far was a route called Neat and Cool, a 10a trad route that starts out steep with some awesome face holds and great gear, and doesn’t really have any hard moves, but will get you pumped if you’re the type of climber that gets pumped, but as I explained to Andrew, I’m not that type of climber. It is probably one of my all time favorite routes. If you can lead 10a trad then you have got to get on this route. We wrapped up the climbing soon after that, as it was starting to get dark so we returned to the campsite, with a good feeling of accomplishment for the first day.
Andrew trying to stick the crux throw of Option B (V2)
Nick cruising a 5.8 at the Smoke Bluffs
Andrew approaching the crux of Pixie Corner his first 5.8 trad lead
The next day we woke up, had some breakfast then headed up the road to Cheakamus Canyon, to do some sport climbing. When we got out of the car we were blown away by the heat, the radio said it was going to reach 30 degrees Celsius, I forgot what that translated to exactly (just checked its 86 degrees F) but I knew it was pretty warm. We struggled in the heat but we managed to get up a few routes by sticking to the shade. The Well of Souls was cooler so we did a few routes there, Nick and I tried a really cool looking 12c called Timber Queen, it climbed really well til one stopper move near the top but we weren’t able to link this move. I really wanted to go for the onsight of a couple of 12a’s there. Of the 6 12a’s I’ve tried this year I’ve onsighted or flashed them all so thought I had a pretty good chance, but a combination of hot temperatures and cryptic sequences shut me down, so I had to settle for second go send of the two that I tried. I gave Nick running beta on one of them and he managed the flash, the 12a’s there are no walk in the park. Andrew and Laura managed a couple of impressive sends as well despite the heat, Andrew managed to flash a tough 10d at the Well of Souls and Laura managed an onsight of a 10d at foundation wall, nice job! On our way back from Cheakamus we stopped off at Wigan Pier a British style fish and chips restaurant, it was soo good, its run by a British expat so it tastes just like fish and chips from back home, I got cod and chips, a steak and kidney pie and an irn-bru, it was well worth it. After dinner we weren't feeling to motivated to climb but we had an hour or so of daylight so bouldered a bit in the forest before calling it a day.
Me on the amazing route Neat & Cool, 5.10 trad at the Smoke Bluffs
Me climbing in the sun
On Wednesday Andrew and Nick had planned to get up at 6am to beat the crowds to Diedre a super popular 5.8 multipitch up the Apron. Laura and I had already done that climb so planned on going up Banana Peel an 8-pitch 5.7 next to it which isn't quite as popular so we figured we'd get up at a much more reasonable 7.30. We got up had a bite to eat and headed up towards the climb. On our approach we saw them only a pitch up the wrong climb! We shouted up at them that they were on the wrong climb. They rapped down and waited in line for Diedre, but by this point there were a few parties ahead of them so they had to wait for quite a while. Our climb was a lot of fun, it only had a couple of sections of 5.7 climbing, the rest was running it out on easy slabs. Laura and I climbed really efficiently together, and Laura even led the last pitch to the top. We got back to the campsite around 11 had lunch, packed up the campsite, listened to the radio took a nap and waited for Nick and Andrew to get back. We waited and waited and eventually at 2.30 they made it back to the campsite, they were ok, it just took them a long time being stuck behind a few groups. By the time they had lunch and packed it was getting close to our leaving time, and it was way too hot to get on anything, so we drove down to Murin Park to go for a swim in the lake. It was a great way to finish off the trip. There was a lot of stuff I wanted to do that I just didn't have time for, but I will be back soon!
Laura takes a seat to place gear on the last pitch of Banana Peel on the Apron
Me and Nick cool off in Murrin Lake before we head home
No comments:
Post a Comment