Chasing the Shade at Tieton

Well if the theme of last weekends trip to Tieton was dodging the rain, then this weekend it was seeking the shade. Micah and I decided to head back out there just the two of us since there was still so many crags there we wanted to check out. Laura couldn't make it this time because she had already committed to play a gig with her band this weekend. We left Oly around 4pm on Friday, and had just enough daylight when we arrived to get in a couple of pitches at Lava Point. Micah managed to onsight an 11d there, which is a big deal for him, it was good to see Micah keep his cool on the onsight. We set up camp at a sweet free spot we scoped out last week and got a raging fire started when our friends Greg and Sarah arrived.

Saturday morning we decided to take Greg and Sarah up to Lava Point, we figured it was a good intro to Tieton. They got in a couple of pitches each despite suffering from giardia. Unfortunately we couldn't stay there long since it the cliff was basking in the sun, the guidebook lied and said its shady til noon. Micah and I did get in another 11d though, a hard bouldery start to a cruiser finish, we both sent it second go. After a midday siesta we headed up to a new crag South Fork. The approach was a lot more involved than we expected, it took about 45 minutes from our campsite most of that on dirt roads. It didn't leave too much time for climbing which was too bad cause this cliff is amazing. Its 100+ft tall and gently overhanging, very reminiscent of Word Wall I at Little Si, but maybe even more inspiring. Micah and I warmed up then got on a sweet 14 clip 11b which Micah onsighted. There were a few projects with hanging draws to the right that looked in the 5.12 range but we just didn't have enough time to check them out if we wanted to get back to the car before dark. Definitely a wall to come back to.

Sunday morning we said bye to Greg and Sarah, and headed down the road to check out another new crag, Rainbow Rocks. The guidebook describes the approach as 20 minutes hike up a game trail, which is seriously misleading. I would describe it as a 45 minute slog up loose rubble, it was brutal. When we finally got to the cliff I wasn't even psyched to climb. The climbs were decent I guess, I would probably go back if it were roadside. We got a few pitches in before the sun hit and we hiked/slid/fell back down the slope. In the afternoon we headed up to Honeycomb Buttress to get on the 5.13 project there that was in the shade. I got on it and was immediately impressed, the first move is a huge reach (or dyno) from jug to jug, then its 3 clips of powerful yet intricate 5.12 climbing with strenuous clips, at the forth bolt there are a series of bad slopers on an overhang with no feet. I hung a lot here and couldn't pull off the moves, after that there are a few more hard big moves then another 5 clips or so of sustained 5.11+ climbing which feels pretty hard when you're pumped. We worked it for a couple of hours and I managed all the moves on it except for the heinous sloper sequence at the 4th bolt, definitely an inspiring line and one to come back to when I'm stronger. Micah wanted to get in another climb so headed up a nasty 11b slab which he pitched off of below the chains, I went up to finish it and just barely held on, it wasn't pretty. That evening we decided would be our last here so we collected a ton of firewood and got a raging fire going, I had an 18 pack of Keystone Ice we had to get through, we made a valiant effort but it was probably a good thing for our climbing that we couldn't finish them all.

Monday morning we woke up surprisingly sober, the cooler temps and refreshing breeze helped. We packed up and headed out to The Cave climbing area. The Cave is a sweet crag that has three distinct walls, all of which are good, and hard no matter what the ratings say. Micah struggled up a 5.8 and fell off an 11a, while I had a battle with a 10b, I got up it but I swear it must be a typo in the guidbook it felt 11b at least. The Oak Wall was in the shade so Micah picked out a hard looking 12a to go for the onsight of. The bouldery crux was low on this climb and you could stick clip the first bolt. Micah screamed his way up it, I was sure he was coming off on every move, but he held it together for the onsight! Probably his hardest onsight to date, to say he was pleased would be an understatement! We finished up the day with a couple more 11's, there are still plenty more to get on here, some of which look absolutely amazing. All in all it was a productive trip I got in 20 new routes which takes my tally for the year up to 188 and counting. Below are some photos from the trip that I'm too lazy to caption, so you can make up your own captions.

Dodging the rain at Tieton

I couldn't believe it had been 3 years since I was last at Tieton with Laura and Doug. For one because it doesn't seem like I've been living in the States for that long, and for two becasue the climbing there is so good, I shouldn't have waited so long to get back there. Micah, Laura and I headed out there on Thursday night for a 4 day weekend. On Friday we sampled the great rock at Lava Point, its a type of textured basalt with lots of small grippy edges, and small gas pockets. We warmed up on a 10a, then Micah put the draws up on an 11a, which Laura promptly flashed, it was some tricky climbing up to a really reachy move, to some more tricky climbing. We got 4 routes in before it started drizzling, the dampness only lasted a few minutes, but we took the opportunity to head back to the campsite to have some lunch.

Micah warming up at Lava Point

In the afternoon, we went to Honeycomb Butress, see Micah's blog for some great photos of this crag. The crag has horizontal pillars piled on top on each other that keep going up for over a hundred feet. We warmed up on an 11a slab, then I climbed a 2 pitch 11c 11a linking it into one monster pitch that was pretty full on. Next up was the 12a slab there, which I managed to onsight without too much difficulty. Micah also got it on the flash. The crag is also home to one of the most inspirational lines I've ever seen, an overhanging blocky arete with a lot of bad holds and the occasional jug. its listed as a 5.13 project in the guide, but it has hanging draws on it now and it looks very doable, I didn't get on it this trip, but it feels like I have given the amount of time I've spent thinking about it. We finished off the day at the Beehive across the road where Laura onsighted a 10d! At this point we were feeling we accomlished quite a lot for the day so headed back to the campsite for a raging campfire.

On Saturday our friends from Olympia, Erica Melody Sarah and Caitlin joined us, but they brought the rain along with them. It was really wet, we had no chance of climbing so we headed to Yakima for some wine tasting instead, so the day wasn't a complete write-off. The next day was more of the same weather-wise, I felt pretty bad inviting the girls out here just to have it rain all weekend. Laura and the girls went out for a walk in the rain while Micah and I moped around the campsite. In the afternoon the clouds parted very briefly and we got a call from Laura saying she spotted dry rock further down the valley. So we picked her up and ran up the hill to a crag called The Oasis, the other girls were skeptical anything was going to be dry so it was just the three of us. I literally ran up the first route a fun10c, grey clouds were looming above us so we didn't know how long we'd have. We did get a little rain, but we found a climb that stays completely dry in the rain called King Tut's Tomb, it was an 11a and one of the best climbs I've done at the grade, or maybe we were just so happy to be climbing that day. Laura managed the flash of that route and onsighted a long 10c afterwards, spirits were so much higher than just a couple hours earlier. We were headed back down the hill as dusk approached, when we realised that we can't pass up a dry moment like this so we ran up one last long 5.9. It almost turned into an epic involving stuck rope, loose rock and downclibing in the dark, but we all managed to get up and down it safely and headed back to the campsite. When we got to the campsite the girls had packed up and decided to cut their losses and head back to Olympia. We decided to wait it out and hope for more dry weather on Monday.

Micah on King Tut's Tomb at The Oasis.

The Fan Route on Jack-O-Lantern Wall that we squeezed before it got dark

It was a good decision, Monday morning we woke up to sunny blue skies. We headed back out to Lava Point and got in a bunch more routes. Laura managed to lead her second ever 11b, on her second go, a crimpy technical masterpiece called Long Strange Clip, this was now officially her most successful trip ever. I think the key for her was taking a fall at Nevermind a couple of weeks ago that has done wonders for her lead head. Six amazing routes at Lava Point later we decided to hang up the ropes and finish off the day bouldering at the Caldera.

Me onsighting a juggy 11d at Lava Point

The photos of the bouldering in the guide looked really good and we were not dissapointed. The Caldera is one of most scenic areas I've bouldered at and its only a 5 minute walk-in. The rock quality is variable from great, to a bit snappy, and there is not a huge amount of harder boulders, but we had fun climbing on the established problems, I think I did 2 V0's, a V1, a V2, 2 V3's, a V4 and a V5. It was great way to finish off the trip. Reading through the guide book back at home I realised how much more there is to check out, so expect to hear more trip reports from Tieton this fall.

Laura bouldering on the Nakedness Boulder at The Caldera

Micah on a fun V1 arete

Group Shot

Here's a cool photo I stole off of Erica's Facebook page of our group that got out climbing on Sunday.

We went to Exit 38, it was a pretty chill day, I think most of us were still recovering from Sarah's birthday party the night before. Nevertheless we got a lot done. I got in some good 5.10's and 11's that I hadn't done before at Nevermind. Laura did a new 10b, c, and d in a day. Melody led her first 5.9, and Bill showed us how it was done with some relaxed flashes and onsights of everything he tried up to 12a. Its been really fun to go out climbing with more people and a more varied group this summer. I hope we have more days like Sunday. Here is another photo I took on Sunday of Laura at Nevermind.

Payday at Little Si

Yesterday felt like a payday at Little Si. All my work on I have put in on Californicator this summer (and last) finally paid off with the send. In the end it didn't feel that hard, its funny how something can change from feeling absolutely desperate to not that bad at all.

Laura and I decided to head out to Little Si just the two of us, since we were up in Seattle for the weekend anyway. We warmed up in the woods area, where we ran into Andrew, his girlfriend, Eric and Jimmy, and Micah and his brother and cousin. It felt like half of Olympia was out at the crag. Laura's main objective of the day was to get on Violent Phlegms, an 11b that she had toproped a week ago, and felt pretty good on, potentially her first ever 11b lead? I put the rope up and she toproped it again, rehearsing the moves and the clips, she said it felt a lot harder than she had remembered, but it is 11b so it should feel pretty hard. When she was happy with her beta she pulled the rope and tied into the sharp end. She got off to a shaky start at the first crux, where she almost came off on a greasy hold, but she held on and kept climbing. This climb is fairly sustained, there are about 4 crux sections you have to battle through and its not over til you latch the jug at the end. It looked like she was off again after she almost barndoored at the last clip, but she got it clean. Way to go! It was her hardest ever lead, and it was a long time coming having already done 11 11a's in the last couple of years, a well deserved send.

After Laura's big send it was my turn to get on my project so we headed up to WWI and I hopped straight on Californicator. On my first go the moves flowed really well and I floated up it without overgripping or feeling too pumped, I got to the typewriter hold feeling good, crimped hard on the smiley face hold, crossed through to the sidepull, but my feet weren't set up right and I barndoored off. I really thought that was the go. I clipped the chains in one hang came down and rested for another attempt. On my next go I wasn't quite feeling as smooth, and had to try a bit harder to stay on, I got to the typewriter hold, made sure my feet were right, crossed into the sidepull, got my feet up, made a couple of crimpy moves and latched the jug rest. I knew I had it in the bag, just another 3 clips of 11b-ish climbing, I wanted to make sure though so shook out on the jug for a good 5-10 minutes, its such a good jug its hard not to hang out on it and recover. By the time I left the jug I was feeling totally recovered and the top part felt easier than it had ever felt before. I got to the chains, and it was kind of an anti-climax, I didn't even feel that pumped, so I shouted down to Laura "I'm going for the extension". The extension Californication (13a) is the top part of Technorigine, a climb I had done a couple years ago, but hadn't really got on it since, its basically another 4 clips of pumpy 12c climbing. I shook out on the jug at the Californicator chains for a couple of minutes then busted up into the 12c climbing. I was able to remember the moves pretty well and it wasn't as bad as I had expected, I made the first and second clips then kept on fighting through the steep terrain to the third, and fourth clip, I was getting pretty pumped by this point, but I could see the chains just ahead. I just had a few crimpy moves to get through, but I couldn't remember the sequence at all and the holds felt pretty bad, I tried to pull through, but I got spat off. Oh well, I can't really complain, I wasn't even planning on going for the extension so its really just a bonus to get that far. Now I have to decide whether its worth the effort to put in more work to finish off Californication or move on to Chronic, or give Little Si a break and check out other crags. My routes score on my scorecard is looking pretty good now, so I feel like I have more options for what I want to do next, its a good place to be.

The view of Californicator from below.

Back on Top

Yesterday I had a great day out at Ozone. It was hard to find partners to to go with, so it ended up just me, Jimmy and Eric, from the climbing team. It was Eric's first time doing routes outdoors, I kind of felt bad for him knowing that most of the day was going to be me and Jimmy projecting 5.12s. But he had a great time, he got on quite a few routes including his first lead, a 13 clip long 5.8 called No Nuts, and got a taste of some cracks on toprope.

My main objective of the day was to go for the onsight of Grace the 12b there. On my last trip there I had gone around the corner when Jimmy was working the 12d which shares some of the same moves so I wouldn't see any of the beta. I'm glad I did because I managed the onsight! It was a battle, the first part took a lot out of me then I figured out an opposing heelhook sequence to get through the main crux, and from there I was able to keep the pump at bay before I clipped the chains. It was a really good route, maybe the best I've done at Ozone so far.

I also tried the 12d, which isn't too bad, but has a very powerful crux that I couldn't do. And I went for the onsight of Angle of the Dangle, the 12c roof crack. I got up to the the crack and was feeling good, but at that point there is a fixed micro cam that you have to clip that protects the crux. I was very weary about falling on the cam since it looked pretty frayed and unsafe, I ended up just pulling on the gear to get past this part, and I got to the chains. Its a shame there isn't a bolt on the roof instead of the fixed cam, cause I felt I could have committed and really gone for the onsight. Jimmy decided to go for the flash since he saw me manage all the moves. He got up to the roof clipped the fixed cam, but couldn't commit either, he decided to just lower off the cam and clean the draws below. Just as he cleaned the last draw and was about ten feet off the deck the cam snapped! He landed on top of Eric who was belaying him, luckily they were both fine, but I'm glad I didn't commit to the crux and fall on that cam. I inspected the piece that broke and it was actually the wire stem that severed, I guess it was rubbing against the edge of the crack, it didn't look in good shape when I saw it up close on the route. The head of the cam is still stuck up in the crack, which blocks any other gear from going in there, I hope someone just sticks a bolt up in the roof, fixed gear on routes is whack.

Me on Angle of the Dangle

What was left of the cam after Jimmy decked on it

After that our motivation was pretty low, but I led a fun 5.9 trad finger crack, and Jimmy flashed Grace the 12b, and gave the 12d another burn. The 12b flash for Jimmy will help his score on 8a a bit, but my onsight of that route, and with the 12a onsight I got at Little Si on Sunday and the 12a I onsighted at Squamish last week has put me back at the #1 spot in Olympia in the route rankings on 8a.nu. We both still have some room for improvement, so we'll see what happens between now and the end of the year, no doubt it will be close!

Slipping on a Banana Peel

I started writing about my accident on the route Banana Peel (8 pitch 5.7) at Squamish on my last blog, but it took up most of the post, so I thought I write about it separately, so it doesn't overshadow the rest of a great trip. I was climbing the route with Sarah, and we were making good progress, Sarah was doing great considering her lack of experience on multi-pitch routes. We were about half way up the route and I was linking the 5th and 6th pitches together. I figured I could just about manage to link them with with a 60m rope, but I didn't quite make it. At the top of the 6th pitch after some 5.7 climbing I placed a bomber hex under a flake then ran it out up a blank slab. I was almost within reaching distance of the big tree on a ledge to belay from but I ran out of rope so I put a sling around a tree root and decided to belay from there until I could climb up a few feet higher to the more secure tree. Sarah took me off belay and started climbing up. When I had a few feet slack I pulled up on the tree root (which was about the same thickness as a steering wheel, so pretty chunky) that I was slinged into to get up to the tree. One second I was pulling on this seemingly solid root, the next I was flying backwards down the slab, the root had broken off in my hand! I wasn't clipped into anything now, and I wasn't on belay but I was still tied in. I didn't have much time to react, my instinct was just to reach my hands out and try to catch on to something, and luckily the angle of the slab wasn't too steep and I was able to create enough friction to stop myself on the slab, I fell about 20 feet total. If I hadn't been able to stop myself, I would have kept on falling past my last piece of gear, another 10ft below when the rope would go tight on Sarah, for a total fall of something like 60ft. I probably would have been fine, but it would have been very scary. As it happened when I came to a stop my right arm was scraped up and I had a nasty flapper on the tip of my thumb that was bleeding a lot, but other than that I was fine. I regained my composure, assessed my injuries and figured the best plan was to try to get back up to the tree ledge and continue up the route, there were just two 5.4 pitches left. I belayed Sarah up from the big tree, and when she got up to the ledge, she could see all the blood on my hand and my spooked expression. I didn't explain to her exactly what happened then, I figured it would be better to explain when we got off the route. I think she could tell that I just wanted to get up and off the climb at that point. The next two pitches were fine, I was able to climb them without really having to use my thumb. When we got to the top, Nick and Erica were up there, having just finished their adjacent route Diedre, so I filled them and Sarah in on what happened.

My thumb, the next day after I cleaned it up.

I learned a few things from this accident. 1) Don't be so complacent on easy routes, most accidents happen not from the difficulty of the climbing but from other factors. 2) Place lots of runners even on easy terrain. Luckily I was climbing with Sarah and I placed lots of runners to protect the second. When I did the same route the day before with Nick I placed a lot less gear, including the bomber hex I would have fallen on. If I had fallen all the way with the gear I had in the day previous it could have been a 100ft fall. 3) Don't trust tree roots so much, especially after a record breaking dry summer. 4) Don't try to link pitches to save time, when your not sure if your rope will make it.

I also think I made a few good decisions on this accident that are worth mentioning as well. When I fell I instinctively tried to reach out and grab anything to stop the fall, that was a good reaction that saved me taking a much bigger fall. After the fall I was able to maintain my composure and think through what to do next rationally, I think a common reaction after taking that fall would be to panic which wouldn't have helped in this situation. And my decision to continue up the route was the right choice, rappelling off from this high on a route with two other groups below and with another climber inexperienced in rappelling is just asking for another accident to happen.


In retrospect I'm almost glad I had this accident, I have climbed for a long time without any serious mishaps, it reminds me that I'm not invincible. I feel liked I learned a lot more from falling on this route, than I would have had I climbed it without incident. Here is an quote I heard recently that seems appropriate: 'Good judgment comes from experience and experience comes from bad judgment' - Fred Brooks.

1 pair of shorts, 2 t-shirts and 5 days in Squamish

Space was tight as Nick, Jimmy and I packed into Erica's car on Friday heading up to Squamish BC, so I kept my gear to a minimum. Somehow we managed to fit everything in the car, piled on top of peoples laps and under their feet. I got the best seat in the car as the driver so I didn't have to worry about being crushed under all our gear. We got pulled over at the border and questioned, but luckily they didn't search the car, that would have been a huge hassle to have to repack. Eventually we made it up to Squamish around midnight where we met Laura, Melody and Sarah who left a little before us. Saturday started out pretty mellow with a tour of the boulders in the forest, I was happy to show people around some of the classics and repeat some easier stuff. Then in the afternoon we cooled off in Murren Lake and did a few routes as well, the highlight was an intense technical 11c granite sport climb called James and the Giant Reach. Nick onsighted it and I was happy to use his beta on the flash, it was hard.

Sunday morning we headed out to the Smoke Bluffs, to do some easy trad, I led Burgers and Fries a classic 5.7 that shouldn't be underestimated given its run out slab finish. Then in the afternoon, we went back to Murren Park and did some trad routes up on the Sugarloaf, which is a nice but busy little crag. I managed to onsight a 10c trad route, but my gear placements were not the best, so I was a little disappointed. At that point it was getting late, and Laura and Melody had to drive back down to Olympia, I was glad that I still had a lot more time up here, I felt like I was just getting warmed up.

Monday morning Nick and I got up early to climb a route called the Ultimate Everything Link Up. Its the longest route on the Chief since it starts right at the bottom of the Apron and tops out at the Second Peak. We started out on a 3 pitch 5.9 route at the base of the Apron called The Bottom Line, then linked up into the 8 pitch Banana Peel which I had done before. We were making pretty good time despite Nick going off route a couple of times and were up on Broadway Ledge about 2 and a half hours in. We had strung a couple of pitches together and simul-climbed a little bit to cut down on time. From here we did Broomstick Crack a really cool 2 pitch 5.7 route to get to the base of the upper headwall. The pitches were not too difficult, they were nearly all trad, with a few bolts to protect the blank parts.

Nick and I on Broadway Ledge 11 pitches down 12 to go

Me starting up Broomstick Crack about half way up

The upper headwall was a lot of fun the climbing got a little steeper, but still relatively easy. We made it up to the very last pitch clean with no real problems and were feeling good. The book describes the last pitch as the crux pitch, going free at 11c, or it can be aided at 5.9 A0. It was Nick's turn to lead so he gave it a shot, he ditched the gear and just took a few draws since the guide showed it had a few bolts, but in retrospect he should have brought some cams to protect the runouts between the bolts, nevertheless he made it up to the crux, where the wall got steep and the holds got small, he worked his way up on tiny crimps, then his feet popped, he tried to hold on tight but he came off and fell on the bolt. He was obviously a little disappointed, but 11c is hard to onsight especially after 7 hours straight of climbing. He came down, we pulled the rope, and I tied into the sharp end. The plan was that I would try to free it, but if I couldn't I would just pull on the bolts and aid past the hard part. I made my way up the wall, placing gear between the bolts, I got up to where Nick was and felt the crimps Nick was grappling with, they weren't good, but about a foot to the right there was a decent crimpy layback, I pulled on that, got my feet up high on the crimps, rocked over on my foot, and reached up high left hoping there would be something there. There were a few slopey holds above that were just good enough then a good jug rail which I followed up to the summit and chain anchors. Nick followed up, able to toprope it clean using my beta, he said it was still pretty hard though. We highfived and untied, it felt good to bask in the sun at the summit, and the tourists who had hiked up there seemed very impressed when they saw us come up 'the hard way'. Our total time up the route was 7 hours 16 minutes, but I'm sure I could cut at least an hour off that if I were to do it again now that I know where I'm going.

Nick at a belay anchor only a couple of pitches from the top

The view at the summit of the Chief, from Second Peak looking towards the busy First Peak

We were feeling pretty worn out after that, but we got back to the campsite about 3.30 in the afternoon so had plenty of time to get out climbing again. We decided to check out The Sanctuary a small area described in the guide book as having Cheakamus-like sport climbing close to the Smoke Bluffs. When we got there I was pleasantly impressed, it was very similar rock to the exit 32/38 rock of North Bend, with about 15 routes between 10b and 12d. I did a couple of the 10b's to warm up again, then fired into the onsight of Morpheus a 12a. It was tough, and I had to work hard, but I managed to onsight it, my first 12a onsight in Squamish after trying 4 routes here of that grade. It was a great route, a little steep, fingery, technical and thin. I was pretty worn out after that route so we went back to the campsite for dinner then The Howe Sound Brew Pub for a pint, where we met Tony. I had arranged with Tony to meet up with him up here on Monday, so was glad to see him when he sauntered in to the Pub. I climbed a lot with Tony back in 2007, but since then we haven't gotten back climbing together again, so it was good to catch up with him in the pub where we all made plans to head up the Apron the next day.

Tony leading the last pitch of Banana Peel

Tuesday morning we got an earlyish start and Nick and Erica headed up Diedre, while me and Sarah paired up and Jimmy and Tony paired up to go up the 8 pitch 5.7 Banana Peel. Sarah had very little experience climbing multipitch so I was a little concerned for her, but I needn't have been, she did great. In fact it was me that I should have watched out for. I've written about the accident I had on this route as a different blog post, cause I have a lot to say about it and I didn't want it to detract from this post. Tony and Jimmy did great on this route, they shared leads on it and made it up the route soon after us. It was a big route for both of them, since neither of them had a ton of multipitch trad experience. After our experience on the Apron I think we all wanted to get on something a little less intimidating, so we headed up the road to do some single pitch sport climbing up at Cheakamus Canyon. I couldn't really pull hard with my injured thumb, but I still managed a hard 11a, and some easier stuff, and was a good cheerleader when Nick and Jimmy got on some hard stuff. Nick tried The Fleeing Heifer the classic 12c at Chek, he got to the chains with a lot of hangs, but managed to figure out the sequence. Jimmy was watching Nick on it and fancied a flash attempt since he was feeling pretty good. He hopped on and with me and Nick shouting beta to him he made it past the crux and continued up for the flash! It was a pleasure to watch Jimmy on this, he climbed it really well and it was great to see him climbing at his potential. It was by far his hardest flash to date, before this his hardest was just 12a. Once we were all done there we headed back to the campsite to finish off the last of our boxed wine.

Jimmy flashing The Fleeing Heifer 12c!

Wednesday was our last day in Squamish, and Tony and I wanted to make the most of it by doing some classic trad climbing at the Smoke Bluffs. We started out on Cat Crack a great 5.7 that Tony got an unfortunate bruise under his eye after pulling on a big nut to test it and it flying out and hitting him in the face. I managed to onsight a tough 10b crack climb called S-M's Delight, it was challenging for me cause it was a long sustained route that had all kinds of crack climbing from thin fingers to wide hand crack, it was a good confidence booster. We did a couple other nice routes after that, but it was soon time to go back to the camp to meet up with the rest of the guys to pack up. I felt that Tony and I could have just kept on climbing at the Smoke Bluffs all day. We managed to pack everything back into the two cars and headed on back down the road. Part of me wanted to get back home to shower, tend to my wounds, and recover from some food poisoning that was creeping up on me fast from eating some raw sausages. But there was another part of me that wanted to tell the rest of the crew to go on without me, I could fend for myself up here. I'm glad I home now and recovered, but I can't wait to get back up on the granite at Squamish.

Tony on the left leading Classic Crack 5.8 on our last day in Squamish