First One Day Ascent of the Aid Route on the Sheriff's Badge

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wayne w

Trad climber

the nw

Topic Author's Original Post - Jul 14, 2018 - 07:53am PT

This is the longer version, (than what they posted on their website) of a piece that I wrote for Paradox Sports. They improve lives through adaptive climbing opportunities that defy convention. Please consider helping them with a donation or volunteering.
At 6:30 AM, on June 26th of this year, I met up with my friends Kieran Brownie and Luke Cormier for my 8th long route on the Chief, in Squamish B.C. Our objective was the seldom done Aid line that goes up the middle of the imposing Sheriff's Badge. Kieran chose the route due to its steep and overhanging nature, for which I am much better suited for than many of the slabby low angle pitches that dominate so many routes on this stone. (The latter require me to essentially drag myself up much of the way). The challenge of trying to be the first team to do it in a day, (that we are aware of), was an additional motivating factor. In 1999 my friend Chris Geisler and his partner were on a pace that would have seen them break the 24-hour mark, but Chris took a fifty-foot fall, and in addition to other injuries, suffered a broken leg. That this was going to be my 40th big wall and was transpiring on the 20th anniversary of my first Chief ascent added even more of a sense of meaning to the equation. Milestones like those can be easily taken for granted. Not for myself, however. I have worked far too hard, in an effort to overcome inconceivable adversity for each decade of my life to see what we were doing on this day, in the middle of my 65th year on the planet, as anything ordinary or commonplace. Paralytic Polio at nine months of age, my constant and challenging companion Post Polio Syndrome, which I have dealt with since I was 9 years of age, surgeries related to the Polio throughout my childhood and beyond, cars hitting me as I rode my motorcycles and bicycle, and more than a few mean-spirited people who have intentionally assaulted me, have collectively made each and every day a significant challenge. But for having known so much adversity, all the more do I appreciate the many blessings in my life. Not the least of which is having partners and friends like Luke and Kieran, without whom I would not be afforded the opportunity to venture high off the ground and find out what I am capable of.
For anything besides sleeping, I am required to wear braces on both wrists, knees, an AFO on my right foot, and an ankle brace for my left foot, because of the amount of atrophy caused by the Polio and Post Polio Syndrome, and the deleterious effects of so many past injuries. To climb, I employ a jumar clipped between my sit and chest harness. My top jumar is attached to my left foot by a Yates Speed Stirrup, and a daisy chain that is girth hitched to my sit harness. Skateboard elbow and knee and elbow pads are also an essential part of what allows me to make vertical progress without taking off layers of my epidermis, or worse. And, my tricky GI tract does not make things any easier. As I explained to Kieran at the start of the route, 'I can be on the ground, in pain and suffering in various ways, or I can be reveling in the magic of this experience while I suffer a bit more.' An easy trade-off that is always reinforced every time I get off the deck with the right partners. And for this ascent, my partners could not have been any more compassionate and selfless, or more psyched to be up there with me. It is in these moments that I find myself feeling like one of the most fortunate people to have ever lived. Paraphrasing Walter Bonatti; 'Climbing is just a mechanism for us to dig deep into our souls to find our real Spirit of peace and joy.' For myself it is this, and so very much more. Without the seductive call of the Big Walls and my desire to be up there, I would never found the motivation to have come back from the legions of major setbacks that have been such a big part of the decades that have been the road map of my life. Once I had diagnosed myself with Post Polio Syndrome, after having lived with the effects for decades, I sought advice from a PPS specialist in San Francisco in 1991. He told me in no uncertain terms that were I to continue climbing and living an active lifestyle, that my right arm would soon be hanging by my side useless, and in trying to illustrate his point in his exam, caused weakness in my right arm that took me many years to recover from. His recommendation was for me to begin riding around in a power chair, stop exercising, and never think of climbing again. There were many times in the subsequent months that I wondered, could he be right? Should I really listen to this advice that would change my life in such a drastic and crushing manner? I ended up doing the opposite of what he suggested, and not only is my right arm stronger than it has ever been in addition, I have managed to rebuild my body after the ensuing major injuries that followed, which left me barely able to walk for many years. That I now have more muscle on many areas of my body than ever before is mainly because of my diligent and fairly brutal training regimen. Diet and rest are also essential components, as is mindfulness. Which makes everything that I do, not easy, but easier than if I did not have that muscle to compensate for the areas where there is little or none.
As we hiked our way up to the base of the Sheriff's badge, I used every one of those muscles and all of the tricks that I have learned to compensate for the areas of my body that are bereft of muscle. The forest below the Badge is an enchanting place, with boulders scattered about that were once part of the wall above -a reminder of the impermanence of things, and the one thing that we can always count on, change. The challenge for me on the way up was to attempt to remain in as physically static a state as possible. A fall on any of the tricky sections, not minor challenges for me to navigate, would have meant the end of our day, and another period of recovery for me. That knowledge kept my focus razor sharp and allowed me to move through each hazardous section without even a stumble - alternately using my poles to propel myself where it was feasible, and setting them down to grab branches, crimp features on boulders and crawl climb areas where it wasn't.

Arriving at the base of the route and looking up at the many difficult pitches, and the imposing roof high above is likely part of the reason that this incredible line may only see an ascent every other year. In spite of the thousands of climbers who visit Squamish every summer these days. There was a tricky bit for me to get to the start of the first pitch, so Luke led it, and trailing my rope behind him, fixed it for me to jug up through the trees to where the route starts in earnest. Our spirits were high, and smiles were plastered all over our collective faces. Luke dispatched the 5.6 pitch that starts off the route quickly and mentioned something about things getting more serious from here on. The A2 pitch that came next was a beauty. Luke was styling it with confidence, sending down monkey calls, and as he got higher, asking for more gear to be tagged up. It was then that Kieran realized that somehow our rack was a little light. Oops. A call to Paul McSorley in town was answered, and he was at the base with the gear that we would need to complete our ascent in short order, saving the day. Thanks again for that kindness, Paul! Luke slowed down a bit on the A3 pitch that came next. This one had big fall potential, but Luke was up to the challenge and looked solid from start to finish.

The sun was getting higher in the sky, but we were blessed with cloud cover, and cool enough temps to require me to put on a light jacket when the wind picked up. This was a far cry from conditions during my summer ascents on El Capitan. On one, two summers ago, the mercury had soared to 107°! One of my partners for that one was the late Tim Klein, a dear friend who passed away as the result of a fall on June 2nd on El Cap, along with another friend, Jason Wells. It would have been Tim's 107th ascent of El Cap, all in under 24 hours. Luke and Kieran had also lost a very close friend this year, Marc-Andre Leclerc, swept away by an avalanche after having summited a new route on the North Face of the Mendenhall Tower in Alaska. Throughout the climb, we told stories about their bold adventures, the incredible people that they were, and what profoundly positive effects that they had had on our, and so many others lives. We were exceptionally fortunate to have brushed shoulders with these bold visionaries. A quick google search of their names will have your jaw hanging in amazement at just some of what that they accomplished. The world is a far poorer place for having lost them.
Kieran took over the lead for pitch 4, an A2+ beauty that he hiked up. Once he had my line fixed, I moved at a pace that could have been faster, but with a still-healing left wrist that had been badly sprained in Feb, I wasn't able to pull myself up with that hand with as much force as I will be able to once another block of months has passed. But I wasn't going to let it get in the way of doing this climb, and it held up nicely as a result of my adapting my jumaring technique, alternately using my left leg or right hand as my main means of propulsion upward. Telling Luke about my friend Brad Zdanivsky, a quadriplegic, and his ascent of the Chief in 2005, reminded me how auspicious my circumstances are. And how remarkable Brad's ascent was. To my mind, his ascent was perhaps the most impressive accomplishment to date in the relatively short history of adaptive climbing. Brad has been and continues to be a major inspiration to me. Hanging with him in Vancouver before the climb, with him being just out of the hospital for an infection in his stomach that required an IV antibiotic drip, made whatever troubles I have dealt with in the recent past seem so inconsequential. A quote from Syndey Harris comes to mind; 'When I hear someone sigh, 'life is hard, I am always tempted to ask, 'compared to what?'
The long day continued, and as Kieran styled the first of the A3 pitches on his block, Luke answered phone calls from contractors related to the house that he and his wife were building, (There was rain in the forecast, fill dirt for part of the foundation on the way the next day, and there was lumber that needed to be covered, among other things). That he made the time and was so psyched to be up there with us amidst all that he had going on with the construction, a two and a half-year-old son, a three-month-old daughter, and a demanding job in the film industry in Vancouver made me feel especially fortunate to have him and his constantly cheerful countenance along. When I told him how lucky he was to have a wife like his, who supports his passion for participation in this arena, with a bit of emotion in his voice told me how much he loves her and how blessed he feels to have her to share this life with. I thought of my own lovely wife, and how supremely fortunate I am, as well. Big wall climbing can be a cathartic experience that brings out emotions and feelings that put us in touch with a side of ourselves that is not always on the surface. And, it can help to remind us of what is really important in this life.

It was after ten PM when I finally needed to turn on my headlamp. I needed it often to make sure there were no instances of crossed lines before we left each belay, as these could lead to clusters that could stop us in our tracks. More than a few big wall teams have bailed after one too many of these scenarios. Our badass, but always cheerful partner Kieran, kept the ropes moving up in a relatively rapid manner, for such seriously difficult pitches. The pitches that followed went A3, A3+, an A2+ pitch that went up and over the roof, and an A2+ pitch to the ledge above. In the early morning light, this awkward pitch required me to dig deep into my book of adaptive climbing tricks picked up over the decades on this mysterious and extraordinary stone, and also on El Cap, where I did my first big wall ascent 28 years ago, in Zion and Towers in the Utah desert, on the Diamond in RMNP in CO, and the Black Canyon of the Gunnison in CO, amongst others. As I got a few feet from the top, and took a moment to marvel at the views that I was rewarded with of the Howe Sound to the south, and Mt Garibaldi to the north, I was reminded of the first time that I was fortunate enough to be here, in 1998 with my friend Mark Ballard, when we did the first adaptive ascent of the Chief. It was only my second push of a big wall, and not an insignificant accomplishment for me at that time. Kieran greeted me with a smile that covered his face as I topped out, and we laughed the laugh that is earned after pushing yourself in a manner like we had just done. Digging deep, we managed to get in the first one-day ascent of this line, in 21:55. Records are made to be broken, and I am certain that someone else will come along and take this one, but we managed to be the first team to have done this route in a day.