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Big Mike
Trad climber
BC
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Topic Author's Reply - Jul 14, 2013 - 03:03pm PT
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Looks like a sweet party ledge! Is there any ledges like that on the chief?
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Oplopanax
Mountain climber
The Deep Woods
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Jul 14, 2013 - 03:52pm PT
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Yes but they are covered in trees, except for Memorial.
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Tricouni
Mountain climber
Vancouver
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Jul 14, 2013 - 03:56pm PT
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Best party "ledge" isn't a ledge. It's the top of the Bulletheads, overlooking the South-South Gully. Great view, lots of open space, and you avoid the hordes on the top of the south peak.
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Big Mike
Trad climber
BC
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Topic Author's Reply - Jul 14, 2013 - 04:31pm PT
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Memorial eh? Hmm...
Glenn, i have yet to check out that side of the bulletheads. Sounds rad!
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Big Mike
Trad climber
BC
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Topic Author's Reply - Jul 14, 2013 - 11:49pm PT
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Ahh.. Memorial Ledge! A great place to post live from. I remember this place!
Great place for a party!
What a sick day! More later.
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Wayno
Big Wall climber
Seattle, WA
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Jul 15, 2013 - 12:44am PT
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^^^^
What a cool picture, Mike!
Good times.
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hamie
Social climber
Thekoots
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Jul 15, 2013 - 01:29am PT
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What's with that blue rope?
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Big Mike
Trad climber
BC
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Topic Author's Reply - Jul 15, 2013 - 01:41am PT
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Parapalegic safety line! Kyle and Nina set that up for me!
We just got off the apron. Me and Kieran rapped Bad Pants Party so i didn't have to do the walk off.
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hamie
Social climber
Thekoots
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Jul 15, 2013 - 01:46am PT
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That's a good enough reason! :)
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Wayno
Big Wall climber
Seattle, WA
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Jul 15, 2013 - 02:32am PT
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I'm green with envy.
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Big Mike
Trad climber
BC
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Topic Author's Reply - Jul 15, 2013 - 02:56am PT
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Wicked Tami. Sounds good. I'll shoot ya a message.
We'll get up there Wayno! You can lead all the pitches too! ;)
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Wayno
Big Wall climber
Seattle, WA
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Jul 15, 2013 - 04:08am PT
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"Go ahead, make my day."
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Oplopanax
Mountain climber
The Deep Woods
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Jul 16, 2013 - 01:09pm PT
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Yup little Marc is killing it these days!
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Todd Eastman
climber
Bellingham, WA
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Jul 16, 2013 - 01:25pm PT
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WOW!!!
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RyanD
climber
Squamish
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Jul 16, 2013 - 01:31pm PT
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Nice Marc!
Looks like a good time up on memorial ledge there!
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Big Mike
Trad climber
BC
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Topic Author's Reply - Jul 20, 2013 - 04:34pm PT
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Yeah Marc! Crazy link up dude! Congrats!
I'm hanging with Todd and Ben today at Shannon Falls.
Todd on Kalhanie Crack
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mikegrai
climber
ON
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Jul 21, 2013 - 05:51pm PT
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First trip to Squamish - had a blast.
Just got back from two weeks in Squamish, and thanks to incredible weather and great luck with climbing partners, I had an amazing trip.
Things got a bit complicated to start. My flight from Kitchener was delayed when a bee flew into the airspeed indicator tube and Westjet had to get a tech in from Toronto to check things out. I missed my connection in Calgary and had to sleep in the airport ( no rooms available because of the Stampede and flood victims) but got to Vancouver the next morning, picked up my rental car, drove to Squamish, checked into my Airbnb reservation, and crashed.
Next day I was on my own, so I sampled the bouldering at the Great Wall Titanic North and South areas - great fun.
Plam then arrived for a 4 day stay, as planned. At the last minute, Danylo stopped in on the way between Rainier and the Grand Teton. Unexpectedly, he ended up being stranded in Squamish (tough luck!) when his two road companions had return to Toronto immediately because of a climbing injury. He decided to make the best of it and throw in his lot with me for the full two weeks.
We had a great run at moderate classics in the area. I won't go into a blow-by-blow description, but here is a list of Squamish Top 100 (as selected by Marc Bourdon in Squamish Select 2012) routes we ticked off:
Beginner's Luck 5.5 single pitch trad (Murrin Park)
Klahanie Crack 5.7 single pitch trad (Shannon Falls)
Laughing Crack 5.7 single pitch trad (Smoke Bluffs)
Banana Peel 5.7 8 pitches trad (The Apron) - not a bad way to spend my 60th birthday
Sky Walker 5.8 5 pitches trad (Shannon Falls)
Slot Machine 5.8 2 pitches trad (The Bulletheads)
Diedre 5.8 6 pitches trad (The Apron)
Quarryman 5.8 single pitch trad (Smoke Bluffs)
Octopus' Garden in the Shade 5.8 single pitch trad (Smoke Bluffs)
World's Toughest Milkman 5.9 single pitch trad (Murrin Park)
Zoe 5.10a single pitch sport (Murrin Park)
Rocky Horror 5.10a single pitch sport (Area 44)
Skywalker - this is on the namesake traversing pitch four - 5.6 climbing in a fantastic position!
Shannon Falls
Slot Machine - great crack climbing after a bouldery start that seemed a lot harder than 5.8. I had to drop my rack, make a few moves, put in a piece at a so-so stance, haul the rack up and reorganize, then continue on - somewhat nerve wracking! Directly above is Dora's Delight, a mostly bolted 5.8 slab exercise - makes a nice linkup.
We got in many other quality climbs, among the most notable of which was Calculus Crack with the new Direct Start 5.9 6 pitches trad (thanks to Plam for the lead).
We also made it to the top of the Chief via the Squamish Buttress Lite variation (also known as the Butt/Face) recently cleaned by Sonny Trotter and friends (see the story here:http://sonnietrotter.com/2010/07/28/a-long-story-for-the-readers/);. This allows you to bypass the 10c crack bottleneck pitch on the regular Buttress Route. There are two cruxes - a 5.9 thin crack/ flake and an awkward 5.8 half chimney / off width. Danylo and I had done two Apron routes earlier in the trip, so we hiked to the top of the Apron, then climbed Boomstick Crack 5.7 2 pitches (cool feature) to access the forest above Broadway Ledge. We next hiked through the forest to the start of the regular Buttress route, climbed its first 4 pitches, then the 3 pitches of the Butt Lite.
Crux 5.9 section on Butt Lite
We managed to make our way through the crux pitches and wandered our way up ledges on the final pitch to a glorious day on the summit.
Near the top, we had been able to watch two young ladies dance their way up Gravity Bong 5.13a on The Prow. Oh, to be young and skillful!
There are few more pictures here:http://www.flickr.com/photos/28211510@N00/sets/72157634716710441/with/9329943920/
As someone on the forum suggested would happen when I first enquired about Squamish, I upped my trad leading grades on this trip. At home on the Escarpment I consider myself a fairly solid 5.7 trad leader, but I eventually got my nerve up to lead 5.9 pitches, and even onsighted a 5.10a single pitch on gear. I'm not sure that the climbing moves are that much easier at the grade, but it is often easier to get more good placements, and you are more confident that they will hold a fall. For me, that means trad climbing much closer to my sport onsight grade than I would dare on slimestone. Possibly the grades are a little softer in general, but there a few "classics" that are in no way soft. If you have some crack technique, all is good. The slab grades aren't particularly soft, and there are some eye-opening runouts on the moderates. I lead the 5.7 variation of pitch 2 on Banana Peel, and it was wildly runout. If I had come off that, I don't know where I would have ended up!
We were very impressed with the quantity and quality of new area and route development taking place. This is creating "instant classics" such as Skywalker and Rocky Horror, with the result that the climbers are spread out and taking some of the pressure off the old classics such as Diedre. These new areas (such as Area 44, Commonwealth and Valley of the Lost Tribe at Murrin Park, and Lumberland and Second Avenue at Smoke Bluffs) are very well documented both in the guidebook and online http://quickdrawpublications.com/free-topos/, http://projectclimb.com/665091D1506A409CCD29/a/climbing/Area_44.aspx); At the crags, there are trails, benches, signage, even laminated topos! I know there are reasons why this doesn't exist here, but it certainly gives one a taste of how sweet things can be! Some of the route developers are profiled in this Gripped story: http://gripped.com/2011/11/sections/articles/the-diggers/
Life is good in Squamish - with the hot days we developed a pattern of getting up early, climbing to mid-afternoon, heading home for food and a siesta, then climbing in the evening until near dark. The town has all the services you could need in a compact area, and there is excellent craft beer to be had at Howe Sound Brewing. I have a feeling I will be back!
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RyanD
climber
Squamish
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Jul 21, 2013 - 07:35pm PT
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Cool stuff mikegrai!
Thanks for the TR.
One teeny correction tho, the 10c pitch on the buttress is no longer a bottleneck, it actually is rarely climbed since the advent of the buttface, which is nice because it actually keeps traffic moving a little better. Cheers!
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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Jul 23, 2013 - 12:54am PT
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Just back from three days in Squ'ish. Didn't take any pictures, but had the good fortune to run into Big Mike up on Shannon Falls Wall on Saturday, and then again at dinner that night.
And speaking of Shannon Falls Wall, y'all should get your asses up to the far right end, and get on Chewbacca. It's the re-scrubbed version of an ancient aid route called Snot. Three really good pitches of immaculately clean granite. I don't know who did the re-scrub, but my hat is off to him/her/them. Great route in a great position.
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