Squamish Photos and Stories

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MH2

climber

Jul 23, 2013 - 01:18am PT

Good choice. We were preceded on the route by Nina and Kyle and Ryan and probably many others.

Darwin

Trad climber

Seattle, WA

Jul 23, 2013 - 01:37am PT

bump, and thanks y'all.

RyanD

climber

Squamish

Jul 23, 2013 - 02:17am PT

Yeah Chewbacas was fun.

So is sunset strip. Lots of short, fun 5.10 pitches, many can be linked.

So many fun new routes here, it's ridiculous. Hats off to all the climbers who unearth these routes.

MH2

climber

Jul 23, 2013 - 10:13am PT

The route developers work hard. They are also good at reading subtle clues in the rock.

Oplopanax

Mountain climber

The Deep Woods

Jul 24, 2013 - 12:27am PT

sticky fingers

didn't that used to be 5.9 and it's 10c now?

MH2

climber

Jul 24, 2013 - 12:32am PT

It was 5.9 the way Slot Machine is 5.8. Hard moves off the ground are often discounted. Colin fixed that.

Rolfr

Social climber

North Vancouver BC

Jul 24, 2013 - 01:57am PT

Wow what a great scrub on Sticky Fingers. Ivan dragged that big boulder to the base of the route with a come a long to get past the first few blank moves.

A bit of trivia, I named the route Sticky finger after someone stole my fixed scrubbing rope from the route, and for months afterwards I would find sections of it as rap anchours in Squamish.

And finally a long over due confession with a bit of a preamble.

I met Ivan just after the white painter pants era in Squamish and just at the start of the lycra period. I saw him soloing 5.7 cracks in cowboy boots, jeans, and a mackinaw shirt. Being curious about this enigma, I struck up a conversation with the shy giant, he explained pointy cowboy boots worked really well in the cracks. He was definitely not your typical Squamish climber. Back then this 210 LB tough logger sported tats all over his arms , hands and neck, with a bee on his right fist to remind you how that could sting. Back then he wore his baseball cap backwards long before it was hip or popular. Definitely a redneck loner, but I was impressed by his raw talent.

I introduced him to the world of Squamish cracks and slabs. which he mastered dam quickly and during the 5-7 years we climbed together he danced his way up some of the hardest slab climbs in Squamish and together we put up our share of soon to be forgotten first ascents.

So back to Sticky Fingers, after a few weeks of climbing with me, I introduced Ivan to scrubbing and digging out first ascents. I had poked around the base of the Rutabaga and seen a great 5.10 crack line that was guarded by a blank 5.12 slab. Ivan in his innocence saw an obvious solution. take a come-a-long ,drag a two ton boulder to the base as a convenient cheater stone. An obvious solution but still short of getting to the coveted crack which I had already scrubbed. We agreed to meet next Saturday and work out a solution, in retrospect I guess I should have spent a bit more time explaining the ethics of climbing to Ivan.

Next Saturday, a typical dismal drizzling day in Squamish, Ivan was already at the base of the route and as I hiked up, I heard this repeated cha ching, cha ching, of metal on rock. I arrived and to my horror Ivan had chiseled some convenient scoops to get past the blank slab, in his naivety he found the obvious solution! I enlightened him on the ethical transgression he had just committed, raced back to town, bought a can of blackish granite spray paint while he rounded out the obvious chip marks and then we blended them in with a well camouflaged paint job.

The route went at a fine moderate 5.10 minus grade with a cruxy slab start to gain the crack. This probably wasn’t the first route to be enhanced at Squamish, but it was definitely Ivan’s only and last. We had a quite a few more misadventures over the next few years but also many great times.

brownie

Trad climber

squamish

Jul 24, 2013 - 06:39pm PT

Ryan and I linked up Border Line to High Plains Drifter yesterday and had a Totally Rad time.

If the "Chief" happens across this post; any stories, or interesting info concerning the F.A. would be super cool..

what a beaty crack, from the stream of cool air leaking forth from the bowels of the chief, to the wild position on the arete, to the wild burn one feels as they muscle through the last moves to the chains, it is by far some of the best climbing either of us have encountered on the squamish big stone.

kudos to all who paved the way for us weenies..

brownie

harryhotdog

Social climber

north vancouver, B.C.

Jul 24, 2013 - 09:32pm PT

All this action is keeping this armchair athlete thoroughly motivated for some when life settles down a bit.

Ghost

climber

A long way from where I started

Jul 24, 2013 - 10:23pm PT

All this action is keeping this armchair athlete thoroughly motivated for some when life settles down a bit.

Best wishes for that Harry.

I was hoping to see you at the festival, but maybe next time...

harryhotdog

Social climber

north vancouver, B.C.

Jul 25, 2013 - 09:42am PT

Thanks Dave for that. I certainly would of liked to made it up to meet you and all the other skallywags and enjoy Tami's presentation. Also with all this route development it's going to seem like a brand new venue when I start my second childhood. There have been a few setbacks but other than that my wife is doing very well.

Anymore mysterious rope disappearances?

Grippa

Trad climber

Salt Lake City, UT

Jul 25, 2013 - 10:57am PT

Fantastic stories just keep coming from ya'll! Finally in the last week of waiting before my 2nd Squamish trip (1st was years back for skiing up the road). Hopefully I can score some great shots and share them. You guys think we'll see an increase in traffic, and fewer camping options due to Crankworx being held in 2 weeks?

Ghost

climber

A long way from where I started

Jul 25, 2013 - 12:21pm PT

Thread drift here, but speaking of Crankworx, here's a video from last year...

[Click to View YouTube Video]

RyanD

climber

Squamish

Jul 27, 2013 - 05:36pm PT

Live report from Squamish.

If u look at the Squaw in the next hr or so u may see a couple supersqamptians not wearing jeans up on pipeloads. Good luck boys.

Tricouni

Mountain climber

Vancouver

Jul 27, 2013 - 06:37pm PT

Good luck, Ryan! I want to hear how it went.

Big Mike

Trad climber

Topic Author's Reply - Jul 27, 2013 - 06:49pm PT

I can see them!! It looks like the leader is just about to start ripping some flesh! ;)

Send it boys! Hope you taped your backs! Lol

RyanD

climber

Squamish

Jul 27, 2013 - 06:52pm PT

Haha no not me Tricouni, I have the pleasure of working tonight instead.

& i'd be wearing jeans for sure!

TheSoloClimber

Trad climber

Vancouver

Jul 29, 2013 - 10:40am PT

I had cords that I changed into before climbing. They now have a hole in them along with various parts of my left side. It was pretty much a slaughter. I did alright until about halfway to the bolt. Then I couldn't figure out how to progress up, got panicy, and pulled on cams till I clipped the bolt and didn't feel like I was going to die anymore.
Lowered off, Brownie gave it a shot, results not being much better than mine. We decided that finishing up BoP would be a better option than flaying ourselves in Pipeline and bailed.
Now I gotta train on the wyde, go back, redeem myself.
Big thanks to BK and RyanD for lending us big gear to use.