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Scrubber
climber
Straight outta Squampton
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M is for MUD!
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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Yup. Kris gets what climbing is about.
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Scrubber
climber
Straight outta Squampton
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I think it has more to do with not losing what's left of my sanity during the winter here. Somehow jumaring with a chainsaw seemed like the right thing to do yesterday...
"If you can't climb, then make more climbs!!!"
K
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MH2
Boulder climber
Andy Cairns
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Wow! You'ld never guess that the Squamish Buttress sees about a million ascents a year.
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DBlack
Trad climber
Vancouver, BC
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Hey, the weather looks great on Monday. Do any of you know if the rock is dry/ going to be dry on Monday?
Cheers!
David
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Scrubber
climber
Straight outta Squampton
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You'ld never guess that the Squamish Buttress sees about a million ascents a year.
Well, the upper half of that route does. But the lower half has seen only a few ascents since it was first done in May of 1959. The 1964 guidebook may have incorrectly indicated the original start to the Squamish Buttress as what we now know as the route South Arete. Accounts of the climb in the Alpine journals of the day put the route much further left. Just to the right of The Terror, in fact. The written description of the FA matched what we found fairly closely for about two thirds of the thrash. After that there are simply too many similar choices to know exactly where they ended up.
Originally the entire righthand ridge of the South Gully was known as the South Arete (including Squamish Buttress). The North Arete is what we now call Angel's Crest, and the North-north Arete is, well, still the North-north Arete. :)
K
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MH2
Boulder climber
Andy Cairns
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Thanks, Scrubber. I've been interested since Anders' post about the FA and what you've added is much appreciated.
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Outside the Asylum
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Grub Street: Also a term used in England for its notorious gutter press. Another obscure foreign usage.
Rosebud: When it was first done, I asked Tami if it was named for the sleigh in Orson Welles' "Citizen Kane", which is something of a focus for the famous movie. She hadn't heard of it before.
South Arete/Squamish Buttress: Many thanks to Kris and Reuben for the company on our search in 2014 for the lower half of this climb, which with the likely exceptions of Hamie, Tricouni and Fred B, no one else knew had been lost in the first place. Careful reading of the 1963/64 Baldwin guide, the 1965 coast range guide, and Glenn's 1967 guide, and information from Hamie about his and Jim Baldwin's second ascent in 1962, indicated that there was an inconsistency, and some time with binoculars and photos showed a possible route. And we pretty much found it, on perhaps the second (intentional) ascent of the lower half of what is now Squamish Buttress, 45 years after the first. (It in fact correlated quite well with Glenn's 1967 guide - perhaps he got information from Fred.) It involved some serious bushwhacking, as in "even Kris wouldn't clean it" bush, maybe "even Ghost wouldn't clean it". Still, it's part of the history of climbing at Squamish.
The chronology is:
1959: First ascent of South Arete, by Fred Beckey, Hank Mather, and Don Claunch (Gordon). They did it over two days, first the lower half, then deking into South Gully and a comfortable bivy in town, then the second half. (Hank knew of the access to South Gully from two years earlier.) They stopped at the base of the last hard pitch and made a fire to cook lunch, almost causing a forest fire. The first route apart from the gullies from bottom to top.
1962: Jim Baldwin and Hamie made the second ascent, via what we now call South Arete, then a connecting line left of the Baldwin Ledge called Pioneer, then the upper half. As Kris said, the upper part of the lower half of the buttress could follow multiple lines - we had quite an adventure. Not a place for novices or the faint of heart.
1965: Hamie and Tim Auger did the first ascent of The Terror, the big overhang on the lower right wall of South Gully - which happens to end where it intersects the ramp of the buttress, at a discontinuity. A rather airy spot.
1966: Hamie and Bob Woodsworth did the first ascent of the Bastille, a bit further up South Gully. The line that Kris, Reuben and I did briefly intersected Bastille, and at the top perhaps Pioneer. Half or more of the line of what is now called "Rock On" is in fact Bastille.
(I wonder where the "French Revolution" names came from?)
I don't know when the third ascent of Squamish Buttress was, but by the 1967 guide, that was what it was called, with South Arete separately described. (Also, some years ago, several bolts were added to the upper slab of South Arete.)
Kris and I have plans for the area, and he's been working very hard - thanks! However, we decided to leave the original line of the lower half of Squamish Buttress as it was, to preserve some history and adventure. Not everything needs to be erased and replaced, and not everything new is better.
It is sadly amusing that we collectively misplaced what might be called the first "real" climb on the Chief, for decades. Geographical embarrassment... And the rush to scorched earth cleaning tactics, convenience and retro bolting, and renaming of routes doesn't always allow for history and perspective.
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Gnome Ofthe Diabase
climber
Out Of Bed
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I just moved the teenagers off of the iMac,
when I do that, this is where I go 1st,- to this thread,
wow woe wow , wow!
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hamie
Social climber
Thekoots
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MH asks about the French Revolution names. On the 4th/last pitch of Bastille you have to climb beneath a massive chock-stone. We likened this to a guillotine blade, and the whole feature became Bastille after the infamous French prison.
A few years ago we named a climb near Scottie's Marina "Madame Guillotine" after a very large mostly detached flake in the middle. We called the one beside it "Marie Antoinette".
This photo shows Bob W belaying at the top of the 3rd pitch of Bastille, on the FA.
This photo shows an unknown climber starting the first few feet of Rock On. The 4th pitch of Bastille follows the crack system above his helmet.
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Big Mike
Trad climber
BC
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 9, 2016 - 12:21pm PT
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Looks like i missed a bunch of stuff on here this weekend!! I have to catch up!!
I'm hanging out with Bearbreeder and the infamous Jesse James this morning..
What climb is Eric on?
Jesse James on the same rig.
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MH2
Boulder climber
Andy Cairns
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Too easy, Mike, though I don't remember ever seeing the sun on that.
Health and good wishes to Mighty Hiker. Somehow the South Arete got lost, not easy to do right next to Calculus Crack and St. Vitus', but it is an outstanding line.
edit:
And the history of The Bastille is fascinating. If climbing history is any guide, most of my time in history courses in school was probably wasted.
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Scrubber
climber
Straight outta Squampton
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Feb 10, 2016 - 10:22pm PT
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I want a bigger " name that route" challenge!
K
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Evel
Trad climber
Nedsterdam CO
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Feb 10, 2016 - 10:41pm PT
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cool trivia.
The "Sentry Box Move' was key on Crack 'Up.
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Hoser
climber
Vancouver,Rome
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Feb 10, 2016 - 10:45pm PT
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Wow the infamous, so he didn't get chased out of town...
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hamie
Social climber
Thekoots
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Feb 10, 2016 - 11:40pm PT
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Bears an uncanny resemblance to "Artificial Land".......
:) :)
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Ryan L
climber
PORT MOODY
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Feb 12, 2016 - 12:39am PT
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What an awesome weekend, Monday and Tuesday were so unbelievably warm. Now we wait for the next weather window :)
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Big Mike
Trad climber
BC
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 12, 2016 - 05:01pm PT
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Thank you Kris and Anders for those amazing buttress contributions!! Beauty pics, Dave, Andy, Eric and Ryan!! No time to comment now!
Here are a couple more pics of Eric's 12a attempt.
The backstep
Entering the box
Exiting the roof
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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Feb 13, 2016 - 09:22am PT
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Tami dropped me fifty feet off Sentry Box.
Of course, in doing so, we saved Canada and got (temporarily) rich.
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Ryan L
climber
PORT MOODY
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Feb 14, 2016 - 11:07am PT
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One of the sections in the Trad Climbers Bible has Peter Crofts story of him sending Sentry Box (pg 243):
"Sentry Box was the hardest free climb in Canada. It was first freed by local hotshot Eric Weinstein at 5.11 and first repeated years later by Californian Bill Price, who upped the grade to the mystical 5.12 standard. By the time I finally attempted the climb, Eric had been gone for some years and nobody after Bill had even pawed at the thin finger crux."
There are two pretty cool pictures along with the story, one of him coming out of the "Sentry Box" and one of him at the top thin finger crack crux.
Definitely worth a read if you have the book on hand :)
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