July 2017

The best part about chimneys: When you're jammed up in a chimney, you're really jammed up in it. There's no way you're falling out of that double-kneebar below you as long as you maintain your body tension.

The worst part about chimneys: If you do lose your body tension, you know there's no such thing as a clean fall coming out of one.

And also fuck the asshole who bolted this chimney, what the fuck. What is he, 6 feet tall? Why the hell is the bolt so far out?!

How is this only 5.9?!

These are my thoughts as I try to not slip down the 2 foot wide and infinitely many feet deep chasm in the rock. I have one knee pressed against the wall in front of me as my toes extend out to press against the wall behind, and I am staring at the only piece of protection that is half a foot out of reach. 

I eventually manage to clip the bolt and miraculously the second. By this time, the wall narrows significantly, which is great for my size. At the top, I grunt and slowly wiggle and inch my body (and that damned helmet!) up the chasm and out onto the top of the wall. 

Done. 

Below me, I can see the parking lot, the town, and Howe Sound spread across the landscape. 

12 pitches across some 270 meters of mostly 5.10 climbing, consisting of amazing hand cracks, some precarious slab (that first bolt off the ground is goddamn garbage if you're below 5'4 it turns out), and a fantastic chimney to top it all off (literally-- the chimney pitch is the last one to the top!). 

I couldn't ask for a better last day.

I love Squamish.

My 3rd summer in Squamish and this year I went full dirtbag.

In previous years, I made the 20 hour drive from San Francisco to Squamish so I could climb for 2 weeks, during which time I would sleep and live out of my car.

Unfortunately, last year Washington state police decided that going 75mph on the highway was too damn fast and gave me a speeding ticket which doubled my insurance and so I decided I didn't need to drive anymore-- or more correctly, I couldn't afford to drive anymore. 

So this year I flew.

In addition to being too poor to afford car insurance, it turns out I'm also too poor to afford more than one checked bag, so everything had to fit into one 70L backpack.

Everything.

The 70 meter rope. The full double-rack of cams and nuts. Shoes. Harness. Sleeping bag. Bivy bag. Tarp. Jet boil. Laptop. Camera. One extra outfit, two jackets and a dress. Toiletries.

Things that didn't make it into the bag: a 4th pair of underwear, bra, tent, sleeping pad.

It downpoured for two days at one point which is when I learned that my bivy, the cover for my sleeping bag, wasn't quite 100% waterproof.

Trying to sleep as your sleeping bag gets progressively more damp through the night is as much fun as you imagine it to be.

On the plus side, people don't mind sharing sites with you when you fit in a 6'x3' space. 

As with every passing year and every passing trip, I'm grateful for the beauty I get to experience, the challenges I get to tackle and the wonderful memories I get to grow and cherish. 

Most importantly, I am grateful for the new friends I was able to meet and for the opportunity to reconnect with old friends from around the world-- people I knew in Lao, Vietnam, China, Thailand... and of course, the US and Canada! 

Everything comes back full circle. 

I love it. 

The longer I climb, the more I understand that climbing outdoors and spending time on the rock and in the woods-- it's all just a conduit through which I get to be with the best people.

With that said, for real though, the climbing was amazing!

I didn't reach new heights in difficulty or grades, but for the first time, I felt competent at trad multi-pitch climbing. 

After 3 years of trad climbing, this seems like a ridiculous statement to make. But to be honest, up until this point, I always felt like I was faking real competency. I knew how to place gear and make anchors and route-find, and I was fairly strong in terms of climbing grades, but throughout it all, there was always a tiny nagging doubt of "What if I'm doing this wrong?" Especially when doing harder multipitches, I worried if I'd go off-route or wouldn't be able to get through a crux. 

On this trip, my third time in Squamish, I finally felt free. I could start a multipitch and not be worried. I knew it would be okay.

My first day in Squamish this year, my partner and I started up Angel's Crest at 1pm, swapping leads. We flew up the 13 pitches! 

It was a complete 180 from last year when I started up at 6am and felt so nervous! Could I lead all the pitches? Would I be able to get down before dark? I made it eventually, but it took all day!

It was such a great feeling-- I originally came to Squamish with a few hard climbs in mind to try to push my limits, but I got so addicted to just doing long multi-pitches all day. I wanted to climb 5.10 forever, and that's what I did. On the Chief, in the Bulletheads, in the Papoose and in Slhaney... I'd never climbed at Slhaney before but honestly, it turned out to be one of my favorite spots! 

Rundown of some highlights:

•  [The Chief] Sunset Strip: 12 pitches, 10d - The climb I described at the beginning of this post! It's still kinda dirty in some parts, but it'll definitely become a Squamish classic once it cleans up. Slab, face, hand cracks, off-fists, traverses, sport, and chimney... it's so good!
• [The Chief] Angel's Crest: 13 pitches, 10b - An ultra-classic! The climbing is disjointed and honestly, mostly just 'pretty good', but the Acrophobes is one of the most beautiful pitches in the world and is worth the effort! 
• [The Chief] Bulletheads East: 4-7 pitches, 10c - If you want to do 10c forever in all the different types of climbing, this is your jam. It's just 4 pitches high, but every pitch ends on a ledge with two options for going up-- both of which are 10b or 10c. 10c stems, 10c cracks, 10b chimneys... Amazing!
• [Slhaney] Great Game: 8 pitches, 10d - Super delicate finger crack with slippery feet followed by a crazy 3rd pitch corner!
• [Slhaney] Photophobia: 5 pitches, 10d - Kinda wandery first pitch, but amazing cracks the rest of the way up! Fun and physical.
• [Slhaney] Birds of Prey: 4 pitches, 10b - Made the mistake of doing this under the blazing sun... but the first pitch is a super fun, chill hand crack that goes for an entire 70meters-- it's a rope stretcher! Stiff for 10b in my opinion-- it's real physical!

I was serious when I said all I wanted to do was 5.10 multipitches forever... This is the abridged list of my favorites.

I loved thee well
My dear old mocs
You melted into cracks
And became one with the rocks
I cruised up perfect jams
My feet covered like socks

But what began as tiny holes
Soon grew to expose my toes
And I was mocked by the bros
When in my taped shoes I'd pose

For the tape never lasted
By the sharp rocks they'd be blasted
And by the end of the second pitch
You'd once again be a sad sitch

Yet I couldn't bear to replace you
I simply didn't have the money to
So for a full week that I'd rue
We did our best to make do

I thank you for your endless devotion
And how you helped me in motion
Despite your gradual erosion
Just know that for you my emotions
Could fill up an ocean
The only rhyme left I can think of is lotion

Boxes of these guidebooks are hidden in various crevices at various crags. It's kinda legendary. 

Yes, it is "By Splodge". 

But for real, it is pretty great as it goes into greater detail for some of the less covered crags in the regular Squamish guidebook. 

This picture is gross, but I had to share my misery! 

This year the mosquitoes and noseeums were for real far worse than any other year I'd been here! They devoured my feet.

There are 16 bites in this picture. 

I lost several hours of sleep because of how itchy my feet got at one point and had to take antihistamines because I was actually going a little crazy from the itchiness. 

And also I just have really ugly feet in general :/ Very duck-shaped and my toes are quite malformed. Oh well.

Single pitch climbing at Top Shelf.

The approach is great in that you keep thinking you're almost there and you're totally not.

It's also quite steep and sweaty going up through the forest.

Climbing is pretty worth it though. 

Here's a photo of other people trying hard.

I'll have to come back again some day to try more of the climbs-- there was a good amount of climbs here and I'm sorry to not have been able to climb more of them!

I tried Split Beaver, a 10b offwidth, the first time I came to Squamish with Maddy and Van, and I 100% couldn't get up it.

I led it this time with a fair amount of stoke to power me. I managed to get up, but it sure wasn't pretty! A lot of grunting and sitting on the rop and feeling real confused!

One day, I want to be able to confidently say, "I am competent at offwidths."

Unfortunately, that's still a work in progress for sure! In the meantime, I'm having fun trying to improve... waiting for that day when it finally clicks in my mind and technique...

It's coming right?

I was walking through the campgrounds one evening when a dude I didn't know pointed at me and told me it was my lucky day.

Why, what did I win?

A FREE BACON BURGER.

Thank you Steve, wherever you are. You are too good for this world and every day I include you in my list of things I am grateful for. 

I am truly #blessed. 

My wish for my last meal in Squamish was to have pancake breakfast with real Canadian maple syrup in the company of good people.

And my wish came true!

I didn't get a good photo of it (this is a photo of French toast breakfast we had a previous day) but I really love these people and I love these moments!

I said this year would be my last in Squamish, because I should really move on and explore other areas, but days like this make it really hard for me to let it go!

I just love Squamish.