Squamish - The Grand Wall

The Grand Wall is THE route to do at Squamish. It is 9 pitches long, about 1,000 feet from the ground to Bellygood ledge, and each pitch is spectacular in its own way. The descent involves walking off Bellygood ledge, which is about 2 feet wide with a sheer drop of nearly 1,000 feet on one side and a steep wall on the other side. More on this later.

The Grand Wall

The Grand Wall Topo with pitches listed

Joe and I set out to climb The Grand Wall on the third day of our Squamish trip. This route would be a good test of our abilities, both physical and mental. 

We got up at about 6 am, had a quick breakfast and drove to the lower parking lot at The Chief. The hike up to the base of the climb is pretty short, about 20 minutes or so. This normally 'ho-hum' hike proved to be rather exciting on this day. In my excitement to get to the climb I wasn't paying a great deal of attention to the trail, which meanders through the woods around many large boulders. I noticed that we were no longer on the main trail but I wasn't concerned. There are faint trails all over the place in these woods and if you just keep going up you'll get to the base of the Grand Wall. As we scrambled across some large moss covered boulders I heard Joe holler "Ow! BEES!" Before I had time to take another step I had been stung twice, once on the top of my head and once on my ear. Joe had been stung at least two times as well. We made a beeline (Ha!) away from enemy territory and managed to avoid further conflict. In his haste to escape the wrath of the bees, Joe had taken a stick to the hand and was leaking blood. He was able to get the bleeding stopped without too much difficulty and the wound ended up being well protecting in his tape gloves. Joe joked that my guide fee was going to take a serious hit for this incident.

After scrambling up the flake escape ledges to the base of the approach climb, called Mercy Me, we assessed the situation. It is rare to have this climb to yourself and this day was no exception. There was one party on the first pitch of Mercy Me and another just finishing up The Flake, a two pitch climb that joins Mercy Me at the ledge that we were on. These two parties were climbing together so we waited for the second party to follow the first. If we had gotten there about 30 minutes earlier we would have had first dibs on the climb. Shucks anyhew! Oh well, you snooze you lose. 

We waited for about an hour for both parties to clear out, wanting to give them a little breathing room. Joe and I climb fairly fast and I figured that it was more comfortable to wait on this nice, roomy ledge than at a hanging belay up on the wall. Plus there was nobody behind us so there was no reason to rush.

Joe watching and waiting

We decided to stick with our usual practice of swapping leads. I led the first pitch of Mercy Me, a 5.7 pitch up a dike system. The climbing was easy but there were only three bolts on this 130 foot pitch. Not a good place to fall. It kept my attention for the duration. Joe led the next pitch of Mercy Me up to an anchor at the base of the headwall. This pitch was pretty easy as well, going at 5.8, but was also sparsely bolted.

Looking down pitch 1

Joe leading pitch 2

I led pitch 3 (5.10b A0), which traverses along the headwall, then up an awkward flake to a steep face with a short bolt ladder. This pitch ends at the base of the Split Pillar where the 'real' climbing starts.

Hanging out on the pine tree at the base of the Split Pillar 

At this point we caught up to the second party, who were struggling with the Split Pillar. It's not uncommon. Why? Because it's hard! I think people underestimate the difficulty of this pitch. It starts out as a finger sized crack that opens to hands, then fists and introduces a little off width (larger than fists) at the end. It's 'just' 5.10b but it is long (about 130 feet), very steep, sustained climbing. There aren't many features on the face so rest stances (without hanging) involve getting both hands and feet in the crack. It's downright burly and if you're not smart about finding rest spots you'll get a smack down. The party in front of us meekly swapped leaders to finish the pitch. After another 45 minute wait we were able to start climbing again.

Joe led the Split Pillar and did a fine job of it. He stopped to rest just once. It's the smart thing to do if you feel your forearms going. If you blow all of your energy on this pitch you're going to have a tough time with the rest of the climb. This pitch is just the beginning. Those above are technically more difficult.

Joe leading the Split Pillar

Layback technique

Crack technique with hands and feet in the crack

The Split Pillar - a beautiful pitch!

By the time I had followed and cleaned the Split Pillar the party above us was making good progress on the bolt ladder above The Sword. I rested a bit and then cast off into the sea of granite above. The Sword pitch is the hardest technical pitch on the route, going at 5.11a. The difficult sections of this pitch are split into two rather short cruxes near the beginning and at the end. It's still hard for me but I managed to get it clean. I continued up the bolt ladder, linking The Sword and the bolt ladder into one long pitch. Joe got The Sword pitch clean as well, following and cleaning the gear, and made quick work of the bolt ladder.

Joe starting the bolt ladder

Joe near the top of the bolt ladder

The next pitch, Perry's Layback, was another doozy. It goes at 5.11a as well and the name is descriptive; it involves layback moves nearly the entire way. There is nothing tricky about it. It's just powerful. Fortunately, the bolts are close together so one can aid or “French Free” if in a bind. Joe did an excellent job of leading this pitch and came pretty close to getting it clean.

Joe starting Perry's Layback

Near the top of this pitch there is an awesome hands-free rest that you just can't pass up. I thought that perhaps I'd be able to get this pitch clean when following it but removing the draws took too much energy and I had to hang and rest once. Ah well, maybe next time.

Sweet no-hands rest

After Perry's Layback the climb eases up a bit. The next pitch, called The Flats, is a traversing, mostly slab pitch going at 5.10a. The sudden change in climbing style from steep and burly with relatively large holds to low angle friction climbing with small holds requires a mental adjustment. It forces you to trust your feet because the hand holds are very small. It's a nice little twist thrown in there at the end of a great climb to keep you on your toes (literally). There is one move on this pitch that is height dependent. I'm just tall enough to do it static but it's at the end of my reach. Envision trying to hold your body weight with two fingers, your body fully extended, until you can bump your other hand up to a decent hold. It wasn't pretty but I got it done. Joe followed and made it look easy with his positive ape index (i.e., long reach).

Joe following The Flats

One pitch to go! Sail Flake, which goes at 5.10c, has several interesting aspects to it. A pine tree on the left side of the ledge allows access to a ramp, which enables an easy traverse right into the main corner. It's not often that you get to climb a tree 900 feet up a major route. The climb then goes up a corner for about 10 feet, traverses right for about 10 to 15 feet out Sail Flake, surmounts the flake and then traverses back left along the top of the flake into the corner again. The traverse out the flake to the right requires undercling technique. It consumes your forearms rather quickly, especially after doing Perry's Layback. There are two key footholds that are a big help for placing gear and resting your arms.

Joe climbing the tree

Joe starting up Sail Flake

Joe past the hard part of Sail Flake

I followed Joe up this last pitch and that was that. We had done it! It was about 2:30 pm, roughly 7 hours and 30 minutes from when we reached the base of the climb. Take out an hour and 45 minutes of waiting on the party ahead of us and that's not too shabby; about 40 minutes per pitch. This climb definitely lives up to the hype. It was hard enough to make us glad that we were finished but not hard enough to make us feel like we'd taken a beating.

We took a short rest, drank some water and got some food in us before attempting the second half of the climb; the descent. You can't forget about the descent. It's easy to let your guard down and that's when you get into trouble. Especially with Bellygood ledge in front of us.

Bellygood ledge

The narrow portion of Bellygood ledge

I can just imagine how Bellygood ledge was named. Let your mind go for a minute and consider the circumstances that have gotten you up here. You've just finished climbing the route, which has pushed you physically and mentally. You're ready for an easy walk off through the woods. But alas, you have this obstacle in front of you. You've got climbing gear on both sides of your harness, which could catch or brush against the wall to your left, causing you to lose your balance. You're physically and mentally drained so you're in the "easily sketched" zone. You look at the ledge and say to your partner "I'm not feeling it man, walking across that ledge right now is nuts." Your partner says "how about crawling across on your belly?" You say "belly is good." The name is appropriate.

The first time I crossed this ledge several years ago I did go across on my belly. I had led every pitch of the climb and was pretty well shot mentally. I am happy to report that Joe and I both crossed the ledge on our feet this time, underclinging the wall on the left side to keep our balance. There were two areas where we roped up and belayed. The rest of it was pretty comfortable and safe without a belay.

Joe underclinging Bellygood ledge

Joe belaying me - or is he eating a sandwich?

At the end of Bellygood ledge we arranged our gear, finished our water and began the hike down the mountain. It took us a little under an hour to reach the car, where we were quite happy to shed the load of our climbing gear. We congratulated each other for a successful outing. It was a great day for a great climb. Can't wait to do it again next year!

Stay tuned for the next trip...Granite Mountain near Prescott, AZ.

Squamish - Part I

Squamish! It's one of my favorite places to climb. Located in the Canadian province of British Columbia at the north end of Howe Sound, Squamish is about an hour north of Vancouver. The rock there is granite and has many excellent cracks that seem to be made especially for climbing. There are also a fair number of slab routes where a climber can hone their friction climbing skills.

The main climbing area at Squamish - The Chief

The excellent rock and easy access to hundreds of climbs make Squamish an attractive destination for climbers from all over the world. Although not intuitive to the casual observer, most climbers are lazy so easy access (short approaches) attracts climbers like bees to honey. However, climbers are willing to invest an incredible amount of time and energy in climbing the rock itself.

Joe and Jenny first introduced me to Squamish in 2012. I enjoyed it so much that I've made it an annual climbing trip. The best months for climbing there are July and August because they have the least rainfall. In the past we have gone in early August and have fared well, with only a day or two of rain on each trip. This year the scheduling worked out best for a week long trip in early July.

There were a large number of forest fires burning in B.C. (over 100) in July so there was some concern about whether we'd be able to climb at all. Another bit of bad news that I received in the airport; a huge flake had exfoliated from Half Dome on the very route that I intended to climb this fall. The flake was over 200 feet tall and was estimated to weigh 2,500 tons! Fortunately, nobody was hurt but my plans for later in the year are certainly in jeopardy. We boarded the plane feeling a bit anxious about our climbing prospects.

The drive from Vancouver to Squamish is a nice one once you get through the Vancouver traffic. Smoke from the forest fires had enveloped the area by the time we arrived. However, you couldn't smell the smoke and there were no evacuations taking place so we felt fortunate. We have some friends in Squamish who graciously allowed us to stay with them. From their place you can normally see the north side of The Chief clearly, but not so this time.

The Chief obscured in a smoky haze

The Chief from the north - that haze is smoke!

Cragging
We stopped by our friends Dan and Mim's place, unpacked our things and went cragging that afternoon. For you non-climbers, "cragging" is climbing at a small cliff or rock outcrop. The climbs are usually fairly short, typically half a rope length or less (less than 100 feet). Cragging is great when you only have a few hours to climb or when the weather looks questionable. It is easy to safely retreat if it rains.

The next day it was still pretty smoky. It made for an impressive sunrise.

Sunrise in Squamish

We went to the base of the Grand Wall for some more cragging. This was our day to get acclimated. I find that it's a good idea to climb some easy to moderate routes at the beginning of a climbing trip or any time you go to a climbing area that you've haven't been to for awhile. It gives your body and mind time to adjust to the rock, the types of holds, pro placement, and the difficulty ratings. We did some of the classic routes there, including Seasoned in the Sun and Exasperator. These two routes follow excellent finger cracks that take good gear.

Joe climbing Seasoned in the Sun, 5.10b

Joe and Jenny on Exasperator, 5.10c

Here's a brief aside on difficulty ratings for the non-climber. Each climb is given a difficulty rating from 5.0 to 5.15 (so far 5.15 is the hardest anyone has climbed). At 5.10 and above the number ratings are subdivided into four letter ratings; a, b, c and d. A climb rated 5.10a is the easiest in the 5.10 range while a 5.10d is the most difficult. It follows that 5.11a is harder than 5.10d and so on. Typically the first ascent party rates the climb. Sometimes they will ask other climbers to do the climb and give their opinion of the difficulty. This input can be used to come up with a consensus on the difficulty of a climb. Difficulty ratings are very subjective and thus can vary from place to place and person to person. Much more can be written about this topic but I will refrain. The intent is simply to give you a general idea of the rating system and what it means. The purpose of a difficulty rating is to give climbers guidance so they have a general idea of what they are getting into. One shouldn't bet their life on it. It's always good to have a little margin between your climbing ability and the rating of the climb you are doing. If you want more detail there is a pretty good write-up at this link.

The third day Joe and I did a multi-pitch (more than one rope length) climb on The Chief called the Grand Wall. I will post more on that excellent adventure separately.

After climbing the Grand Wall we had three more days of good cragging before doing another multi-pitch climb on our final day. The smoke had begun to clear from the air and Squamish was becoming the beautiful place that we knew it to be. Some of the cragging routes that we climbed include Arrowroot, Rutabaga and Rainy Day Dreamaway. I made an attempt at the second pitch of Rutabaga, which goes at 5.11a, and came one move from sending it. I went for it at the crux and took a fall on small pro, but it was good pro and a clean fall. It's a great route and is on my list to get clean next year.

Last Day
We decided that on our last day it would be fun for all of us to do a climb together. We chose Hairpin on The Papoose. This is a 5 pitch climb that goes at 5.10a. We split into two parties; Dan and myself comprised the first party and Jenny, Mim and Joe the second. Dan led the first pitch in fine style. It follows a left leaning, traversing crack system with glacier polish in a few areas that make it slicker than ice on a driveway and fairly tricky. I led the second pitch, which goes up a series of flakes to a good stance below a small roof.

Dan following pitch 2 of Hairpin

The third pitch has a crux move or two at the roof. The moves are committing but not technically difficult. After that it follows a nice right trending crack system.

Dan on pitch 3 of Hairpin

Pitch 4 is an easy slab pitch that wanders around a bit and Pitch 5 is also a slab pitch but is steeper and has one crux section in it. Dan led this pitch and made it look easy. We enjoyed the warmth of the sun at the summit for a bit and then I scrambled down to a spot where I could get some pictures of Joe, Jenny and Mim finishing the last pitch.

Joe leading pitch 5

Mim and Jenny following

Jenny following pitch 5

Group shot - Brian, Joe, Jenny, Dan, Mim (L to R)

It was a great climb and a fitting end to our climbing trip. We did a decent amount of climbing, about 35 pitches total, had good weather and really enjoyed our time with Dan and Mim. Hopefully all will work out so we can do it again next year.

Coming up next...our adventure on the Grand Wall!

Mt Graham - Part II

The day after our first adventure on Mt. Graham we went to another area that Joe had previously scouted. It was a decent sized rock that was visible from the road, not nearly as large as Faraway Faces but easier to get to. Joe calls it Roadhouse Rock because "I thought it would be bigger." As you may have guessed, that's a spin-off of a quote from the movie Roadhouse. Joe had spotted a few potential routes that looked like they would be worth climbing. I was glad to have the opportunity to be a part of the adventure.

The approach started out on a well traveled trail and then branched to a trail that had significantly less traffic. It took about 1 hour to get to the point where we had to leave the trail. From there it was about a 30 minute bushwack across and down very steep terrain to get to the rock.

Joe at branch in trail

Brian at branch in trail

The trail becomes faint

Roadhouse rock turned out to be good, solid granite and looked to be a little higher than what could be rappelled with a single rope. Fortunately, we had two 60 meter twin ropes so we were equipped to handle it. The largest portion of the rock faces North to Northwest. There are four or five lines that looked like they would be fun to climb.

Joe points out Roadhouse Rock

We picked a line that looked compelling and got down to the business of climbing it. We usually ro-sham-bo (rock-paper-scissors) to determine who gets to climb first but Joe gave me the honors this time.

First route on Roadhouse Rock

One minor inconvenience was that there were small black ants all over the place at the base of the rock. We had to be very careful where we stood because they would be crawling all over you if you stood in the wrong place for very long.

I started up the rock, following what appeared to be the most logical line. This particular line didn't have a major crack system low on the rock, so protection was sparse. I stopped to place the first piece of pro in a small flake. As soon as I put my fingers in the crack ants came swarming out. I didn't think too much of it at the time. I put a small cam in the crack and continued up. When my feet came in line with the first piece of pro I stopped to place another piece. Again ants came pouring out of the crack. The ants down by my feet soon found my ankles and a few of them decided they'd like a taste. I brushed off as many as I could and continued up the climb. Fortunately, these ants were not fire ants and their bite didn't really hurt. It was annoying though. Maybe that's a good name for this line..."Pain don't hurt." That's another famous quote from Roadhouse.

Each time I put my fingers in a crack ants would come pouring out. This made placing pro a little tricky. It had to be done rather quickly or get bitten by the ants. So far I had managed to keep them occupied with my extremities and away from my core, where it could get really uncomfortable.

The crux or most difficult part of the climb was moving from a left facing corner to a crack on the face. Above this was a small roof. It was tricky to protect this part of the climb and the feet were very thin. I really wanted some good pro at this point because a fall here would not be pleasant. This is where the ants got the best of me. It took awhile to place a piece that I felt good about and I really couldn't do much about the ants. I just had to grin and bear it while they were biting me. It could have been worse. Ants are preferable to bees any day. I finally got a piece in that I was satisfied with and moved through the crux. From there a nice hand sized crack led to the top of the rock.

The top of the rock was pretty narrow and there wasn't much to build an anchor with up there. However, there was a good sized ledge about 6 feet below. I built an anchor from the ledge and made ready to belay Joe up the route. I noticed that there were ants on the ledge too. Where's the Raid when you need it! I did my best to pick the spot with the fewest ants and called down to Joe "belay on."

Anchor

Belay ledge

Joe followed the route, cleaning the gear as he went. We enjoyed the summit for a few minutes but dark clouds had moved in and a few rain drops began to fall. The top of this rock is pretty exposed so it would be a bad place to be with lightning in the vicinity. We moved quickly to rappel down the route. We needed both of our twin 60 meter ropes to reach the ground. I would guess that the route is about 150 feet tall.

Joe following

I was pretty excited about the climb. This was a first for me, my first ground-up first ascent! It wasn't a difficult climb at all, maybe 5.8 or so, but it was mentally engaging. It's one thing to do a climb that has been done before, where the difficulty has been established. You know if it's within your ability and you usually know whether it is safe or not. It sure does feel different heading up a climb where you don't know how hard it is or if there is adequate protection. It gives one a great deal of respect for the old timers who put up many of the big routes in Yosemite, the desert towers, etc.

The rain began and came down pretty hard for awhile. We took cover under some trees and waited. This rain thing was getting old! After about 30 minutes the rain stopped. The sky was still dark and we weren't sure what it was going to do but at least we weren't taking on any more water. We stepped out from our shelter and began to examine some of the other route possibilities. My favorite was a steep finger crack about 10 feet tall that exited onto a slab.

Joe points out route possibilities

Steep finger crack

After 30 minutes with no rain the rock felt dry enough for us to continue our project. We had to leave the gear used for the anchor at the top of the rock in our haste to beat the rain. Our intention was to put in a fixed anchor (bolts). The route could also use a couple of bolts to protect areas where no other pro was available. We had a few bolts, a hand drill and a hammer with us so I climbed back up the route to place a few bolts where pro was sparse.

I'm new at this bolting thing and it took me quite a while to get the hang of it. I still can't say that I have the hang of it. Granite is hard stuff! It took me about 30 minutes to drill and place the first bolt and about 20 minutes for the second. What made it even more interesting was the ants. They were crawling around my feet and ankles and up my pant legs as I was hand drilling. I'd drill for a few minutes until the ants started to bite. Then I'd let go of the drill and hammer to brush the ants off my ankles. I had to maintain my balance during all of this because I was lead climbing the route. It was comical. I can see why some of the old school bottom-up routes had generous spacing between bolts. It's a lot of work! You're not going to place a bolt unless you really need it. I placed the second bolt and it started to rain again. I reluctantly lowered off and we packed up to leave.

Two bolts on the route

What a great day it had been! I was pretty excited to have the opportunity to put up a new route from the ground up. There is still some work to be done on the route; it might take one more bolt and the anchors still need to be placed. However, I feel pretty good about how it went. I'm interested to see how difficult the route feels with the bolts added. They'll take the edge off somewhat, I imagine.

We'll be back for more development at this crag. I learned a lot from this experience and look forward to another adventure here.

Stay tuned for the next adventure...a trip to Squamish, B.C.