Climb Life

National Geographic Amazing - FRINGE ELEMENTS

2011-04-17T07:51:00.000-07:00

Reel Water Productions new web series Fringe Elements is now LIVE on National Geographics' Adventure website. 5 episodes with 5 athletes in 5 sports. Here is a completely new story about me:) Check it out...

http://adventure.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/fringe-elements/adventure-sports-videos/#/matt-maddaloni-boulder_33763_600x450.jpg

MALTA deep water soloing

2011-01-12T13:53:00.000-08:00

Finally uploaded my deep water soloing in Malta video. Three parts. Enjoy

BOOKS - updated list

2010-12-29T17:22:00.000-08:00

I am interested in learning and being inspired, here is a list of books I think will change you forever. Don't be scared of change, read these books!

Next 100 Years, George Friedman

A Short History of Nearly Everything, Bill Bryson

Guns Germs and Steel, Jared Diamond

The Brain that Changes Itself, Norman Doidge M.D.

Robot Builders Bonanza, Gordon McComb - Mike Predko

Entertainment Rigging, Harry Donovan

Ice Climbing - Quebec

2010-12-28T07:45:00.001-08:00

This Christmas my wife Annie and I visited her parents in St. Adele, Quebec just north of Montreal near the ski areas of St. Sauveur. 4 years ago Annie's Dad, Bob Roy, got into climbing and is now obsessed with ice at the age of 65! How lucky am I to have a stoked climbing father in law:) We climbed about 8 days of ice over the holidays.

Teleglobal at Weir.

Bob Roy cranking it out on his home ice!

Got to climb with a few of Bob's friends, Micheal and Gabriel. Good dudes and super stoked for ice!

Bob's home crag. Super thin conditions early this year but that didn't stop me from leading the pillar on the left called, Terminator WI5. The detached and mostly hanging dagger was made safer with some nuts and cams in a crack to the left. I stemmed my mono point of my crampon into small pockets in the crack while balancing my way up the pillar. Super fun trying to be gentle on this delicate dagger.

We also climbed at Weir, Mt Baldy and Shawbridge.

Awesome. Climbing ice in Quebec is like sport climbing in Red River Gorge. Easy approaches, friendly people and awesome sunny weather.

Also I've included Annie's family on Christmas day. from left to right... Me, Annie, Martin, Lily, Josee, Bob and Francine. Merry Christmas

Free solo of a 2000 foot antenna tower

2010-12-14T13:20:00.000-08:00

My aunt Karen sent this to me today, crazy free solo of a 2000 foot antenna tower. I probably am off the ground working and playing as much as I'm on the ground and even this scares me! Thanks Karen

http://www.liveleak.com/mp53/player.swf?config=http://www.liveleak.com/mp53/player_config.php?token=07b_1284580365%26embed=1

BEYOND GRAVITY

2010-12-13T16:28:00.000-08:00

The climbing film Beyond Gravity is now available for free at

http://www.snagfilms.com/films/title/beyond_gravity/

I am featured in the bouldering section climbing "Ride the Lightning" in Squamish. A totally hairball piece of video at 36:29 minutes in.

My climbing photographer friend Aaron Black and my high school buddy Sean White, plus their bud Aaron Jackson made this film when I was 20 years old. Climbing magazine gave it "By far the best cinematography of any climbing film, bar none." It also received "Best Film" by the 2001 ESPN X-Games Tube Film Award.

The film features: Peter Croft, Lynn Hill, Barry Blanchard, Sean Isaac, Joe Josephson, Steve House, Andrew Boyd and many others. Check it out!

SEA TO SKY CABLE CAM

2010-12-11T14:46:00.000-08:00

My new business, check it out at

www.seatoskycam.com

Deep Water Soloing in Bermuda

2010-12-10T17:37:00.000-08:00

Tim Emmett and friends deep water soloing in Bermuda. Tim said he just sent a 5.13a route with a crux at 50ft above 6 feet of water, whoa!

go here for more photos and images

http://climbderock.wetpaint.com/page/Clarence+Cove

FROZEN ZOMBIE - send!

2010-11-24T22:18:00.000-08:00

pictures by: Stuart Masterman

Yo, just sent Frozen Zombie today, a project of mine over the past year. About M8. Problem was I don't own light weight fruit boots or have proper mixed tools and the ice kept melting before I could borrow any. Well this year I was prepared and my bro Nathan Kukathus hooked me up. Tim Emmett and I did battle and we both had successful free ascents of this wicked line. What I like about it is that it can't be done without the ice and isn't an existing free route.

Here is the thing... Squamish gets climbable ice about a week a year. The ice is thin and the only opportunities for leading are runout slabs. There are exceptions! But if you take the time to walk around and find various daggers hanging here and there on rock that doesn't have free routes on it then here is your chance to bolt a mixed line and have something ready to go when it freezes! So go out there and find your project!

The Titan

2010-09-09T11:45:00.000-07:00

My new project

The Titan 5.13c

The crag is called Echo Wall and it lies directly across the Squamish River as seen from the Railway Museum in Squamish. The route has 3 pitches. The first is a 5.12a finger crack to the top of a small tower block. From here begins the 60 foot horizontal roof that consists of various sizes of flakes, rated 5.13b. The last pitch is still undone and may be 5.12 up a double overhanging corner.

I have been working the roof as a single pitch from the ground to the chimney at the lip of the roof. This makes for a huge 40 meter pitch rated at 5.13c. The climbing requires skills in sport and trad with chimneys, offwidths, hand jamming, overhead heel hooking, knee bars, crimps, slopers, finger cracks, knee drops and bouldering power moves. The protection is a mix of cams and bolts.

Today I go back for another attempt after a month away. Can't wait to send and share more tales of this amazing line. It is the biggest free climbable roof in the Sea to Sky Area!I have fallen near the end from a gritty hand jam that popped. I wasn't pumped! and quickly got back on and finished making for a send with one fall. This is after about 15 different days on the route with a lot of energy going into aiding it, clearing away loose rock, bolting around scary features and scrubbing, plus working out the endless complexity of the moves while always on lead... can't climb it any other way as it's so steep.

CAVING gargantuan, yorkshire, mendip, big red

2010-08-29T11:23:00.000-07:00

Another trip this year to visit the Andy Good Plateau and the caves of Yorkshire Pot, Mendip, Backdoor, Gargantuan and something new Big Red Cave.

The crew consisted of Dan Butler, owner of Climb On Equipment in Squamish, Alex Comptois and myself - Matt Maddaloni. Just out of Sparwood near Fernie B.C. we drove up the Ptolemy Creek 4x4 road and camped at the trail head to Camp Caves and Andy Good Col. Using the car park as base camp we spent 4 days hiking extensively to various locations to search out new and old caves.

The first day we hiked up to the camp caves, met a large bible group who had hiked in from the highway and were exploring Cleft Cave and Gargantuan, and then traversed the forest plateau directly right (to the south) to a 1000 foot wall of vertical limestone that forms a fin of rock that is a spur ridge off the summit of Ptolemy Peak. From the bottom of the talus you can spot several frost pockets and possible cave entrances. W

e were able to hike up to two pockets and confirmed that they were not caves. Hiking downward along the wall to the toe of the ridge we came across a stream pouring out of a hole about 40 feet up the wall. An obvious cave possibility I got on lead and made it into the cave entrance on vary sketchy natural gear. Someone had placed a bolt insert up high and had somehow rappelled off but left no trace. The hole became a crack and was a dead end. I rappelled myself by leaving a fixed nut inside the 5 foot hole. We ended the day by continuing down the ridge and traversing over to the next wall which forms Ptolemy Peak proper and checked out three more possibilities. Up high the talus are three frost pockets, two of which were created by recent water coming down the mountain. All were dead ends. The final lead and the reason we came on this trip was the huge red hole at the toe of the wall. You can see this feature best from camp caves or higher towards the Andy Good Col. The hole is really BIG and the entrance is about 200 feet tall and and 100 feet wide. The feature was filled with loose material on the floor and walls but deeper within the hole was better limestone which seemed to suggest possibilities for more caves. The approach is dangerous with loose steep gravel and to enter the cave would require several pitches of climbing. No previous exploration showed wether in footprints of fixed gear. We decided to head back to camp and attempt to enter the next day. The best route to this area involves hiking halfway up to camp caves and traversing directly right through the forest to a meadow that cuts into the forest at the toe of the talus about 500 feet above the big red cave. I lead three pitches vertically into the cave to reach a highest bench. The first pitch starts high on the right. I placed one bolt as an anchor on a ledge. From here the climbing takes the right rib to the steep vertical rock above. Two bolts and a #2 camalot protect the start, then a traverse across the wall and a few more bolts enables the climber to reach a hand traverse ramp to the left. At the top of the ramp the climbing continues straight up to a two bolted anchor on a ledge far out on the left wall. From here I traversed back right to the overhanging step that blocks access to the loose dirt floor of the cave. One bolt allows the climber to down climb and mantle over the overlap. The dirt above is steep at about 30 degrees. Halfway up to the wall above the mantle I found a very old bolt and the first sign of previous exploration. This was the ONLY sign we found. No footprints, rappel stations or anything else existed, this was a great surprise and a huge mystery to us. It is obvious that the loose nature of the cave could of easily wiped out all other fixed gear over the

years as the bolt was circa 1970's. I placed another two bolt anchor on the left wall and where the dirt becomes easily ascended without a rope as protection. Our crew scrambled to the top of the scree / dirt for about 100 feet to the back of the cave. From here a 15 foot terrifyingly loose and mostly unprotected vertical step gives access to more 30 degree dirt and a final loose ledge on a upper bench where I placed another two bolt anchor. The only gear I used during the pitch was a #1 and #3 camalot at the belay below. The anchor was torqued upward during the climb which welded the #1 into an un-retrievable position. It was left fixed unfortunately. From the bench above we were able to explore several leads in the better limestone. Back all the way left resulted in nothing. One reachable hole at the right went nowhere. There was another hole just past this that would require a rope due to the extreme loose nature of the vertical talus. We had run out of rope so we left it unexplored. There were three holes in the ceiling of the cave that were possible leads but again we didn't have rope or more bolts to check these out. It would require bolt ladders about 30 feet long in overhanging terrain to reach them... at least the rock would take bolts well.

The only lead that seemed to actually lead to more caving was just before the right false hole at the end of the upper bench. A very tight pocket starts from a sitting position and leads up into the wall about a body length. The hole then turns up and right and we were just able to see with our lamps that it continued. It was hard to see but looked as though it was growing in size. A hammer would be useful here to knock the tops of a few sharp spikes that constrict and catch the material of your jacket at your chest. This would make it far easier to continue. As it was we had lost motivation as we had hoped the caving would of been more extensive, especially as it was obvious that any leads here probably lead to upper exits in

the mountain that are vie

wable from outside. We rappelled and pulled our ropes but if anyone is interested in returning I would suggest exploring the tight squeeze or bolting a ladder along the ceiling to the three other great leads above that are big enough to warrant easy travel once reached.

Day three: Gargantua to new areas near Two day junction.

I wanted to show the boys the route through Gargantuan and along the way came across my fixed line that I left two years ago that headed into an overhead passage just after Two Day Junction. After climbing back up it and heading down the clean Phreatic passage I became aware of the huge amount of traffic the area had seen since we discovered this place. When Corey Dyke, Paul Cordy and myself dropped out of a slot 15 feet from the fixed line we had turned left which luckily took us to two day junction where we left a rope for future exploration. If we had gone right we probably would of had to reverse the entire 2 hour adventure back to where we discovered these passages near the end of the Dipper Series and would not of realized how close we had been to the new exit. As it was many others had climbing through here since and foot prints littered the right passage. This passage split into endless choices that were way to confusing to continue down. We will come back and survey a map to enable further exploration.

Day Four: Mendip to Octopus Room in Backdoor series

I have never been in Yorkshire cave and by looking in the book it seemed Mendip to backdoor seemed to be the easiest place to start for a trip into one cave and out another. After descending into Mendip and finding the first rappel it was obvious that no one had been in here for a very long time. The anchors we incredibly bad. Mostly rusted bolts and ancient pitons. We fixed lines behind us and dropped into the blackness. The topo is really hard to follow and many times we were somewhat lost as to where on the map we were. It took us much longer than anticipated to reach the bottom chambers to where Mendip joined Backdoor. The main problem being that I didn't draw in the side profiles to my topo. The cave drops in height far more than what seems on the overhead view and without profiles the drop in height becomes confusing. Won't make that mistake again. I also left out that the link to backdoor was in the second to last room of Mendip. We almost free soloed a ridiculously dangerous overhang of 15 feet to explore the only way on we could think of. Luckily we gave up after trying to stand on each others shoulders and gripping wet and mud covered holds. Turning back we spent a while in the second to last chamber and eventually found a hole behind a block that dropped down beside the last chamber. From here we made quick progress and found the upper series of the Octopus chambers. The Octopus room was a vertical drop with many side passages opening up into it. We only had enough rope to rappel to a fixed line halfway down that was fixed between two passages. We explored these... one way was blocked with a big drop and a missing bolt to protect a sketchy traverse, and the other went forever. The bottom of Octopus room had a rushing water fall and made for some awesome sound down there. Heading back we found the way to the exit in Backdoor but the difficult caving up to that point made us turn around and head back up through Mendip. Super fun!

New Mixed Route, Squamish

2009-12-14T12:36:00.000-08:00

New mixed route to the right of Zombie roof. I'm not sure how hard but probably harder than M7. The line pulls out two roofs with the first having no feet and a long reach, figure four needed! The second roof involves lay backing a thin crack with ice in it to reach a hanging short dagger. The above ice slab just takes 4" stubbies to the anchor just below the start of Jabberwocky. The upper ice section is almost a route in itself. We've top roped this route many times over the past couple of years and it always seems to form. What is cool about it is that there is no free route here in the summer because the route completely blanks out past the final roof and without the ice it would never go. First image by Scott Pick, the rest by Nick Sopczak.

I broke my ankle 5 months ago and this was my first real day out. Needless to say I'm super weak and didn't send, but feel free to giver her a go! Just let me know if you send it and what you think the grade is.

Route name:

FROZEN ZOMBIE

1.5 oz Roses Lime Juice
1.5 oz Orange Juice
1.0 oz Light Rum
1.0 oz Dark Rum
1.0 oz Triple Sec

National Geographic

2009-11-12T18:05:00.000-08:00

A dream come true, working for National Geographic.

Recently my good friend Bryan Smith through Reel Water Productions managed somehow to convince me that I needed to dive into the world of adventure film making and specifically as a grip, rigger and camera equipment designer. This summer I started with a radio controlled cable cam robot, and now have a 15 foot jib boom, a track and dolly system and a RC camera helicopter, and Bryan was right... I've never been so stoked! Together we have completed 6 TV segments with many more to go for Nat Geo Channel with stories about Base Jumping, Slacklining, Climbing, Kayaking, Ice Climbing, Mountain Biking and Snowboarding, and two web TV series with stories on Mountain Biking, Trail Running, Bouldering, Sea Kayaking, Climbing, Surfing and Skiing for Arcteryx and Patagonia. You could say our expertise in adventure film has become far reaching. I feel super privileged and excited about my new career and feel I've finally found the niche business I've been searching for. Here are a few images from our recent films.

CC system, operating the cable cam at Crankworx 2009

slacklining the Chief and designing control systems.

Kite Surfing!

2009-02-23T14:42:00.000-08:00

Picture by Nick Sopczak

here in Squamish

Snow Kiting on Green Lake

2009-02-16T18:05:00.000-08:00

Love it!
a new way to explore the mountain world.

all images by Nick Sopczak

World Tallest Tree

2008-12-22T13:47:00.000-08:00

HUGE!

Fred Beckey article and video

2008-12-22T13:30:00.000-08:00

Great video on Fred Beckey from the New York Times. Check out the article at
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/16/sports/othersports/16beckey.html?_r=2

2008-12-03T19:46:00.001-08:00

Jeremy Blumel and Evan Stevens on a 5.12 roof crack in Chekamus Canyon

http://www.allclimbing.com/archive/2008/06/climbing-a-512-roof-crack-in-squamish/

Youtube video of our Chief slackline

2008-10-30T15:49:00.000-07:00

Our high line rig on the Chief. Most of the walking is by Robin Avery. Check it out!

Thanks Ryan Warden for filming it!

Slide Show, Brew Pub Squamish, Oct 23

2008-09-30T13:08:00.000-07:00

Second walk - of a slackline on the Chief

2008-09-21T11:29:00.000-07:00

Robin Avery is the second to walk across the Chief between the second and third summit on September 20th 2008, the first day of Fall. Robin is originally from California and now is an undergrad at UBC in Vancouver. You can find Youtube videos of him sending front flips and 360's on slacklines. An experienced high liner he has sent the Monkeys Face, Lost Arrow Spire and several other notable walks around the USA. With a new safer and tighter slackline rigged by Matt Maddaloni his walk became possible. Next Saturday October 4th, the line will be put up again for all comers so please find us for some fun.

Josh Cross was the first to walk the line in 2005.

Bald Egos - second ascent

2008-09-20T20:57:00.000-07:00

Suzie Beliveau and I finished the second ascent of Bald Egos on the Stawamus Chief over the course of five days. The route was put up in 2000 by Conny Amelunxen and Adam Diamond. I had previously lead the first A4 pitch low on the route but needed to rap off soon after and this time around Nathan Kukathus took the lead for me and completed the A4 pitch named "Copperhead Corner" helping me to fix to the top of pitch 3 so Suzie and I could continue the next day. Suzie lead 3 real pitches including, "Escape from Drifters", A2 beaks and blades, another A2+ pitch and her personal hardest aid lead yet at A3+. This pitch taxed her for 9 hours with a crux that required 5 very bad bird beaks and a copper head before she was able to sink in better protection. Previous to this climb Suzie had hammered in pitons only on one other pitch. Way to go Suzie. John Furneaux and client probably had the previous high point since the first ascent completing all but the last three or four pitches including the routes crux which I got the pleasure of leading at real A4. Bald Egos in the longest big wall route on the Chief and is similar in commitment as routes on El Capitan.

On the first couple of days two girls from Vancouver were climbing a Big Wall ascent of University Wall. It was their first Big Wall and they had only a single portaledge / slip on shoes without socks and jeans... and still topped out after three days. Nice Job!!! If you girls read this please email me so that I can get your perspective for a Big Wall article I'm writing. Thanks
mm

Big Wall Underground

2008-09-20T20:44:00.001-07:00

Corey Dyck, Paul Cordy and I traveled to Crows Nest Pass three weeks ago. We explored Gangantua Cave which has the largest subterranean cavern in Canada named Boggle Alley. Our plan was to find a climbing objective within the cave with the understanding that difficult vertical sections of caves do not get explored very often. Our team was informed about an Aven (a vertical shaft approached from below) that may lead to new ground. We established several pitches over a course of a week that did indeed open a new series of Gargantua that had never before been seen. Two of our discoveries were quite noteworthy and these and our adventure will be shared through a slide show in Squamish at the Howe Sound Brew Pub in a months time. Stay tuned for details.

2008-08-24T10:20:00.000-07:00

"La Coalition" Photo's

2008-08-20T10:18:00.000-07:00

Suzie (my hot wife) deep in dirt on pitch 6

Yours truly top of "La Coalition"

Pitch 6 just before the FFA

Looking down at the impressive 5th pitch 11+
on-sighted by Maddaloni the previous day.

The best things in life are free! - NEW Squamish multi pitch "La Coalition"

2008-08-18T10:44:00.000-07:00

The best things in life are free!

By Adam Hart

What do you think?

I say YES!!!

The month of Aug 2008 will go down in my world as the culmination of a series of life experiences aligning the universe to provide one heck of ride. In the end what remained were 10 bloody digits, black grainy, scratchy bits of grit pouring from both tear ducks, forearms crying for a Swedish message and a new Squamish multi pitch route called La Coalition.

La Coalition, La Coalition, La Coalition…….my first time. You remember your first time…don’t you? The soft touch of her skin, the sweet smell of her neck, the gentle caress of her lips....ahhhh La Coalition…..my first time.

Hey Damien what do you say we go climb Rock On into the Lower Pan Tease and finish up the Buttress? Damien, in his heavy French tongue, electrified the phone with his super keen demeanor. OUI!….I pick you up in 10 minutes.

Arriving at the base of Rock On all the thoughts that come to your mind when you see a dozen people waiting to start a route rushed through me like a bull charging the herd at Pamplona. I was ready to strike…..staring down the crowd in anticipation for the first blow. For a few minutes Damien and I stared blankly at each other trying to figure out what we should do as an alternative. Bad Pants Party was our first idea……..ahhhh, I don’t know, I belted out, still overheated from the crowd. What about something on the apron then into the Buttress was the second idea, but that only added more fuel to my fire seeing as a similar crowed was surely waiting on the apron.

Hey Damien…..what do you say to a little exploration? Damien is a strong climbing who can handle an ice axe like Sharon stone handles an ice pick. Where we go, Damien asked? Let’s keep hiking up the gully for a bit and see what we can find.

Damien and I hiked up the gully for only about two minutes when I spotted this awesome looking roof on the Opal side of the gully. UP THERE, look up their Damien…..lets go climb that roof! I was as excited as a kid in a candy store. How we get there? Damien wondered out loud. We took a good look around and notice that there was a natural overgrown ledge offering access to the roof.

We stashed our bags by the base of the route and took flight back to Squamish to grab a few things. Charging down past the cattle in line at the base of Rock On all I could think about was the list of things we needed to get……pitons, hammer, extra tat, bolts and so on. We were so motivated to get on that roof that we were back up at the base in under an hour, ready to attack with a hammer as our side arm and pitons in place of bullets.

Damien started up the very dirty and overgrown ledge with ease. Leading the ledge which started hard right and finish extremely left, Damien fixed a couple of pins along the way. At its obvious conclusion we found ourselves staring down what appeared to be an impenetrable, overgrown ramp. The thin ramp traversed back right for some 10 meters and got smaller and smaller as each meter was revealed. Staring at this ramp I couldn’t help but feel as if Damien and I were a couple of gun slingers about to walk our ten paces before dawn. This thin, intimidating ramp was our draw bridge leading to the promised land. Damien started up the ramp cautiously with all the ammo we would need to siege the draw bridge and lower for all to enter.

Seven hours, four pins, three bolts and two very tired gunslingers later Damien and I were back in Squamish trying to decide when we would make it back up to finish conquering the ramp and expose the porn above. Weather and other commitments found us back at it two weeks later.

This was my first time……never hammered a pin, never placed a bolt, I hadn’t even spent any time scouting new routes before La Coalition...but that has all changed. Not only did we lower the draw bridge and send the magnificent roof, which was one of my proudest climbing accomplishments do date, but to our surprise the roof exit revealed a fourth pitch, fifth pitch and a final sixth pitch. After six long days and a few key additional soldiers later we had established La Coalition. I feel comfortable in saying that putting up this route, ground up with all bolts hand drilled, was a highlight in my life and took all the sweat, strength, energy and kahonies I could muster. I know Damien would agree with me when I say…it is a classic route and one worthy of a summer log jam similar to that fateful day in Aug 2008 waiting to climb Rock On.

Adam Hart

www.poweroffood.com

Cruel Shoes, Grand Wall, Roman Chimneys

2008-08-11T18:29:00.000-07:00

Possibly the best 5.11a multi pitch link up in Squamish. Climbed it with Pat on Friday, August 11th. We made pretty good time (6 hours) and I finally got a chance to try the infamous 11d pitch on the Roman Chimneys. A little wet at the crux but most hard routes on the Chief are wet somewhere. The moves were still doable and all there including lots of gear. Keep a yellow alien and a red and gold link cam for the steep part of the roof. Super sweet line!!!

John Furneaux climbs Everest

2008-06-02T19:07:00.001-07:00

Congradulations John on climbing Mt. Everest on May 25th, 2008. And to top it off he helped a client get there too!

Table of Contents, Alpinist Magazine #23

2008-02-29T17:59:00.000-08:00

3rd pitch of University Wall, Paul Cordy belaying
, Paul Bride shooting

last week I climbed the Split Pillar with Todd, totally dry and in blazing sun. Not bad for February!

Climbing without a rope on Young Blood - VIDEO

2008-01-18T17:23:00.000-08:00

This link will take you to a video of me attempting to climb Young Blood, 5.13a, without a rope.
ENJOY

VIDEO LINK

Building a cedar shelter at Ziptrek

2007-12-23T15:50:00.000-08:00

Winter 2006 / 2007 brought lots of snow and we needed to build two shelters at Ziptrek during this time. Here are some photos of rigging the beams into place.

Ziptrek Ecotours, my life as a rigger

2007-12-23T15:34:00.000-08:00

I thought I would show some pictures of my work as a construction rigger while working at Ziptrek Ecotours in Whistler BC. These photos were taken from last summer of 2007.

These images are of replacing line 7 from 1/2" cable to 3/4" cable. I am the dude in the red jacket organizing the crew.

Climbing 5.13 without a rope

2007-11-29T17:20:00.000-08:00

Brian Smith (Reel Water Productions) and Todd Gillman, both part of the Range Life Team, and Steve Rogers (Bread and Butter Films) hooked up with me on my attempt to climb Young Blood, 5.13, without a rope on the Cakadaemon Boulder below the Cheif. The route starts 30 feet off the ground near Rurp Riot and Dream Catcher. We set up a trapeez net out in space below the route using a 30 ft circular high strength fishing net and industrial strength bungee cord. We climbed 40 feet up several trees to attach our bungees and connected the other bungees to rock anchors such as bolts and cracks. Everything was equalized and set up to stetch away from rock to prevent abrasion. Needless to say it was a bit of a rigging nightmare and took an entire day to set up.

Jumping into was some of the most fun I've ever had and falling off the route into the net some of the most TERRIFYING of my life. Well worth it though!!! I never did finish the route, the crux takes you out near the edge of the net, but it was sure fun taking huge whippers into space on your back. Thanks Steve for the rad shots taken with multiple flashes. The one picture where you can see the net is of Danger Dan Tetzlaff canonballing off the rock horn.

Victory lap on Freeway

2007-09-19T19:57:00.000-07:00

Adam Hart and I climbed Freeway last weekend to finish off the summer season of climbing. Super fun to introduce him to Freeway, such a classic line.

The first image is of Adam pulling out the crux on Cab Overhang

The second image is me pushing off on the next traverse pitch out the roof.

The vertical image is looking through Daylight Crack at Adam's #3 Camalot

Land Kiting

2007-09-10T14:26:00.000-07:00

Thanks for the photos Paul.
I finally bought a kite, a 5 meter to be exact. It has been 2 weeks and I've finally learned how to maneover on my board back and forth across the school field. What finally made it work was discovering that if you went to the very back of the field the wind was more stable and more consistent. Unfortunatley you need to get your flying skill level up so that you can skim across the tops of the trees with the kite as you bomb down the field. Crash into the trees and it is all over. Today I also landed my first 180 aerial turn. The pictures that show me getting air are the multiple attempts. So fun!!! and yes I'm obsessed once again.

Viking Warrior - Lives again!

2007-08-28T20:59:00.000-07:00

The roof crack called "Viking Warrior" was discovered in the late 80's by Gord Ross. Gord never got around to getting on the crack and told me about it one day in 2000. Later that year, myself, Gord and Patrick Delaney went to climb this roof crack. After a 15 min bush wack and a bit of scrambling we were at the base. I got the FA by a mix of aid and free, it was clean from the start. This line was beautiful i thought and was steep and very powerful climbing, right up my alley at the time. Both myself and pat worked it for a few days but never sent it. We both got to just below the lip but could not do the moves to top out. We figured it was in the 5.12+ range. After those few attempts we forgot about the Viking......

Seven years later it sees another go! I've been telling Mat about this for awhile now and tonight we went to check it out.

At first Mat was mocking me, saying it looks like crap rock but after he got on it he changed this mind quickly.

Mat climbed the route figuring out gear and the moves, then he pull the rope for a ground up attempt. Mat walked the first 3/4 of the route. I tried it again and got worked from the start - not near enough power right now :) I thought mat had it for sure but the crux is at the lip, he threw for the final hold but just missed it and peeled. After a brief rest he tried it again but could not put it together. It must of been because he put in a full day of rigging at zip trek (must be getting soft mat, it must be because your 30 in the fall!) We'll head back at the end of the week and I'm sure mat will walk the route. Till then.......

Then I'll disclose the location! He agrees its about 5.12+

Land Boarding

2007-08-24T19:20:00.000-07:00

Wow! I tried out a 2 meter "trainer" kite, thinking this will be easy and won't kill me, for kite skateboarding on a "mountain board" or Land Boarding. Super fun and the 2 meter kite could actually make that board rip. Mattieu from the Howe Sound Juice Co and Kites gave me a demo. An avid kiter he had never tried a mountain board even though he has a trike and many, many kites and boards for water. He loved it too. I'm definitley getting into this sport. Possibly a 4 or 5 meter kite so that I can rip grass, sand or snow on skis. We tried it in the high school field here and it was super fun. I just need a bigger kite now so I can get air.

Bugs Photo Spread

2007-08-21T17:23:00.001-07:00

Nathan Kukathus (sic designer of all things useful) and Paul Bride (full time pro photographer) chilling at the base of the West Ridge of Pigeon Spire.

Paul Bride loving his job
West face of the three Howser Towers. The 6 rappels of the Becky / Chouinard is off the left South Howser Tower and over the grim and wide bergshrund at the base. Then manoeuvre around some BIG crevasses.
Paul B, shooting Nathan on Pigeon.
Paul shooting again.
Nathan on the summit block.
Nathan kicking back some Fireball Whiskey!
Good food, good times.
Calgary girl ripping it up on the North East Ridge of Bugaboo Spire.
Her friend leading on the N.E. Ridge.
The very exposed ridge atop Bugaboo Spire.
Hiking across the glacier from the Bugaboo / Snowpatch col to Pigeon Spire / Howser col.
More hanging out on the Pigeon.

Bugaboo Link Up Record

2007-08-21T07:02:00.000-07:00

Paul Cordy, Paul Bride, Nathan Kukathas and I just returned from a successful trip to the Bugaboo Range. This is a quick note and a future post with images and a full report will arrive soon.

I was able to climb "in a day" the biggest link up done yet in the Bugs.

Wednesday, August 15, 4:30 am - leave Applebee Campground, 5:00 am - onsight free solo McTech Arete by headlamp, 6:00 am - sun hits me halfway up North East Buttress of Bugaboo Spire, 8:00 am - put crampons on after descending The Kain Route on Bugaboo Spire, 8:30 am - finished crossing glacier and begin climbing Pigeon Spire, 12:20 pm - reach my friends halfway up The Becky / Chouinard who shoot photos as I pass by, 5:00 pm - I begin The Krauss / McCarthny on Snow Patch Spire, onsight free solo, 8:00 pm - arrive back in Applebee campground after descending the Bugaboo / Snowpatch col.

Success! Triple Crown has been upped.

2007-08-12T09:02:00.000-07:00

On August 11th 2007, Paul Cordy and I had our last attempt at the Triple Crown and we were successful. I lead every pitch while Paul followed. We started with "Seasoned in the Sun" as a warm up, "University Wall" to the "Roman Chimney's" (which Sig Isaac didn't do before) then we dropped our gear and ran up to the first summit. After running down the backside trail we grabbed bikes (self propelled of course) and peddled to the base of the Zodiac Wall and climbed "The Northern Lights" we tagged the third summit and ran down the backside for a second time. Finally we finished on Freeway and ran down the trail for a third time. I freed every pitch with no falls and Paul freed about 90 percent. Total time 16.5 hours. By adding the Roman Chimneys and the first summit we added two hours to Sig Issac's time. I'm happy it is over and it is time to visit the Bugaboo range with Paul Bride, Nathan Kukathus, Paul Cordy and myself to see what our new found fitness can accomplish. See you in ten days.

I believe the next step is the Quadruple Crown - by adding "Angels Crest" after climbing the Triple Crown so that the final Second Summit is obtained and all four summits including Tantalus Wall are climbed.

The Ultimate Link Up would be climbing the "Fortress of Solitude" into Angels Crest including the Triple Crown and tagging all four summits with sustained hard climbing to every summit.

Squamish Link Ups - Sonnie Trotter

2007-08-08T19:37:00.000-07:00

In 2004 and 2006 Sonnie Trotter sets new long free link up records... (excerpts from Gripped Magazine)

2004 - Sig Isaac’s incredible link-up of University Wall, Northern Lights and Freeway almost a decade ago set a landmark in Squamish enchainment. On August 8, 2004, Tommy Caldwell and Sonnie Trotter added a new page to the story when they climbed The Grand Wall 5.13b, 10 pitches in 3 hours, The Shadow 5.13b 8 pitches, in 6 hours and Freeway 5.11d 10 pitches in 3 hours, creating a new link-up they called The Grand Slam.“We started late, around 8:15,” says Trotter, “we only passed one party, so it went really smoothly. We could have done it faster, but we wanted to enjoy it so we paced ourselves well.” There is potential for even more link-ups, as Trotter says “it is very possible to throw in two more long routes. I think we are only scratching the surface of long free link-ups.” Despite their success and the fact that neither fell, Trotter still says “Sig [Isaac] still holds the belt, he covered way more ground and led every pitch, that’s super proud.”

2006 - On August 7, Sonnie Trotter and Matt Seagal (USA) linked The Grand Wall 5.13b, The Shadow 5.13b and the Black Dyke 5.13b.

Surviving Tantalus Wall

2007-08-05T18:04:00.000-07:00

Well, I have been up the route "Tantalus Wall" for the last time in a very long while. It is a fabulous climb, but perhaps a bit of a sandbag. More likely I just don't have the right technique for straight-in fingertip jamming in pinscars with feet smeared into incipient seams. Twall is a whole lot of that, with a couple of off-width pitches thrown in just to make you carry the boat anchors up the thing.

Really, I should be singing the praises of this awesome climb... and it is awesome... because I wish more people would try things like this instead of choking up the grand wall all the time. But I guess not everyone is stoked about climbing 6 inch cracks. The reality is that the upper pitches are pretty serious, strenuous and insecure. Sandbag isn't the right word... it just feels like that because it doesn't let up a whole lot, and it is mentally challenging. Having said that, you can do Milk Run to avoid the off-width, which is the main reason people are afraid of this route... so don't let that hold you back. The first pitch after the ledge also has an off-width section, but one can layback it (though I still recommend bringing big gear, at least a #4 camalot), and there are several bomber pins through the wide part (actually, they are bashed into drilled holes... does that make them rivets? I dunno, but they are pretty beefy and reassuring.)

Don't get suckered into the handjam corner that ends in a dead little tree... as hard as it looks you need to go to the right at the giant undercling horn up the overlap and into the pinscars. I know I am not selling this very well, but if you like "crime of the century" in the smoke bluffs this climb is just like that above the stalactite; the main difference is that the friction is amazing. Super-fresh granite crystals. I guess that is cause no one climbs it!

Anyway, the moment that I really wanted to capture was the transition from the pin seam to the tree... and someone hacked off the branch so it doesn't quite look as cool... but the belay seat in the tree is still awesome!

Anyway, if you want serious adventure, go do Tantalus Wall. It is wild, recently cleaned very thoroughly, and well worth doing. Plus the belay in the tree that grows under the roof is one of the coolest experiences is Squamish.

Fortress of Solitude, Sherrif's Badge

2007-08-05T17:39:00.000-07:00

Matt and I have been training hard on Northern lights and Uwall, and the other day decided to build strength on some other long free climb. We decided on “Fortress of Solitude,” and brought Nick along so we could take pictures. It begins with a long groove and a short crux, then crosses ledges up to the corner of the mighty Sherriff’s Badge… This feature is a brilliant white vertical shield on the Chief that is capped by a brooding brow of enormous roofs. Until recently the wall had thwarted attempts to climb free to the top of it… and it still awaits a free ascent directly up through the imposing central roof that stretches across almost the entire wall.

The fortress takes a devious line to the left of the main roof, and then wryly seaks across a smaller, and surprisingly easy (easier) roof. The first crux is the classic “Daily Planet” that I climbed first so I could shoot Matt. When I asked if I could lower a rope to haul my pack after the lead, Matt looked at me sternly and said “alright, I guess that means were gonna see you send this thing!” I guess he is on to me. Usually if I want an excuse not to succeed on a hard free pitch, I will climb with a pack… I can say: “I’m training!”

“Do you remember the sequence?” Matt asked me. I answered with a ninja speed mime of the crux moves… underclinging high left, setting the feet and right hand intermediate for a hard pull in on the undercling while reaching a high right hand in the corner crack… followed by cheers from your friends. “Nice…” and off I went. The long corner went smoothly, I caught the wide stem no-hands rest before the crux, and sent it just like I mimed it. Matt gave a good pose show, and then we swung poses for the next pitch “wait! Go back and do that again but stick your ass out more this time!” I didn’t understand, but tried anyway… I am not so used to trying to look like I am climbing while trying to actually climb…

The following pitch is a crimpy and wild meander back and forth across a zig-zag of awkward and insecure moves… I can see why Matt was so stoked when I stepped up to it. Following a short moss pitch… just to add that first ascent flavour… there was a wild 5.9 jug traverse over a big roof with a small roof overhead. I volunteered Nick. Since he hasn’t climbed with Matt at all he was blissfully unaware of Matt’s propensity to underestimate the difficulty of “easy” climbing. Soon he was aiding up a tricky 5.11 crack and then bunching himself up tightly between the two roofs with frightening air underneath… yes, 5.9 perhaps, but still a full value pitch!

The next pitch was what I had come to see… Matt raved about a 6 metre 11a roof traverse on huge jugs, and it looked serious. I made it out to the last bolt, and fearing the pitons and extra gravity of heel hooking way up high on the walls I cried “damn pack!” and sat on the rope (I swear it was harder than 11a)... I aided through the next two pins and set up for shooting. As usual, Matt climbed back and forth a couple of times, trying not to make it look too easy. I am always really stoked to shoot Nick… cause when he climbs stuff like this… he means business. It’s the real thing when he grimaces and looks fearfully for the next hold. That’s drama! Then it was 7 oclock and the options were to continue up a hard 12b and dirty 11c, followed by a bushy and loose escape off Angels Crest and down the North Gully, or three easy rappels down to the start. You can guess what we decided.

University Wall, Northern Lights, Freeway - 14.5 hrs

2007-08-03T18:15:00.000-07:00

On August 8th, 1996 Sig Issac climbed University Wall, Northern Lights and Freeway in 14.5 hours with no falls while Luc Mailoux seconded every pitch by jugging the rope. For me, this feat has inspired my climbing throughout the years and in my mind remained the greatest climbing feat in Squamish to date. Yesterday, August 2nd, Paul Cordy and I climbed this Triple Crown in the same time but both of us climbed free, I lead every pitch and Paul seconded me. Unfortunately we both had falls. I had two falls, one on the first pitch of U-Wall and one on the second pitch of Alaska Highway. Paul fell three times, once on the first pitch of U-Wall, once on the Calling 5.12 crux and once on the 4th pitch of Freeway. The good news is that we felt so good and fast that we believe we may have a great chance at firing every pitch free with no falls plus add on The Grand Wall as a fourth time up the Chief in a day. Paul and I will try again the weekend of August 11th and 12th. Wish us luck!

Squamish Poser tour '07 continues: University Wall

2007-07-30T23:27:00.000-07:00

In this latest installment of the tour de poseur, Matt, Nick, and Paul are thwarted on an attempt to do Uwall with stacked pose-downs on the first three pitches. As we get to the base of the scramble, we notice a pair of aid climbers on the first pitch. We sit it out in the pouring rain under the dry of a hemlock and trade stories of epics, blowouts, and hilarity associated with Uwall, and then decide to head up there... after all... in a downpour, the wickedly overhanging Uwall is pretty much the only dry climbing in squamish.

Two hours later the leader finished aiding the first pitch and we groan into action. They quite generously hauled up a rope for me and fixed it, so i aided up... spinning and dangling in free space... while Matt led up to the real business.

When the aid second reached the belay Matt started to climb for the photoshoot... and just then the clouds parted and lit up the slabs below... Sounds good, except that Uwall is in perpetual shadow and we needed the clouds to balance the shade below with what we had on the climbing. Matt whined his frustration with a loud "what NOW?" but then saw the flashing brightness below and knew it would ruin the shot.
After ten minutes or so the clouds began to cooperate again and Matt punched up the crux... starting on some good handjams and high feet, one must move the left hand to a slopey, flaring finger slot, and then cross through to undercling the juggy horn above.
Pretty exciting stuff... but you are not through until you pull up on small incut sidepulls and throw in a chicken wing. Guidebook beta regarding the mandatory flying dyno chicken wing move is somewhat exaggerated... but I can't help think of how cool it would be to do that here... maybe one day...

Anyway, next one grovels and scums their way up this overhanging slot as best they can. It is really wild to be fully stuck inside this thing... certain that you are cammed in tight enough that you won't fall... and looking sideways at nothing but air under you, knowing that if you did fall out here you would just eject into free space.
Now Matt and nick use all sorts of fingery crimpers and footwork to get through this part fast... but not me... nope, I work that chicken wing action as long as possible, scraping my body up one sweaty, gut-busting inch at a time... ah, chimneys. Then you get some finger locks and you can grab the chains. The aiders were going to be a while yet on the next pitch, so we just did laps toproping the first pitch until we could hear the beer calling. RETREAT!!!

University Wall

2007-07-26T07:25:00.001-07:00

Paul Cordy and I have been on U-Wall three times in the past month but until yesterday we had only worked on the first three crux pitches. Still, the upper pitches have their moments and I can see how hard this "three routes in a day challenge" is really going to be. We had some really bad weather the past week which made the first two pitches horribly wet. I aided the first pitch entirely and half the second but from there on we freed everything. Were going to climb it for a fourth time this weekend and I expect the initial pitches to dry out enough for a free ascent... we'll see.

Slack Line and Zombie Roof - bandaloop

2007-07-22T15:14:00.000-07:00

Dave Humphreys was kind enough to hook us up with this killer pic of our slack line that we set up between the second and third peak on the Chief. Thanks Dave.

And here is a pic of Sean Issac and I screwing around on Zombie Roof - our interpretation of bandaloop. Courtesy of Brian Goldstone.
Thanks Brian.

Alaska Highway pose down

2007-07-18T15:34:00.002-07:00

This is an ordered sequence of select moves on Alaska Highway... the "approach" to the calling and chilkoot pass (check the June blog entries for more on those!)

A couple of days ago we got a crew together (Yen Tang, Chris Weldon, Lev Pinter, and myself) to go grovel up the crux pitch of Alaska Highway; a vicious overhanging flaring groove. Thank god for the handjams... except if you are Lev and you don't know how to do that (?). He gave us a good show with some serious bear hug action on the tree pitch, then power stemming up through the jam sections. Good work Lev! Kudos also to Yen for Battling it up this thing without chalk! I can't imagine how she did that on a day of 100% humidity! Anyway, these shots are of Chris sweating his way up in good style. We all felt fully worked after two pitches... RETREAT!

Zorro's Last Ride - Finish

2007-07-14T10:44:00.000-07:00

Matt and I decided to finish Zorro's last weekend with a single push from the ground starting early on Saturday. After a crazy week of work Matt and I made plans on Friday evening to be ready to climb at 6am the following day.

After jugging out fixed lines we dropped the extra rope and Matt had the first lead out the roof.

Matt's roof pitch made for great photos.

After which I cleaned it and started out the hooking pitch.

Matt made quick work of cleaning the hooking pitch, there was only one move that required a bit if magic while leading it, opposing hooks on a knob. We ended up in an expanding corner system and Matty pushed a long pitch missing about 4 bat hooks along the way and probably upping the grade for himself at the same time.

At this point it was my lead and I started out the final pitch of Zorro's, I had 2 hook moves off the belay and ended up trying to decide where the route lead, I placed a small RURP but didn't move onto it. Both Matt and I knew there were bat hooks but where? after 10minutes of searching I came back to the belay and asked Matt to take a look. While on lead he lifted out a flake I was previously hooking on and after searching just as long as I had he decided to use his Amsteel tag line and lasso the rusty 1/4" bolt about 8 ft above him. After a few attempts he snagged the bolt and jugged the Amsteel. Now this I couldn't believe, the stuff is as thick as shoe lace and he was 20ft from the belay without a single solid piece.

You can see in a photo here that Matty has a tapped in bat hook and is about to jug the Amsteel After reaching the first bolt he couldn't find the next bat hook and decided to traverse into a feature to his right, which is where he felt the route should have been established to start. More hooking and another Amsteel lasso lead to good cams in the horizontal crack system right before the wall kicked back again. At this point Matty was well into the lead and it was simpler for him to continue to save time.

Upon reaching the ledge it was my lead to the top out on the grand wall, I started up a bushy corner french freeing to a rotten ledge system. After placing a suspect anchor in rotten rock with all I could muster out of the junk we decided to lower out to get into a better position. Note here, at the top of Zorro's traverse left into the grand, there are a few overhanging trees which would make this difficult, I suggest bringing a small folding saw to clean this up, I dis encourage anyone from heading up the corner I did as there were piles of loose debris. Once we were back on track Matty fired up to Bellygood Ledge and we hiked out with headlamps.

18hrs later we were back at the van.

Britannia Creek Waterfalls, Cable Cam, Kayaking

2007-07-09T12:13:00.000-07:00

On Thursday, Bread and Butter Films www.breadandbutter.me.uk hired me to rig a 450 foot cable cam above two water falls on Britannia Creek. The Range Life Crew therangelife.blogspot.com set up saftey downsteam below the second waterfall to keep kayakers from plunging over the 60 foot death waterfall below the last eddie. The water was pretty high and nobody wanted to take the chance of missing that eddie so we had to make absolute sure that saftey was bomber. Rigging a high line over the fast current of the eddie the crew was able to take most of the weight off the saftey man while they stood in the water ready to jump in after a boat. They were also attached to a haul line with a crew ready to pull them in if needed. Steve Rogers ran the camera with me on the cable. Again we used my portaledge rig and when we got word of a kayaker coming around the blind corner above the bridge and about to huck the first 30 foot waterfall I would begin zipping using my gloves as a break and follow just in front of the kayaker as they hucked both drops. To catch the eddie and not barrel into the saftey person the kayakers new they had to land the last waterfall upright and not roll. Kyle McCutchen went first and bumped a rock as he went over the first falls and almost was upside down but managed to get a brace / stroke and boofed it perfect. Over the second waterfall he ended up going to far right and was pushed against the wall at the bottom. He managed to get stable and came around the pool into position and planted a perfect paddle stroke into the eddie and didn't need saftey. Brian Smith went next and stomped it too but had a better line on the far left of the last waterfall and punched the eddie with some frightning speed. But the perfect run of the day (both for the kayaker and camera crew) was Andrew who landed both waterfalls perfectly flat and spent little time between drops making for action packed filming.

Photos by Tod Gillman, Chris Bozeman and Steve Rogers

Deep Water Soloing - Thailand

2007-07-04T19:18:00.000-07:00

Diana Sabreen took a photo of me while I was soloing a new route near Hong Island (east) in Thailand. Thanks for sharing the photo Dianna. You can check out her work at...

http://www.dianasabreen.com/

Zorro's Last Ride - day 1 & 2

2007-07-02T22:19:00.000-07:00

Matt and I have been talking about doing a wall route for a while now. After hashing out ideas and avoiding a grovel to a remote region of the chief we decided on Zorro's last ride. Considering it's been a while since the wall radio had some use "I actually had to replace batteries before leaving" zorro's was a great choice. So far so good, Yesterday's climb was straight forward and as per usual we swapped leads starting out on Pheasants route to the base of the long arch. I like Matt's persisence to the rules of climbing. "Myles only clean gear till your past the last bolt on pheasants". Haha. I consisently live in a world of compromise and shades of grey. It was nice to hear matty put his thoughts down. So, as far as the first few pitches of zorro's are concerned, bring TONNES of lost arrows. If you are considering long pitches I suggest a quad rack of arrows and small aliens to grey. Straight forward nailing for the most part, I'm a lefty so matty had a good laugh as nailing wasn't so easy considering the right trending system. I'm including a few photos and will update as we finish the route next weekend. Oh go canada! we managed to make it back for celebrations on July 1st. Matt likes his beer!

Function Junction Surf Fest

2007-06-28T20:46:00.000-07:00

Here are some pics of our first few attempts at river surfing. They're at function junction in Whistler on the Upper Cheak. They should have been posted weeks ago but...yeah... John set up a line upstream with another line attached to it with a pulley so it could slide back and forth across the river as you carved up the wave! (that was the plan) The yellow line in the pictures was to pull the other line back to shore or to pull your friend back in too.

We had a special guest "Mr. Hawaii", my sister's man (Vince) from Hawaii. He was stoked to try surfing in a river and I think Matt was just as stoked to bring along a surfer from Hawaii on our mission.

The first couple of pics show Matt and Vince trying to drop in from above. There's a picture of John wakeboarding. I kept to kayaking for the most part. The surfers were pretty friendly and didn't give me too much attitude for sharing their wave.

A new finish to the Northern Lights: Chilkoot Pass

2007-06-27T19:20:00.000-07:00

There were many reasons for adding a new finish to the Northern Lights, on the North Walls of the Chief in Squamish. Partly, Matt wanted to find a way around the confounding 12a crux of “The Calling.” Anyone we ever heard of that has done it free is tall… and Matt, well… isn’t. Mostly, however, the motivation was to add a finish that people would enjoy. I will tell the tale of my first experience on Northern Lights, to give you the idea of the kind of experience awaiting people after finishing the lower portion of it; perhaps the most unbelievable, clean, steep, and laser cut granite in Squamish.

I had spent the entire summer living in the campground at the base of the chief, climbing my face off. I was in the best shape of my life. So up went Geoff Hill and I to test ourselves on the North Walls. The first four pitches, “Alaska Highway” went remarkably well. Much to my surprise I struggled up the crux pitch without falling (though I probably rested on ledges for the same amount of time that I actually spent climbing.) The first pitch of “The Calling” threw me off at the crux, but the second pitch (the incredible splitter crack that widens from rattly fingers to thin hands over 25 metres or so… see pictures) went clean. Then the take train pulled into the station. Having spent everything I had on the lower pitches, the next roof threw me off, as did the first move of the following pitch. Now it was getting late and we were spent. Friendly, albeit dirty, moves led up a slippery corner to the famed crux of the Calling. I had heard that it can’t be aided, even though the crux is bolted. I tried a few times to free it (‘cause, hey… you gotta try), but failing light compelled me to yank the bolt and make a flying dyno to the ledge above… followed by a desperately freaky clip while trying to forget the ledge that would eat my ankles for dinner if I missed it. Mantle, grunt, and a moment of elation… “We are going to make it!!” I looked out at the valley below, and the warm light of sunset on the undersides of the clouds above the mountains across the sound.

Then I looked up… utterly dismayed at the sight of the slab above me. It was as if the route just ended. One minute you were climbing high above the last bolt on good (bushy) ledges, and the next you were in the land time forgot, full of thick, juicy pads of moss that are so saturated that they look as though they might burst on contact. To the right, across a less mossy piece of uninviting, featureless slab, there is a stellar crack that splits a clean, slightly overhanging wall. Surely that couldn’t be it… it looks harder than 5.10, and how do we get there anyway?

That is when I saw the bolt. This gave me mixed feelings. Though happy to know where I was supposed to go, the glint of the tiny edge of the metal hanger sticking out of the glistening moss also filled me with dread. Already high above the last protection, I now had to pad up this bog another five metres or so to clip the bolt. First came the battle for protection; I climbed down the ledges to get a tiny, totally un-reassuring rp in a flaring crack not far from the last bolt. Then, with darkness growing quickly around me, up I went through squishes and loose greenery… tense as pre-fix junkie… until I heard that magical clink of my draw clicking into place. A bit further on I reached the station and brought Geoff up. He then thrashed in complete darkness up the next pitch full of alder brush. Now came the final challenge: a run-out 10d face climb… somewhere. The problem was, I couldn’t see any holds or pitons or anything on the faces above. Everything was impenetrably blank, so I went around the corner to see if I could find the route there. After much searching we chose a line of loose, lichen encrusted flakes interspersed with bushes, and struck out for the summit. It seemed interminable, as if the chief were adding new tiers of bush and rock as we climbed higher. Pitch after run out, rope-dragging, thrashing pitch passed in the dark… someone in valleycliffe noticed our lights and yelled at us to ask if we needed help. Don’t let my tone fool you… somehow we were loving it. Finally, after adding three new pitches that we hope no one would ever have to climb again, we reached the summit and began the long slog down. In the end the final pitch had been right in front of us. We could not see any protection because, for the first 10 metres or so, there is none. We could not see any holds because; where there are any they are small and scary to pull on without any pro.

So, what begins as perhaps the most stellar and sustained climb in Squamish ends in a morass of bushy deception and flagellation. It is like an entirely different climb, and it prompts most people to call retreat at the top of the “southern lights” just before the crux.

That is why Matt and I hiked up there and rapped down in the rain to clean the two pitches of what is now “Chilkoot Pass,” and one more pitch that bypasses the 12a crux. This bypass is as yet un-freed and likely way harder (however, it is clean… so have at it!). At the station just above the Calling crux, I placed my first bolt in unbelievably hard granite. I hammered away gingerly for over an hour and a half and still didn’t get the hole to full depth. The bolt, once hammered into place, hangs about two and a half centimeters out of the rock (which will be somewhat disconcerting to future ascentionists). I had tapped away so patiently, and with such excessive care to make the hole straight as an arrow that Matt told me it was the best hand drilled hole he had ever come across… and in some of the hardest granite he had ever drilled. Having said that, he elected to place the second bolt himself and relegated me to scrub duty! In proper Squamish June style, the rain continued almost unabated for weeks as the new pitches waited to be freed.

Matt called me at about 11am one morning to say that he was skipping work and to ask if I wanted to go river surfing. My response: “Dude, we should go send our new line!” This was the second day of sunshine in a row… something that had yet to happen since scrubbing it. When Eric pulled up to my house (we had planned to do Neverland and Pan Tease because neither of us had done those yet and we wanted to get high up on some walls), and I told him about the change of plans. We were on the trail by about noon… it was a proper Squamish alpine start for a party of three on a 10 pitch sustained 11+ trad route with a couple of waiting first ascent pitches.

A power hike up to the base, followed by thorough bloodletting by mosquito hoards while I struggled up the tree pitch, and then Matt thrust up into the Flaring overhanging crux of Alaska Highway. While hurrying too eagerly, I blew a foot near the bottom and went swinging into space, pulling Eric’s arm off with me. He stayed on as I wangled my way back up to the climb. Panting and sweating at the belay, trying to regain my composure, I heard Matt say “Crap, is it raining?” Indeed, the clouds looked somewhat ominous, but the others soon realized “nope, that’s Paul…” Sure enough I was sweating like a bag of water with holes in it. Matt, fresh as daisies, looked at Eric and told him to be off… with a groan the veteran sport climber began thugging his way up the next overhanging cracks. Shortly afterward, we heard “TAKE!” as he ran out of juice. “There goes the all free ascent!...” to which Matt answered “actually I pulled on a cam on the first pitch…” I had to admit that I yanked a fixed nut on lead there too. We were off to a great start.

We reached Sasquatch ledge without incident and had a rest with fresh wild huckleberries. After a short photo session on the enduro-corner, we finally reached the crux. Off Matt went… out of sight up the corner. Silence was broken only by the swish of rope through the belay device. Suddenly we heard a fierce growl… unlike any we had ever heard from Maddaloni, and then the rope yanked up desperately for the clip… no yelps of joy… then some tense moments later: “Yahoo!” He used some new holds we had scrubbed to climb the crux in a short person way! Now he would be able to try free climbing the Northern Lights, Freeway, and University Wall all free in a day!

Once at the new station above the crux of the Calling, (and before the hanging moss garden finish) it was my turn to lead again. The first moves of “Chilkoot Pass” are easy up to a bolt, then one downclimbs onto a slab that hangs out from the wall over an overhanging abyss below. Scrubbing holds as I went, I tried again and again to get the sequence. It was all there, it just took a little planning... once that was freed I raced up the crack to the overhanging wall above.

It began with pulling assorted flakes, then Flaring hands gave pretty good jams and protection was everywhere. Then Matt's cell phone goes off. Funniest sentence of the day: "Annie, I gotta go... I am belaying Paul!" After a rest on a ledge, the crack thinned to fingers, and then slammed shut here and there, making for long reaches and bold moves. After a whipper or two I made it to the top and set up a gear anchor where Matt had envisioned it should go. In retrospect is was a bad place, as it committed Eric to yet another long hanging belay. To make matters worse, I had placed four cams for a station, and Matt demanded that we give him two… Since it was a poor crack for nuts, we were left feeling a little insecure to say the least.

Up Matt went on chossy granite (past a nice bolt), and up to the hand rail beneath the first roof. Matching his foot into the horizontal crack, he let loose a rock which hit Eric smack in the head… he saw stars, but yelled “I am okay! Keep climbing!” He figured if he was injured we’d have to get the rope up there anyway… luckily he was okay, but let me recommend helmets on this particular adventure! (Note to my Mom: please notice my shiny orange lid in all of the pictures of me!)

The first roof is fabulous, with a great edge that you can grab with your whole hand, following which you pull up on a finger crack and beach your carcass in a little alcove. Then some stiff underclinging gets you out the next roof and up into the final crack with bomber fingerlocks (you know what they say… finger locks or pine box!) up to another roof crux which is bypassed on more solid locks.

And that is it! The route finishes in the same place as Yukon Gold, thus the name Chilkoot pass. Go do it! It is highly enjoyable, and the Alaska Highway, Calling, Chilkoot Pass linkup gives 10 pitches of sustained hard climbing… perhaps the longest most sustained hard climb in all of Squamish. Its buckets of fun with great protection the whole way. Bring at least one #3 camalot for the last pitch, and a double set of <#2 for the rest. (Blue line indicates new pitches, red line is the first part of the calling.)

A Simple Explanation to our Problem

2007-06-26T10:02:00.000-07:00

By Captain Paul Watson

Founder and President of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society

Having been an environmental activist since 1968, I have seen the movement go up and down like a roller coaster in popularity. It was big in 1972 with the Environmental Conference in Stockholm which I attended and it became big again in 1992 with the U.N. Environmental Conference in Rio de Janeiro that I also attended. I remember that the priority issue in 1972 was the danger of escalating human populations but by 1992, that concern was not even on the agenda.

Well we are approaching the end of another 20 year period and it looks like ecology is in vogue again thanks to global warming and a few other scary things. Green is once again popular.

I can always tell when the environment is getting to be faddish again. My indicator is the number of lectures I am booked for around this time of year. It reached its peak in 1992, practically disappeared for awhile and now it's coming around again.

What worries me is that the movement is constantly being sidetracked by the issue of the day.

It's global warming now. When we were trying to warn people about global warming and climate change twenty years ago, no one was interested. Now it's become the "in" issue and the big organizations are tapping the public for donations to address the problem although no one has come up with anything that makes much sense. But global warming is good for business if you're one of the big bureaucratic organizations whose primary concern is really corporate self preservation.

Greenpeace is even telling people that they can slow down global warming by (and I kid you not) "singing in the shower". Yep, you see all you have to do is run the water, then get wet, shut the water off, and sing in the shower as you lather up and then open up the faucet and rinse off. Ah, so simple to save the world.

The problem is that these big organizations are to politically correct to address the ecologically correct solutions.

Instead they are baffling everyone with abstract concepts like carbon trading and carbon storage or trying to sell us a new hydrid Japanese car.

Even Al Gore with his Inconvenient Truth totally ignored the most inconvenient truth of all. I'll get to that in a moment.

But let's look at the number one cause of global greenhouse gas emissions.

First and foremost it is human over-population, the very same issue that was the priority concern at the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Environment in Stockholm.

It's 6.5 billion people folks.

Remember in 1950, the world population was 3 billion. It's now more than doubled.

6.5 billion people produce one hell of an annual output of waste and utilize an unbelievable amount of resources and energy.

And this number is rising minute by minute, day by day, year by year.

And most of the people having children have no idea why they are even having children other than that's what you do. Most of them don't really love their children because if they did they would be very much involved in trying to ensure that their children have a world to survive in.

Unless over-population is addressed, there is absolutely no way of slowing down global greenhouse gas emissions.

But how do you do that within the context of economic systems that require larger and larger numbers to perform the essential task of consuming products?

Corporations need workers and buyers. Governments need tax-payers, bureaucrats and soldiers. More people means more money.

I've said for decades that the solution to all of our problems is simple. We just need to live in accordance with the three basic laws of ecology.

First is the Law of Diversity. The strength of an eco-system lies in diversity of species within it. Weaken diversity and the entire system will be weakened and will ultimately collapse.

Second is the Law of Interdependence. All of the species within an eco-system are interdependent. We need each other.

And the third law of Ecology is the Law of Finite Resources. There is a limit to growth because there is a limit to carrying capacity.

Human populations are exceeding ecological carrying capacity.

Exceeding ecological carrying capacity is diminishing both resources and diversity of species.

The diminishment of diversity is causing serious problems with interdependence.

Albert Einstein once wrote that "if the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, then man would have only four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man."

That is the Law of Interdependence.

Forget global warming folks. The disappearance of the honeybee could end our existence as human beings on this planet far sooner than we think.

And the honey bee is in fact now disappearing. Why? We don't know why. It could be genetically modified crops, I could be pesticides or it could be that our cell phones are interfering with their ability to navigate.

Whatever the cause, the fact is that they are disappearing. All around the world bees are disappearing in a crisis called Colony Collapse Disorder.

And bees pollinate our plants. Everywhere on the planet, bees are hard at work making it possible for you to live and enjoy life.

We hold on to our place on this planet by only a toehold. If anything happens to the grass family, we are screwed. If the earthworms disappear, we are in big trouble. If the bees disappear, well according to Albert Einstein who was considered somewhat smarter than most of us, we will have only four years. Just enough time to get a college degree to discover that everything you learned is relatively useless when sitting on the doorstep of global ecological annihilation.

We are cutting down the forest and plundering the oceans of life. We are polluting the soil, the air and the water and we are rapidly running out of fresh water to drink.

Only corporations like Coke and Pepsi have figured out that water is more valuable than gold. That is why they are bottling it in plastic bottles and selling it. This week I saw a bottle of water in my hotel room that I could have drunk for only $4.

Unbelievable. That means that water is now being sold for more than the equivalent amount of gasoline. I hope that I'm not the only one who thinks this is insanity.

Now for Al Gore's really inconvenient truth. In his film he does not mention once that the meat and dairy industry that produces the bacon, the steaks, the chicken wings and the milk is a larger contributor to greenhouse gas emissions than the automobile industry. You see, Al may drive a Prius but he likes his burgers.

This is why the big organizations like Greenpeace and the Sierra Club will not say a thing about the meat industry. Last year I saw Greenpeacers sitting down for a baked fish meal onboard the Greenpeace ship Esperanza while engaged in a campaign to oppose over-fishing.

When we pointed out that our Sea Shepherd ships serve only vegan meals, the Greenpeace cook replied, "That’s just silly."

We see what we want to see and we rationalize everything else.

The oceans have been plundered to the point that 90% of the fish have been removed from their eco-systems and at this very moment there is over 65,000 miles of long lines set in the Pacific Ocean alone and there are tens of thousands of fishing vessels scouring the seas in a rapacious quest to scoop up everything that swims or crawls.

This is ecological insanity.

The largest marine predator on the planet right now is the cow. More than half the fish taken from the sea is rendered into fish meal and fed to domestic livestock. Puffins are starving in the North Sea to feed sand eels to chickens in Denmark. Sheep and pigs have replaced the shark and the sea lion as the dominant predators in the ocean and domestic house cats are eating more fish than all the world's seals combined. We are extracting some fifty to sixty fish from the sea to raise one farm raised salmon.

This is ecological insanity.

Yet the demand for shark fin is rising in China. Ignorant people still want to wear fur coats. In America, we order fries, a cheeseburger and a "diet" coke.

Ecological insanity folks.

Last week a reporter called to ask me if I had really said that earth worms are more important than people. I answered that yes I had. He then asked how I could justify such a statement.

"Simple," I answered. "Earthworms can live on the planet without people. We cannot live on the planet without earthworms thus from an ecological point of view, earthworms are more important than people."

He said that I was insane for suggesting such a ridiculous idea when people were made in the image of God, and earthworms were not.

What we have here of course is a failure to communicate between two radically different world views. His which is anthropocentric and sees reality as human centered and mine which is biocentric and sees reality as including all species equally working in interdependence. He sees us as divine and better than all the other species and I see us as a bunch of arrogant primates out of control.

But that's my two cents worth for Earth Day 2007.

Consider the humble honey bee and remember that the little black and yellow insect you see flitting busily from flower to flower is all that stands between us and our demise as a species on this planet.

We better see to it that they don't disappear.

Captain Paul Watson

Founder and President of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (1977-

Co-Founder - The Greenpeace Foundation (1972)

Co-Founder - Greenpeace International (1979)

Director of the Sierra Club USA (2003-2006)

Director - The Farley Mowat Institute

Director - www.harpseals.org

Skaha... where to go when Squamish is wet...

2007-06-25T14:42:00.000-07:00

As much as we all want to spend the whole summer cranking flawless cracks and long granite routes, it does occasionally rain in Squamish.
Fortunately, just down the road (6hrs) Skaha offers some fabulous climbs... here are some pics of Nick Elson, Krystil, and Andrew J. from LA. (green shirt.)

River surfing the Gnarwhal

2007-06-22T00:35:00.000-07:00

Here is some action on the Cheakamus river... beginning with a jump on the board while holding the rope and then walking the hands back on the rope until you reverse into position on the wave... it is a superb feeling when you stop fighting the river and just ride it with the rope slack in your hand. Then let go... and you are surfing! My first time on this wave (the second in a sequence of three standing waves... we tried the lead wave first, then moved on to the one shown here) was the best. I surfed at least 15 seconds... not bad for a first timer!

Matt, with considerably more experience, surfed longest... and the next day stayed up for a minute! You won't get that kind of ride in Tofino!

Totem Pole on Angels Crest

2007-06-12T16:49:00.000-07:00

John and I hiked my totem pole up to the second summit and then rappelled down to the remote hanging forest just before the Acrophobe towers. The totem took me three years to carve, mostly because of laziness, and another 3 years to actually get motivated it get it up there. The thing weighs about 80 pounds and is 6 feet tall. A pretty unruly thing to carry on your back. John and I took turns carrying it up which took about an hour and a half. Then we rapped straight down the route. We buried the base in rocks to keep it from decomposing and it now stands guard at the turn off to the towers themselves. John and I then free soloed back up Angels Crest and hiked down. An amazing day for sure!

One day the Chief of the clan gathered up the sun and put it into a box to claim as his own. Raven, a trickster and magical being decided to retrieve them for the world. He transformed himself into a pine needle. Later that day the Chief's daughter ate the pine needle while drinking from a local stream. She became pregnant and had a child. The young baby wanted to play with the contents of the box which sat in the Chief's longhouse. The Chief refused the child's wishes so the baby started to scream. Eventually the Chief gave in and let the baby play with the sun. Immediately the baby turned back into Raven and flew into the sky with the sun in it's claws.

Soloing Clean Crack

2007-06-11T23:23:00.000-07:00

Paul Bride, photographer, and I went out for a photo shoot on Clean Crack for Acopa rock climbing shoes. Thought I share one of the images with ya all....

Kite Boarding - Lessons who needs them!

2007-06-11T22:53:00.000-07:00

Well i have two weeks off, so what do i do? Go buy a kite and learn how to Kite Board - What else!

Of course once i bought it the weather crapped out and theres been no wind for the past week but that hasn't stop me from trying!

After days of practicing flying my kite I'm ready for the squamish spit. I head out there on Sunday afternoon keen as can be because the wind has come up. To my surprise I'm the only one there, i was thinking there must be a reason for that but what do i care. I get set up and launch my kite and get dragged out to sea right away without my board, it seems i set my lines wrong and couldn't depower my kite. (didn't figure that out till i rescued myself) Have a look at the above pic - thats what i looked like but without a board and completely out of control. To sum it up i ended up swimming to the terminals and got pick up by a friend who witnessed it all. Ah trail and error, that's the only way to learn! I think i have it all figure out now so look out kiters here i come!

Team Yahoo, and river surfing

2007-06-09T17:52:00.001-07:00

Garret Gosslin, John Furneaux and I took various crafts (surfboards, kite boards, and kayaks) to the Callahan creek for some river surfing just under the train bridge beside the 99 highway. We had surfed here many times before in our play boat kayaks but never before have we tried surfboards or kite boards. John had just bought a kite setup that we tried earlier that day. With a little ingenuity and a whole lot of yahoo! we pulled it off some crazy shit. Using a rope that we tied to the bridge we could start on shore and ferry into the wave.

Garret and John figured out the kite board pretty quick and were carving big loops back and forth and even doing 180's. I on the other hand took a little longer getting my barrings but by the end I could let go of the rope and actually surf free for several seconds before burying my nose or "purling" and flying off. Several times I even surfed back into the eddy for another try. But by the end I think the surfboard was the way to go since it took way less strength to hold on and learning to let go and surf was way fun. As for many trips before Garret jumped in his kayak and surfed like a pro. He even managed a few 180's himself.

Northern Lights

2007-06-06T14:40:00.001-07:00

Cody and I were at it again on Sunday but this time for bigger fish. Northern Lights climbs the entire Zodiac Wall in a total of 11 pitches. 8 of those pitches are 5.11a to 12a. The routes starts with Alaska Highway and the second pitch is the crux. 50 meters of overhanging groove with flaring hand jams and body smearing. 5.11c may be a bit of a sand bag if your new to this form of climbing. But remember Steve Seats a.k.a. "Roadie" free soloed it twice in a week. Cody fired the pitch with one fall for an amazing onsight attempt. I recall hearing Jimmy Scar puking at the belay when he onsighted it a few years back. The most beautifull pitch on the route is the "Calling" corner on pitch 7. 45 meters of perfect corner starting fingers to hands. If your so inclined you can keep going straight out the next roof / chimney for a total 60 meters of despreation. We opted out since Cody lead the corner and steamed out halfway up. Again I tried the 5.12 face pitch after the roof and still have no idea how anyone can do it. Aparently Hamish Fraser, Colin Moorehead and Sig Issac can do it but not me. Totally extended with a wide stem I am still two feet from reaching the hold with absolutley no way of jumping. Well I will have to live with that mystery for now but I'll be back!

Slack Line, summit of Cheif

2007-06-06T14:14:00.000-07:00

Peter, from Newfoundland pulled together a team to rig a slack line on the summit of the Chief between the third and second summit near the top of Angels Crest. As a full time rigger I was asked to head the project and last Saturday nine of us hiked up to give it a shot.

The rig consisted of three pieces of one inch webbing. Two 120 foot lengths were taped together with the bottom webbing hung with 1 foot sag between 6 foot sections of tape. This would enable the webbing on the bottom to have less tension and as the slack line was pulled tight. Eventually the sag would disappear. Then a third piece of webbing was strung across with minimal tension and taped again to the previous two. We attached the ends of the webbing to a Kootney Carriage which allowed us to keep knots out of the system. The big knot passing pulley has holes for two pins which stop the pulley from spinning and creates a FULL TENSION TIE OFF. We also used the same full tension tie off technique for our anchors by wrapping our static line several times around trees and then lightly tying a knot back to the live end. The whole rig was pulled tight with a TURFER, which can pull up to 4000 lbs. Our webbing is rated to 4000 lbs so this can be extremley dangerous if over tightned. Since the slack line needs to be really tight anyway there is no way to calculate your pull force without a dynometer. Our rig had a 1/2 safety ratio. For live loads this is considered suicide so please never try this without a professional. Once the line was tight we bounced and fell onto our tethers out in the middle which was generating about 10 times our weight on the anchors. Yes!!! we were very close to breaking the system! Again! don't try this at home. We some what reduced our danger by having the three pieces of webbing in different tensions. When the tightest one broke we would fall onto the next more slacker line which would reduce our load on the anchors and equipment exponentially as more sag was given to the system.

Needless to say it was a very scary day trying to walk a 120 foot slack line with 500 feet of air below and nothing but three pieces of webbing and a 10 foot tether holding you to this world.

Peter and friends came back on Sunday and were to try the line again. I'm not sure if anybody made it across. The gear was left on my back porch on Monday so I'll have to call and find out if they were successful. Until then...

Ashlu Box Canyon Rig

2007-05-31T21:50:00.000-07:00

Yes I kayak too! but instead of landing boofs, this time we were rigging for Brian Smith's documentary on the devastation of the Ashlu river by Ledcor.

We set up a 500 foot zip line with 1/2 inch cable that swept overhead of the Ashlu Box canyon, grade 5 river run. The crew is from www.therangelife.blogspot.com and just stomped it for the camera. You can find video of it at that website. I set up a portaledge with a spreader bar and two pulleys to keep us from spinning. Just used my gloved hands to determine our speed as we followed the kayakers downstream.

Free soloing

2007-05-31T21:17:00.001-07:00

Photo shoot last Tuesday with Paul Bride, free soloing Clean Crack 5.11b. Windy day, scary stuff.

Check out Paul's work on the Cover of Rock n Ice. Nice work bro. oh ya, that's me dangling there too!.....>
-a little deep water soloing in Vietnam-

A little more mellow soloing Vector 5.9. today. Route ascends beside St. Vitus Dance on the Apron. Super fun hand jams. More like tomahawk jams. I even make little heyaa! sounds as I climb it. Bumped into Thomas and Adeline en route. They were on St Vitus. Hot hot day. This weekend were planning a 100 foot slack line across from the 3rd to 2nd summit. 700 feet of air below. Should be sic!

Nightmare Rock

2007-05-29T17:31:00.000-07:00

Sweet crag! Nightmare Rock is home to some of Squamish's most sought after 5.11 to 5.12 crack climbs like Perspective 5.11, Grand Daddy and Great Grand Daddy 5.11, Sentry Box 12a and Sentry Box direct 12a, and the big boy - Big Daddy 12b.

Thomas and I were set to see how we stood at the beginning of the season against these routes. Perspective went well, even without the recently lost flake Thomas whipped off Grand Daddy while trying for the onsight but he made it to the chains which is always proud. I fell twice on Sentry Box direct, in both cruxes. Than Thomas gave it a whirl and discovered a great way to reach over the lower roof by layback / underclinging pin scars around right. I got it on my second go and felt great, especially the thin finger crack section at the top. The beta here is to make sure your right hand pinky finger is sunk in the crux pocket with your elbow against the rock and your thumb up. This allows you to bare down and just reach the better lock far above. Remember I only have an ape index of minus one, so this technique works great to gain reach.

I also got on Big Daddy as a finish but as I pulled out the roof I tried to go thumbs down but again I should of hit it thumbs up. Oh well, there is always next the time.

University Wall

2007-05-26T18:45:00.000-07:00

Cody and I tried to see how many pitches we could survive on U-Wall. Made it up two. Bit of an epic. Finger is healing, ever so slow though but not too bad. First pitch was wet halfway and I needed to pull on a cam. I forgot what to do in the overhanging chimney slot and took a couple of times. Eventually I figured out to face towards the wall and chimney as long as possible until the constriction ends and you can get a finger jam with your right hand. Cody (from Salmon Arm) did great. Fell out of the chimney but otherwise kick ass for his first try.

The second pitch didn't go so well. Wet finger locks which were not too bad since I stemmed the entire enduro corner start which made all the difference. Then just before 'The Shadow' continuation of the corner you bust way out left into another chimney slot. I made it halfway out the traverse using knee bars but the two fixed nuts were not there and I couldn't see under to place gear. I just managed to knee bar my way back to the corner and not take a 25 foot swing. I got a couple more pieces in and tried again figuring I needed to pass the corner and get into the chimney where I could clip the third fixed nut but upon reaching it I found a blown wire cable on a nut which was useless Now totally fucked for gear and pumping out I decided to try to weasel my way back to safety but I was sliding out quick. I somehow fell into a better knee bar and was able to look under and discovered a #2 camalot placement that was bomber. I fired it in and managed to fight my way to the station.

So the beta is, undercling out until you can grad a jug underneath. Place a #3 camalot farther left and start knee barring. When you reach the corner and are about to start chimneying, reach under and get a #2 camalot in. Then struggle your way up the slot and make sure you have some small Rp's to tweak in along the way. Watch out! reaching for the hanging station out right is tough!

Lost at Sea

2007-05-21T09:05:00.001-07:00

Last Friday Ryan Treneer and I finished a new three pitch aid route beside the Roman Chimneys. The four classic aid climbs on the Grand Wall, University Wall, Uncle Bens, Humpty Dumpty and Ten Years After all finish on Dance Platform and Belly Good Ledge.

Before (Lost at Sea A3+ 5.9) an aid climber would have to traverse off Belly Good Ledge to get off the Cheif. Now our aid route offers a great finish. A small dyke splits a blank wall right of the Roman Chimneys. Mostly hooking with beaks every now and then and also a bolt every 20 feet makes this route feel like sport aid climbing. The last pitch is an overhanging heading and beak corner with enough good gear to keep the grade down. The route finishes with a bomber A1 hand crack with a mantle summit.

For a topo check out the Squamish Big Walls Guide Book
@ http://www.mattmaddaloni.com/

Split Beaver

2007-05-18T08:07:00.001-07:00

Oh yes the Beaver!

slideing into the beaver

2007-05-17T19:06:00.000-07:00

yesterday i made it up the infamous split beaver for the first time. the most full on climb i have ever made it up. half way up it felt like my chest seized up and i was going to have a bloody heart attack... although I made it with one little cut i can 't say the same for my partners who where bleeding from every appendage... at the base we discussed technique and all the right moves but it all seemed to go out the window as soon as hands turned to rattly fists...

Right Wing? - Birds of Prey

2007-05-14T07:19:00.000-07:00

Big Garret and I attempted Right Wing yesterday. Unfortunately the long chimney pitch is still very wet. Wet rock usually doesn't make me turn away but on this pitch there wasn't any dry rock for 50 feet. Both sides were running and even laybacking would be a slime fest. I'm thinking a month will make all the difference. Garret and I did do the first real pitch at 5.10c and I thought the climbing may be harder than that. Bolt protected. The upper chimney pitch looks amazing so we'll be back.

check out... http://squamish-rightwing.blogspot.com/ for info on the newly cleaned Right Wing 10c. The red line in the photo is Right Wing and the yellow line is Birds of Prey.

We ended up rapping back to the beginning of the corner and firing up Birds of Prey. Been awhile for me. The upper corners are pretty sustained 5.10 climbing, super fun... and dry enough to climb.

Angels Crest Solo

2007-05-12T16:25:00.000-07:00

Once again I needed an after work excursion so at around 6pm I took off on my own and soloed Angles Crest - house to house in 2 hours. I keep forgetting that I need to warm up for this stuff so when I started I felt really sketchy, especially the 5.10 face crux on the second pitch. I had to slow way down. But as I warmed up my climbing ability increased and by the time I hit the Acrophobes I was throwing for holds and had a great flow happening. Back step, fist jam, butt scum, grab the crimp, feet up, mantle... man I love soloing you just never stop the flow. Atop the Acrophobes I straddled the top and took in the sun. Looking down at Squamish it seemed liked there was no better place to live.

Full - Mountain Guide

2007-05-10T19:32:00.000-07:00

I'd like to congratulate John Furneaux as he just passed his Full Ski which means that he now has Mountain Guide status under the ACMG. This is a lifetime dream of John's and were all super proud that he has reached that dream.

Right now John is on his way to Alaska for more fun on Mt. Logan. Good luck bro!

Grand Wall

2007-05-10T19:08:00.000-07:00

John Furneaux and I climbed The Grand Wall yesterday after work. Left my place around 7:30pm and arrived back at the house 2 hours later.

We were so stoked for the new season that we flew into the car wearing harnesses. I don't even remember locking the house or locking my car once we flashed by the boulderers who were leaving the boulders after a full day on rock. John and I simul-climbed the Grand in three pitches with a 35 meter rope. John to the base of the Split Pillar, I to the top of the bolt ladder above the Sword, and then I continued to Belly Good Ledge. This was my first day of the season other than some soloing in the bluffs that I got so pumped I nearly pitched off at the Sword sloper crux. Luckily there was a fixed nut and I hung. Just before that I had nothing below me until the anchor atop the Pillar and while John was firing up the jams below. After that I got a second wind and kept going and managed to pull myself together for Perry's Layback and as usual clipped every other bolt, still the final Dog Flake was an eye opener and I think I'm a long way from my goal of climbing the Big Three in a day... Freeway, Northern Lights and University Wall. Don't forget the finger injury.

Stoked to Climb

2007-05-08T18:42:00.000-07:00

First post on Climb Life.

I'm frickin stoked to climb!!!! and the sun is here!!!
Unfortunately for me I have a blown pulley on my finger which I received two months ago while bouldering at JF's wicked climbing gym in Whistler called the Core. My finger is still pretty fucked. The good news is that I have 9 other digits to grab rock with. Can't complain I guess since Tommy Caldwell can crank harder now (he lost half a finger due to a table saw) than before the accident. We'll I better get out there and climb. See ya.

The pic is of me on Teddy Bear Picnic, which lies high on the Chief on the Prow Wall across from The Squamish Buttress. This one of the crux pitches, an overhanging crack at 12d.

photo by Paul Bride