Squamish dreaming ... I'd love to see a bunch of CCT members travel together to Squamish someday for a Fun Hogs' Holiday. To that end, I thought it might be amusing to post the classic Grand Wall as "route of the month". It is 12 pitches to Bellygood Ledge at 5.11AO, and Kevin McLane's guide to the crag gives it the reserve rating of 3 1/2 stars (the normal "top" rating is 3 stars; a small number of absolute classics are accorded the extra half star). A fantastic range of climbing is involved, from beautiful handjams to a couple of easy but slightly runout pitches of slab climbing to bomber fingerlocks to strenous laybacking and underclinging. Below is a photo from early on the brilliant 40 metre pitch of the Split Pillar 5.10b  (about 18/19).

A more impressive photo is Simon Carter's classic image of Abby Watkins nearing the top of the pitch.

To whet your appetite, here is a tick list of some of Squamish's classics.

Check out also rockclimbing.com's page to the routes starting at the base of The Chief.

Apart from being a trad climber's heaven, Squamish also has its fair share of bouldering and sport climbing. There's lots of good sport climbing along the Sea to Sky Highway on the way from Squamish to Whistler, too. Squamish is funky town and there is lots of good camping at the Chief and other campgrounds nearby.

I'm hoping to be back there in August 2012. Anyone interested?

  • No labels