Youngblood, Madness, and Highlander

A nice view of Squamish from a view point reutrning from Cheakamus Canyon.

It has been a little over a year since I have been able to get back to the place where it all started. Squamish was the home of my first outdoor bouldering experience and my first trip to the bouldering hot spot was a very humbling one indeed. I had always considered myself a bouldering connoisseur since I had learned to climb in a bouldering gym and I thought I would take Squamish by storm. Quite the contrary. I can remember last summer(my first trip) staring up at Sloppy Poppy thinking to myself, I’m gonna flash this no problem. I pulled on and made it to the slopers at the lip before falling to the hard ground, luckily not breaking my ankle on the gnarled root behind me. At that point, I knew Squamish was going to be a challenge. Over the course of the following summer I returned to Squamish several times and grew more and more accustomed to maneuvering up, across, and eventually over the top of many of the awesome granite boulders that litter the forest floor. This past weekend I finally made it back to Squamish with two of my good friends Jimmy, and Nic. Both strong climbers in their own right and even stronger boulderers.

Nic staring up at Dream Catcher. Maybe one day...

I awoke to the sound of my alarm clock around 4:45 in the morning and painfully rolled out of bed and into the shower and eventually into my packed car. I swooped up Nic and Jimmy and we hit the road with much psych. We made the border in good time and we were at the new and improved lower parking lot of the Stawamish Chief by 10:35. I was stunned to see all the new parking and it took me a while to get used to the new look. I was also amazed at the fact that we had a parking spot since we had arrived on a Saturday morning in the middle of the Mountain Festival. We took little time to gather ourselves and our pads and we headed straight into the forest and landed at the feet of the Titanic boulder. This was Jimmy’s first time at Squamish so we decided to start at the beginning and slowly make our way through the thick of things. The forest was eerily quiet and there was no one to be found or heard, at least for the first ten minutes. Then we started to hear the agonizing grunts and growls of someone who was trying to get to the top of their project. We had made a deal with each other that we wouldn’t get star struck if we ran across any ‘big’ names in climbing due to the Mountain Festival and it’s pull on pro climbers but no more than 5 minutes into our warm up a woman came around the corner who we recognized as Audrey Sniezek and we couldn’t help but talk her ear off and shower her with our awkward praise and enthusiasm for her stunning sends. She is kind of a local hero to us because she is one of the strongest female climbers in Washington and has sent one of the most impressive 5.13b’s at our local craig. Anyway, we warmed up on Titanic and the Titanic Dyno, and Jimmy really got our blood flowing by flashing both of those problems as well as a cool V.4 call Mantis. We finished up there and Audrey had suggested that we try a cool V.8 called Mantra. It was right up the hill from us so we figured why not. Mantra is a sweet fat prow that boasts some excellent sloper slapping with a big dyno to the semi lip before an engaging press to the real lip. Nic and I tried it a few times and came close on the dyno before realizing we needed to save our skin dollars for some other large grained granite purchase. I knew of a cool V.7 that would be perfect for our first hard problem of the day so we headed down the hill to the overhung mini roof of Anubis. This was a cool problem that jump starts you right into a severely overhung crimp and then slap to a grainy lip, get the heel on the starting hold and up to the jug. A powerful problem that requires some severe squeezing with the legs as well. Jimmy got it right away, I think it took him around 5 goes or something but it was cool and he walked away with his first Squamish V.7! Really good start to the day. Nic made short work soon after Jimmy with a huge slap to the lip disregarding the intermediate crimper and topped it out as well. I had some trouble holding onto the flat ‘shelf’ at the lip and just couldn’t piece it together. I was anxious to move on anyways and we went right down the hill once again to a problem called Airtight Garage. I had worked this with my friend Dom last summer and got my ass kicked but it was a new day and I felt like it would go. Nic had already sent this on a previous trip and it had turned out to be his first V.7 ever. Not really the proudest line but a hard little technical piece of work. Jimmy once again made short work of the problem with some different foot beta and a knack for slopers. I managed to send as well with the foot beta Dom had showed me and I was very pleased because it went quickly and this would be my first Squamish V.7.
So far we had all sent some hard problems and Jimmy was on fire and feeling the Squamish vibe.
Now for some name dropping: we saw Liv Pinter and Cedar Wright strolling through the forest and we all got a little giddy. Everyone except for Jimmy who had no clue who Cedar was.
We walked past the Thighmaster area and around the Black Dyke boulder; we stopped at the Super Fly boulder and showed Jimmy the Egg and Baba Hari Das before continuing on through to Easy in and Easy Chair and eventually broke free of the forest just before the Kakedemon boulder. We were on a mission to find Gibbs Cave. A problem that Nic had some bitter sweet memories on. Last summer he came disgustingly close to sending it for his first V.8 but fell inches short of the victory jug and was ready for revenge. We found the problem and got straight to work. Jimmy and Nic both put the moves together quickly but I lagged behind struggling with the first move for a while. After we were all on the same page and Nic and Jimmy had made some serious progress Nic had a go that looked as if he was going to send. He hit the good sloper before the victory jug but slapped just inches before the jug and fell, I felt as if I had been transported back to last summer when he had almost sent it. Nic had to walk away for a moment of reflection and Jimmy and I just stared in amazement. As Nic returned I could tell that he was in another world, his eyes were locked on the problem and he pulled on and absolutely murdered it!! With a growl that suggested he was saying ‘FUCK YOU!’ to the problem he latched the elusive victory jug and did the 5.5 scramble to the top. He laid down on the top of the boulder and let his hand dangle over the lip which made it seem as if he was dead. I don’t think Jimmy and I could/wanted to top that and after a few more goes we moved on to another problem that I personally wanted to do called Tatonka.

A food bandit at the Animal Magnetism boulder.

There was already a group of people working the problem and we sat back and drank Gatorade and ate jerky as we watched for precious pieces of beta. Tatonka is such a cool piece of rock, could almost pass for art. The features and holds that make up the problem are really well sculpted and make for unique and powerful movement. Jimmy and Nic jumped right into the rotation and tested the waters of the first move. I finally made my way into the mini cave and decided to give it everything. I pulled on and made the cruxy first move, I was a little stunned but I kept working up the big fin and almost latched the incut flake before peeling off. I was really surprised at how fast the first move went. After that we all made good progress and before you knew it Jimmy pulled the crux and beached whaled the mantle for his first Squamish V.8! After seeing that I was inspired and sent it directly after him for my first Squamish V.8! We both came down and cheered Nic on as he sent it as well, big time Oly represent for that one!! We were all riding the climbing high after that one and we decided to head to a more ‘chill’ spot, so we made our way to the Animal Magnetism boulder. However when we arrived we found out why it is called the animal magnetism boulder because apparently many ‘animals’ had been magnetized towards its problems. We made our way past the teeming masses and found ourselves face to face with an absolute gem of the area, Worm World Cave. This had been my personal goal for, well, the entire summer, and although I had never tried it before I had seen plenty of footage and the problem pretty much speaks for itself. I’ll just say this, it’s SICK!! There is a stand start that clocks in around V.9 although the guide book says it’s a softy for the grade, and a low start that is given V.10. Just as a side note, for anyone who has never been to the almighty Squa. this is a boulder problem that should not be missed. We gawked for a little bit and then got to work. The first move was a real doozey and will throw any comitt-ophobe. Even when you do commit to the teeth of this crimpy rail you have to bear down pretty hard to stay on. We all tapped the rail several times before I finally decided to just hold on. When I did the next move was okay and then after grabbing a good pinch you throw way out left for a unique swooping fin-like feature. It is a big move and I wussed out a couple of times before finally getting the animal growl started. My best go involved a lot of loud growls and an almost send, I fell getting my foot up high just before the press to the jug. This, for me, was a victory in itself and I knew that I could send this problem. I gave it a few more goes before giving up and deciding to come back to it tomorrow.
We had a really good first day, Jimmy sent two V.7’s and a V.8, Nic put away two V.8’s and a V.7, and I managed to keep up with a V.7 and a V.8, not bad for a days worth of work.

A wee little grasshopper.

On our second day we decided to head up to Cheackamus canyon. Neither Jimmy nor Nic had ever been, so I thought it would be a good idea to start the second day off at a cool wall called the Forgotten Wall. It was very similar to the kind of crags we have back at our local spots so we felt right at home. With zero approach time and a good idea of what I wanted to start off on I found myself warming up on a very short 5.12a. I wanted to try to onsight it but I fell at the crux. Nic stepped up and flashed it calmly and I was sure I could get it second go. However I fell once again at the crux failing to heed Nic’s beta of getting my foot high. I was pretty disappointed in my performance because I felt that the route wasn’t even really that hard. We moved on to a cool route called Creepy Crawlers recommended to us by one of the locals. Jimmy stepped to the plate and hung the draws for us on a nice onsight attempt. Nic went soon after and I followed; I must say it was quite a good route and we were all pleased and ready to go back to the boulders, but I decided to give the .12a one more go. Jimmy said he would hang the draws for me and ended up flashing it easily. Okay, I knew I couldn’t be the only one to not send this damn little thing and I made it through the crux rather shakily and almost came off on the finishing jugs! My performance was sub par but I was just glad to have sent the route. After a stop in town and brief lunch we were back at the boulders. We couldn’t leave without climbing at the Animal Magnetism boulder and after yesterday we were determined to get on something there. We arrived and although there appeared to be a lot of people they all left. SDS Holm Boy and Goldne Boy were wide open. Jimmy got to work on SDS Holm Boy and after a mini session ended up sending it, NICE! We then moved over and started to work Golden Boy. Nic was determined to send and said that the moves had felt a little better then the last time he was on it. I had little success but I wasn’t really eager to waste skin on it in the first place. I do look forward to working it next time. Jimmy made good progress as well but just couldn’t get that darn heel to stay. Nic was a beast and made it to the slopey top out rail but didn’t have the right beta and fell. We were all crushed at how close he came but not for long. He worked the top out and came back with a vengeance sending it directly after. It was a pretty stout send for the last day there with little skin left. Good job Nic!

Nic sending Golden Boy(V.7)

We packed up and headed over to my project Worm World Cave. I was a little nervous because of my skin but I knew I could do it, I just had to bear down. After testing the waters, slapping the rail a few times I decided to just do it! I hit the rail perfectly, pulled up to the good pinch and vice gripped it. Got my feet in a good position and lunged out to the swoop feature and finally stuck it without coming off. I readjusted my hand, got my foot on the crimp rail and pressed up to the jug rail. I was literally in a dream like state at this moment because I really didn’t expect to send it today period.

Me on Worm World Cave(V.9)

I stood on top of the boulder and gave a victory shout and then came back down and celebrated with my friends. After that we all headed over to the black dyke boulder so Jimmy could get on some of the classics. He flashed Sloppy Poppy, got Viper in 2 goes, flashed Tim’s Sloper Problem and Thighmaster. Nic and I just hung back and took it all in, Nic did manage to send T-bag Undies in his flip flops which was cool. I just flailed on everything I got on and we eventually got the hell out of there. It was a great trip and we will return very soon, hopefully in the company of our long lost friends Dom and Laura. Thanks Jimmy and Nic for the awesome time.

Jimmy sending Viper(V.5)