[TR] 11 days in Squamish, Tieton and Smith - road trip 9/23/2007

[markwebster]

Trip: 11 days in Squamish, Tieton and Smith - road trip

 

Date: 9/23/2007

 

Trip Report:

so there I was, fresh from 9 days in Yosemite and stuck back in the house without a partner. I figured there must be someone out there who was a student or teacher and had September off, but I was having a heck of a time finding them. I even invited the clerk at Rei to quit her job...sheesh, everyone is so responsible these days.

 

I was about ready to hire the guy on the freeway with the work wanted sign, until I thought of Cascade Climbers dot com. Two days after I posted my note I had a bite and arranged to meet my new best friend on the way to Squamish for 11 days of fun in the sun.

 

It's always kind of scary going on trips with people you've never met before. I've had some "interesting" people show up for blind dates to go climbing. This time I got lucky. When I saw Chris walking off the ferry I could tell immediately he'd be a great partner. He was in shape, and he had new ropes, what more could I ask?

 

We arrived at Little Smoke Bluffs in Squamish after lunch and started warming up on the easy routes, doing about 5 routes a day until we woke up to rain on the third day. Squamish is much more casual than Yosemite as the Smoke Bluffs are arranged in terraces of about 80 feet high. You can walk off many climbs, and most of them also have stainless steel rap bolts.

 

It's become much more developed since I was last there 13 years ago. The housing boom is in full swing, and the town has built trails with signposts and fancy stairs that make finding the cliffs very easy. Before the rain started I was once again falling in love with squamish. This is a beautiful 5.8 finger crack just right of Pixie Corner.

 

this is the neat and cool area where there is one 5.6, three 5.7s and a 5.8, plus some harder routes. You can walk along the top and top rope everything, though the routes are perfectly safe to lead with awesome pro using the standard rack of nuts and friends.

 

this is Chris following a very clean 5.8 called Quarryman. It is a one minute walk left from Penny Lane.

 

We drove into the starbucks in town to commiserate with all the other wet climbers in the morning. It was funny seeing soaking wet climbers walk in to the ritzy coffee shop carrying their muddy rock packs.

 

We drove down to Tieton and spent two great days working our way through moderates at royal columns. We were the only climbers

on the cliff both days. After about 10 routes we were running out of the heavily traveled routes and I led a 5.7 right of the 5.9

moondancer climb. At the top, there were 3 blocks the size of redneck beer coolers. They were hanging out in space, and blocking my way to the rap station. They appeared to be on route, and there was really no way around them other than much harder face

climbing on the right. If I pulled them off, they would have killed us both. I got though it but we left the next day for Smith, arriving there on the Wednesday before the big smith rendezvous. This is Chris at Tieton.

 

Once again, we began working our way through the moderates, bolts and cracks. This is Chris on cinnamon toast, an exposed 5.9 bolt route above Karate Crack. Note the climbers far below on the trail. I must have gone up and down that crux move about 5 times

before getting up the nerve for the simple 5.9 mantle. Someday I'll do it without resting on the bolt. The awesome exposure seems to make me stupid.

 

This is Chris on Lions Jaw 5.8. The two girls below were waiting their turn, and yes, they did lead it more gracefully.

 

the next three pictures are Arno Ilgner getting air on the hard roof route to the right of bunny face. He's a great guy. He was giving a lesson to a couple ladies on Bunny while Chris and I led the two cracks left of bunny face. He gave me a bunch of free advice after I kidded him about some stuff I'd read in his book. When I commented that I was trying to not sew up my routes quite as much, he suggested protecting like I voted: early and often. He had a great sense of humor.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The last picture is Chris and I after leading Karate Crack. 11 days of dirtbag living, ya gotta love it! Thanks to cascadeclimbers for giving me a place to find another great partner.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kyle_Flick]

Nice TR of your roadtrip and a compatible partner to boot!

[Sherri]

Great job chasing that sun. She's been elusive this year.

 

Nice to see some pics of some familiar favorites...makes me wish I was there!

[ivan]

word.

 

and the only teachers w/ september off are pederasts

[moronbros]

sweet trip, I'm jealous. Trapped in a cubicle all week, I dream about just traveling around to all the spots.

 

That's what I love about Smith - total freak show. I've never seen anyone fire Chain Reaction in person but it must be pretty fun to watch.

[Jens]

Cool TR

[G-spotter]

The "beautiful 5.8 right of Pixie Corner" in the photo, is in fact Pixie Corner.

[mark1980]

Nice,excellent pics, glad you hooked up for more climbing after your valley trip.