[TR] Squamish - Freeway 7/15/2011

[eldiente]

Trip: Squamish - Freeway

 

Date: 7/15/2011

 

Trip Report:

Been in Squamish for the past month or so. Lots of fun as usual, here's a some beta for Freeway. (Sorry, no climbing pics, left the camera on the deck)

 

 

View of the Chief from my home at the Squamish Yacht Club. With a good pair of binoculars one can watch the action on the Grand Wall while sitting in the cockpit.

 

Freeway. 5.11D 12 pitches.

 

A bit surprised, this route is burly, wild and a good workout. The grade is stiff for Squamish, when compared with other 5.11 crack climbs in Squamish. For a reference point, routes like Crime of the Century (Smoke Bluffs, 5.11C) feel about as hard as the 5.11a pitches on Freeway. We climbed it after a good spell of rain, maybe this is why it felt so hard? Both of us took falls and Jacob had to French Free around a few wet parts.

 

The other noteworthy thing that sticks out for me is the techy face climbing, I was expecting more pure crack work but many times the cruxes where where the cracks ended and committing moves had to be made pawing up smooth slabs or tipped out laybacking.

 

P1. 5.10D. Skipped it due to wetness. Climbed scary 4th lass bush thingy to climbers right with fixed hand line.

 

P.2 5.11b Sandbag. Crux is moving left where the crack ends and just praying something good will appear. There is no magic jug coming out of this move, just more insecure tips and brass nuts once you get stood up.

 

P3. 5.10 fists. The daylight crack. Cool feature. Move blindly right from belay to bear hug this flake. Long fist crack awaits. Exciting climbing with only one big cam on the rack. The name makes sense once you look through the crack and see your mate belaying from the other side of it. 4 inches and sustained.

 

P4. 5.10. Traverse down and right on bolts. Not that easy as the bolts are well spaced and a fall would be no good.

 

P5. 5.11C Long pitch, crux tips laybacking in a beautiful corner system. Many small cams. Take my first fall on this pitch when a foot slips. Bitch!

 

P6.5.11a More of the same, 180 feet. Relief comes near the end when you move left on run-out but fun face climbing. The face climbing is 5.10ish and a real hoot after so much laybacking. Belay below crazy roof.

 

P7. 5.11D. Short bouldery pitch pulling over a steep roof. Severely over-hanging and much exposure. Boulder problem moves hit when upside down trying to stick a rattly hand jam and moving left. Good gear.

 

P8. 5.11. Short traverse around and over the roof you just came over. One of the wildest pitch's I've ever been on, mostly jugs but not getting pumped out (or just plain scared) is the crux of this, turn the roof and keep moving on good bolts, face climbing with lots of air under the boots. Note that there is a jug by the fixed pin that you see from the belay. Have faith and move to it without monkeying around with extra gear.

 

P9. 5.10C fingers. Short right leaning crack. Kinda hard with tired arms.

 

P10. 5.11. Another short pitch. Harsh slab boulder problem with the the potetinal to break an ankle. Brass nuts an RPs sort of protect the move.

 

P11. 5.10 Chimney. A bit wet and not much gear but you can get in there and wiggle around without risk of coming out. No wide gear needed.

 

P12. 5.10D. Short bolted boulder problem right at belay. Slap up left and make the clips, cruise up easy 5th to the trail.

 

 

 

Gear Notes:

Doubles up #2. One #3, maybe a #4 if you want pro for the fist crack. Triple finger sized gear. Bring RPs and Brass nuts. Bolted belays.

 

Approach Notes:

10 minutes from the car.

[pazzo]

Here’s a cool internet photo of the crux roof pitch. It’s not nearly as bad as it looks and is VERY short.

 

[eldiente]

What a great shot! That pitch is fantastic, and like Pazzo said, very short.

[dbb]

Great info. I did the "Lite" version a couple weeks ago and the only thing I'd disagree with is the "runout" description for the end of pitch 6. The topo also says "scary 10d" but it's totally well protected. Sure you need to pull a couple moves above your gear but usually that means at your feet. Definitely not scary if your up for the rest of the burl fest!

 

Also, a #2 camalot can be handy on the downward traverse of p3 as an extra piece.