[TR] Squamish, B.C - Banana Peel, Calculus Crack 8/3/2013

[rl23455]

Trip: Squamish, B.C - Banana Peel, Calculus Crack

 

Date: 8/3/2013

 

Trip Report:

We went up to Squamish for a four day trip. Unfortunately it rained so we didn't get on the rock as much. But we did Banana Peel,(5.7, 8 pitches) which is listed as one of the top 100 climbs in the newest guidebook, "Squamish Select" by Marc Bourdon. The book says slightly runout, but there was one section that was 50 feet!

 

50 ft runout smearing

only 25 ft runout, but hands.

 

It had been a while since I climbed on granite so it was hard to get used to smearing again. I got comfortable doing only because we had no choice, no bailing options.

 

We had more rain, but on another day we opted to at least look at the start of Calculus Crack, (5.8, 6 pitches) and see if it was wet. We got there and the girl belaying said it dried fast and was good. So we went back to the car and got our gear. The first two pitches are through a very steep wooded hill that goes at 5.7, and 5.6. That got us to Baseline Ledge. The first two pitches are also the same for St. Vitus Dance which I wanted to do, but didn't have enough time. Once we got up to the third pitch all kinds of climb parties started showing up and bunching at the anchor(bolts). You can see the next team in the green helmet. The anchor I was at was gear and he had to stop short at a lousy belay stance.

But we were on the route first so went as fast as I could. We both had cinches and it made things so much easier for multi-pitch. I think that is why we kept ahead of the others. My arms were almost as tired from belaying rope in as they were from climbing. Both routes end at Broadway ledge and since we had walked off from Banana Peel, we opted for the unknown (to us) rap station into the huge gully. Turned out fine, easy to find rap stations, four raps on 60 M rope. Two Aussies rapped after us and I wonder how they didn't wreck their rope due to how fast they rapped.

 

We did a lot of single pitch at Smoke Bluffs. Since we had rain, we stayed up to 5 pm on Sunday and did Laughing Crack (5.7), also on the top 100. We were so tired, but it was a sweet, relished tired feeling. Laughing Crack was fingers and I used all nuts.

 

 

 

I realised that Squamish is all about finger sized cracks. The beta in the book usually says single rack, and I found I could have made my pitches longer on the Apron, but didn't have the gear. Most of the pitches were 30 M. I had also photo-copied any multi-pitch I thought we might do, one team had no beta, another team carried the whole heavy guidebook up the route!

 

A note on the guidebook "Squamish Select". It came out in 2012, and has good color photos and more route descriptions than the previous book, "Squamish Select" by Kevin McLane. But I found the overview beta on the Smoke Bluffs to be poor, and missing some crags and relied on Kevin McLane's book more for Smoke Bluffs.

 

Oh, they have a lot of Portland beer at the liqour store, but I opted for local brews. When in Rome...

 

Gear Notes:

A note on the guidebook "Squamish Select". It came out in 2012, and has good color photos and more route descriptions than the previous book, "Squamish Select" by Kevin McLane. But I found the overview beta on the Smoke Bluffs to be poor, and missing some crags and relied on Kevin McLane's book more for Smoke Bluffs.

 

Approach Notes:

I realised that Squamish is all about finger sized cracks. The beta in the book usually says single rack, and I found I could have made my pitches longer on the Apron, but didn't have the gear. Most of the pitches were 30 M.