SANDY

This is our day 6 in Squamish, and we are all recouped and ready for the day after a much-needed rest day. We wanted to be the first one on this climb, so we were at the base by 6:15am and the next party came only after Rick had started leading pitch 2. Hairpin is my favorite multipitch of all the multi-pitches we did in Squamish. It took us about 3 hours to tackle all the pitches on this route while we were much faster on other multi-pitches. There is a lot of variety in terms of awkwardness, difficult sections, heady sections and run out sections on this climb and therefore it’s a full value climb. The best part of this climb is that you will be able to hear your partner at every pitch. The rest of the climb is expressed in figure captions.

Pitch 1: I needed to lead diagonal cracks, so I started this pitch. It’s delicate and scary but super fun. Watch out for the polished sections, they are scattered throughout this climb.

Pitch 1 big rest point. It ends at the bush to the left.

Pitch 2 start is straight up and it veers diagonally right. This diagonal section is awkward and difficult but the whole pitch protects very well with totems.

Almost to the end of pitch 2.

Pitch 3: Everyone talks about the roof but I thought the roof is easier to protect on the left crack and easier to climb on the right side. The finish of pitch 3 is the crux.

Pitch 3 finish: From the #.75 green placement there is a sustained 5.9 diagonal crack for hand jams and smeary feet to the finish ledge. Felt as challenging as the first diagonal section of second pitch.

Run out pitch 4.

Pitch 4 horizontal crack. This is the only place where I placed pro but the placements felt so untrustworthy that I decided to walk this crack after the red and yellow placements instead of using it as a hand crack and smear for feet.

Pitch 5: A well protected slab with all the clips to the left while climb is on the right. I think the fourth and fifth clip were the crux right before traversing to the left. Rick is taking a nap before getting into the crux.

Hairpin descent. I am not sure if we lost our way or what happened but after finishing the climb we took the trail that goes left and walked on slabs for a while. After that we saw two rap anchors on trees. We took the first rap that we saw, which deposited us almost to the ground with a 60m rope. Then there is a dirty bush whack descent to a good trail. This was a surprise to me after seeing several well-maintained trails in Squamish.

Skywalker

After descending hairpin, we went straight to Skywalker and we had timed it so well that there was no one waiting at the base.

Pitch 1: Wet start

Pitch 2: I could not see if there is a crack for the 5.8 pitch and Rick was really interested in the 5.10a variation so he led pitch 2 variation. However, i found it to be run out and difficult to traverse over to left which Rick is casually showing in the picture above. After a while on this left crack I swung into the 5.8 corner crack which was loads of fun. In retrospect I should have led the 5.8 pitch.

Pitch 3: Most of pitch 3 was easy but I didn’t like the gear anywhere. The thought-provoking finish described on mountainproject was certainly terrifying with like five marginal placements. I found it a scary finish 5.7 pitch.

Pitch 4: I should have been on that picture, but the crazy finish of the last pitch made me not interested to lead this spectacular and easy pitch that protects very well.

Pitch 5: Easy romp up on the bolted slab followed by dipping toes in Shannon falls one last time.

End of the trip story

After this we had plenty of time to eat Indian food at our favorite restaurant i.e. India Masala Bar and Grill and ice-creams with our friends who were also climbing in Squamish. During that conversation I said we had climbed 39 pitches until day 6. With one more day to go, I really wanted to get an impressive even number of climbs, so I decided to do 11 more pitches on day 7. But we had only one rest day in seven days, and we had almost no climbing training during the first six months of the year. We climbed five pitches in the morning, then enjoyed some Mediterranean food from a food cart and a nap at the park. We came back to smoke bluffs and I led and TRed Pixie Corner, TRed Jabberwocky (scary hard start and sustained finger crack with left foot constantly smearing and right toe barely jamming) and then I wanted to lead Joe’s crack but I was tired so I sent my rope gun who led it for me. But when I was on that crack, I just could not go any more, but this was my ninth pitch and I had two more to go. But my body was so sore that for the first time on a trip, I turned around and said I can’t do it anymore. I sat down with a huge disappointment with myself and started sobbing about how will I achieve the big goals that I have set for myself when I can’t even achieve this miniscule target of 50 pitches in seven days in Squamish. Rick tried to calm me down and he even gave me his coconut water which he had brought for celebration (that was a very touching gesture, anything that you have to haul up a mountain/rock is more valuable than on the ground). After Rick cleaned the gear from Joe’s crack, we went to A-FRAME brewery and started ticking all of our pitches on the trip. We counted and checked several times but to our surprise we had actually done 52 (Sandy) and 55 (Rick) pitches overall. We rejoiced the fact that we originally had a counting error when I thought we had done 39 pitches and the fact that we actually went above and beyond our goal of 50 pitches over seven days in Squamish. We happily gobbled down the burgers, fries and beers.

On our way back to Portland on Day 8, we stopped to eat breakfast at OEB Breakfast co. and its probably the best breakfast food we have ever had anywhere. They had combined fruits, tart, fat and carb flavors so well that it certainly fills your soul. For days after we were back in Portland, we had sore bodies but happy minds. After hearing my story about this trip and the for the first time the slight burnout I felt at the end of my Deep Learning class, a co-worker said that I am finding my limits. I like to think that I am setting a new baseline.