The Spirit of Squamish (5.10a)

SANDY

Backstory

The first half of 2023 has been extremely busy and stressful for both Rick and me, juggling between work and classes. I had worked for over a decade at Intel, and I was fortunate to be given the opportunity to solve some of the most challenging engineering problems. I had a fantastic and satisfying career at Intel, but I had been craving to experience the culture, business strategies and engineering talent at other semi-conductor companies. A variety of experiences give us a better perspective. So, when I got the opportunity to join the new rising star in the semi-conductor industry, Ampere Computing, I grabbed it with both hands. I also had a research presentation in March on a topic for which I was missing the foundation, therefore the presentation did not go as deep as expected. Hence, my adviser strongly suggested me to solidify the foundation by taking courses. I enrolled for a Deep Learning course at Portland State University during Spring 2023, while I had just transitioned from my comfort zone at Intel to a new world at Ampere Computing. The class was extremely useful and related to my research so my goal was to not only get an A but also absorb as much as possible. I learned new concepts, tools, and libraries within weeks over three projects and three coding homework over a span of 75 days. After several sleepless nights and stress, I scored 99% overall and had an extremely gratifying experience. However, in my 12 years of career, this is the first time I felt symptoms of burnout and that’s where this trip came to rescue.

The Trip

We planned this trip two weeks after the spring term was over, during July 4th week which gave us seven days in Squamish. Our itinerary was as follows:

Day 1 : Penny Lane (5.9), The Witch Doctor’s Apprentice (5.9), Tougher Quarryman (5.10b), Popeye and the Raven (5.10c), Mosquito (5.8), Phelgmish Dance (5.8)

Day 2: Flying Circus (5.10a), Mouse Trap (5.7), Corner Crack (5.8-), Hungry Hungry Hippos (5.10a), It’s Not Easy Being Green (5.10a), Ancient Squamish Secret (5.9)

Day 3 : The Spirit of Squamish variation (5.10a)

Day 4 : The Chief via Long Time No See (5.9) and The Squamish Butt Face (5.9)

Day 5: Rest Day with a hike to sea cliffs in Murrin Park and swimming at the Brenan Park Recreation Center

Day 6: Hairpin (5.10a) and Skywalker variation (5.10a)

Day 7: Cornflakes (5.7), Layback Flake (5.9 R), Sphinx’ter Quits (5.8), Seam of Destiny (5.10b), Pixie Corner (5.8), Jabberwocky (5.10b), Joe’s Crack (5.9)

Details about The Spirit of Squamish are expressed as figure captions.

Pitch 1: Since this was our third consecutive day of climbing, I did not want to wake up early and be the first one on this climb. Therefore, as expected there was a line for the 5.7 start. Rick decided to lead the 5.10a start which gets tricky right after the spot where Rick is standing, ending with an awkward branch wacky finish. As you can see the crack was also seeping at trickier places for some additional spice. Also, diagonal cracks are not my favorite, but Squamish is the best place to practice moderate diagonal cracks as there is no escape from them. They were on all multi-pitches we did.

Pitch 2: Technically this should have been the crux pitch but for me the 10a start and pitch 6 were quite heady. This pitch felt like a full body climbing but well protected and fairly straight forward.

Top of pitch 3

Pitch 4 has this wide but easy crack which can be laybacked but I did not want to fall so I let the crack swallow me and after fighting it for about five minutes, I emerged and said, “What the fuck was that?” I was so busy fighting with the off width that I missed the LOLs from Rick and the leader of the other party. Lesson learned, deploy layback than offering yourself to the crack.

Pitch 5: The scenic pitch with the waterfall in the view. Really enjoyed leading this pitch.

Pitch 5: Assessing my first placement.

View from the top of pitch 5

Pitch 6: Rick led pitch six because I had only one sling left. This picture is taken after the slab traverse, and it does not do any justice to the headiness of this pitch.

Pitch 7: We linked the fairly easy pitches 7 and 8 to jump into the ice-cold water of Shannon Falls.

Top of pitch 8. I was not given a moment to break the anchor and undo my clove hitch. Hopefully not being able to hear each other will be history with our newly arrived radios.

Muscles in progress

Recommend soaking at the falls for a refreshing hike down.

Thermal shock?

We had the whole afternoon and evening to eat, recoup and get ready for our big Day 4.

Single Pitch Photo Dump

Joe’s Crack (5.9): It looked so benign, but the looks of this crack are quite deceptive for this crack. It protects well but the climbing is very awkward.