Sandy:

Today is our ninth day in Squamish, and we just wrapped up a 12-hour car-to-car adventure on day 8, conquering the highlight of our trip: Angel’s Crest.

I woke up feeling like a sack of sore muscles after tackling those burly pitches. Six 5.10- climbs, a total of 13 pitches with about 4.5 kg of gear (water, food, shoes, and other bits and bobs) hanging off me was a new experience. But hey, training at Trout Creek paid off, and despite the extra weight, Angel’s Crest was super enjoyable.

For comparison, we carried even more weight on the North Ridge of Mt. Stuart due to bivy gear, but the pitches were significantly easier. It seems the secret to a great climb is balancing the challenge with the gear load—or maybe just enjoying the struggle!

More than half a decade ago, I realized that my happiness comes from setting goals, making a plan, sticking to it, and achieving the goal. So, despite the soreness, I was ready for Diedre since it was my turn to block lead. Nothing that Ibuprofen and a 16 oz oat milk latte couldn’t fix!

We hit Cloudburst Café by 6 am, grabbing coffee and two pastries—one for energy before the climb and one for celebration afterwards. We got to the base of the climb by 6:30am. Since the base of the climb is a bit tricky to find, I have included the following pictures for navigation.

Approach to the base of the climb: As you pass Born Again, you should see this on your left.

Approach to the base of the climb: After you climb up should see this and traverse right.

As I led Diedre, I was surprised it’s so popular among new trad leaders. Personally, I’d recommend the first four pitches of Read Between the Lines over Diedre for beginners.

Diedre has three completely run-out pitches: P1, P2, and P6. P3 and P4 offer some good protection but involve repetitive layback movements. P5’s gear is sketchy. Overall, this climb is best suited for a confident leader who climbs higher grades and has plenty of slab experience. The white slab sections near the crack are slippery, making this entire climb a no-fall zone. I carried triples for finger size cams (since I am not a nut person) where were useful for pitch 3 and 4 only.

The rest of the experience, gear beta, and pitch descriptions are detailed in the image captions.

Pitch 1 (5.7, 50m): I had only two pro for pitch 1, slung the tree and I believe you are supposed to scramble the slightly steeper slab but I went left since I could use a #.75 in the crack. I might have increased the length of the pitch slightly but I was certainly sketched out after pretty much soloing this pitch.

Pitch 2 (5.6, 20m): There are no bolts or pro on this pitch until you get to this ledge where I am standing which is right below the bolted anchors. Since I was already sketched out, Rick continued up from pitch 1 and finished this pitch.

Pitch 3 (5.8, 40m): I placed .4, .3, .5, .3, .2, .5, .75 respectively from bottom to top. Long pitch consisting of only lay back for hands and smear for feet.

Pitch 3

Pitch 3 close to the finish.

Pitch 4 (5.8, 35m): I was told that this is the best pitch of the entire climb. However, finding the first good pro was not easy. A .75 to #1 cam fits in the crack with flake as seen in this picture.

Pitch 5 (5.7, 40m): This pitch takes finger size cams but I found the gear pretty sparse.

Pitch 6 (5.8, 35m): There is a long run out on this pitch. As you can see m first pro is a totem .2 about 20 feet above the anchor. After that I placed a .4, .3 and a hand size piece above the under cling before pulling the final 5.8 move. There are two tree root handles and a right hand jam to pull this move. Belay from the tree.

Our climb time was 2 hours and 20 minutes, and the total adventure time was 4 hours and 27 minutes car to car. I was thrilled that we pulled it off despite all the lactic acid in our muscles.

We got back to the car and devoured the saved pastry. Celebrations continued with lunch, ice cream, swimming, and sauna.

The big difference between this trip and last year? Training. Climbing felt easier and way more enjoyable this time around!

Photo Dump of some of the single pitches we climbed.

Joe’s Crack (5.9 in Smoke Bluffs).

A Little Testis (5.10b, Murrin Park): If you are a new 5.10- leader, I highly recommend onsight attempt on this one.

Poster Boy (5.10+, Left of A Little Testis): Super slippery in Sun.

The Reacharound (5.9): Probably the best 5.9 in Murrin Park. Certainly onsight this one.

Groovy Guru (5.10c, Murrin Park): Gear is finicky at the start. Protects with a offset .1, .2 and totem .2.

We also scoped out that the Grand Wall and The Exasperator remains in shade till 1pm in the month of July.

Overall this trip was as productive and relaxing as the Spring 2022 trip to Yosemite.