Squamish – a Climber’s Paradise!

Time for our first multi-pitches! Again, we woke up at 04:00 am to be the first at the AMO Wall. It is basically a big wall with only friction climbing, sport-bolted routes. The Ghille Suit 5.9 was the most fun, following a slanting dyke. After that, we did the classic Skywalker 5.8, which sometimes felt a bit hard for the grade, especially the crux pitch with a finger crack in an awkward corner. The actual “skywalk”, an undercling traverse, was really cool. Maybe it felt so easy because there was a sign on belay bolt before, saying “May the force be with you”, haha.

The following day, we were the first ones to climb The Spirit of Squamish 5.8. The first pitch, a thin hand crack, required more power and foot pain than we thought. Next followed a tight corner where you could perfectly chicken-wing, a crack pitch really close to the Shannon Falls, a nice slab and changing corners. All in all, it was a great, very diverse route. As it was only midday when we finished the route, we did two more single-pitches, including our first 5.10a lead in Squamish. It was such a fun route, with a good tight hand crack followed by an undercling traverse along a big arch.

Because we didn’t want to wake up that early again, we went to the Smoke Bluffs the next day. This time, we checked out the sectors Pixie Corner and Penny Lane. The highlight routes that day were a slanting 5.9 crack you had to climb as a foot and hand traverse in alternation and Quarryman 5.8, a long crack with a steep flake section in the middle.