Trip Report
Straight outta Squampton
Thursday June 5, 2014 1:46am
A quick TR since i like TR's…

Sorry in advance for some of the poor quality photos, normally i wouldn't post grainy shots in a TR but there's not much info out there on this one & it's quite worthy so hopefully the pics will give people an idea of the climbing at least.




EDITED for WL





Pump this for full effects:




[Click to View YouTube Video]

___

Had a fun day on Monday. Did a route on the left side of the Squaw called Straight outta Squampton with my buddy Josh. We had attempted the route last year but were forced to retreat from the top of the first pitch due to extenuating circumstances.


I'll explain along the way.



It was a nice day in the quaint town of Squamish.


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We went with the standard start time of mid morning and arrived at the base of the Klootch buttress no earlier than 1130 i think.



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A bunch of really great, modern day, classic, 3-6 pitch routes start here. The White feather, Squeamishness, & Photophobia to name a few. All the climbing is steep & burly on crisp granite with lots of cracks.

Josh got psyched for revenge & headed up the first pitch which is graded 10c.


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This one is stout for the grade, on our attempt last year Josh made it to the top of this pitch with a mini epic despite his status as a 5.13 #boltclippingpoofter . This was our first sign we had underestimated the climb. He ended up lowering from the anchor with myself cleaning the pitch on tr before we went bouldering instead.



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Anyways he climbed it with minimal concern this time & i followed it reasonably smooth aside from some whack beta near the chains. We had renewed confidence.


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Then i looked up and saw my lead. The Hirvonen slot. The gateway to the upper headwall. I approached up some harder than they looked face cracks towards the gaping maw. I made it up this pitch in less than fine style. A bolt became unclipped and i had a nice little problem solving session which required way more energy expended than it should have. By the time i hit the anchors i was feeling reasonably buggered.



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You can see the bolt is unclipped in this shot. But hey, at least we got the shot lol.


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I guess i must have bumped it or something with my leg or foot?


Josh managed to follow it cleanly with some concern & a fair amount of grunting & 5.12 crimping. What a burly pitch!



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We chilled at the belay for a bit after that one for sure, wishing we had brought some water because next up was the crux pitch. It started with a bolted, crux traverse up into a long, steep, sustained, continuous finger & hand crack system with lots of varied climbing & another traverse crux up higher. Josh managed a great onsight of this pitch despite it being a bit scruffy & not too travelled.



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This shot explains the overall feel a bit better.














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I made it up there too after a few hangs at the mid traverse & a bit of grunting. A really great pitch that could use some traffic & love, graded 11c with a few distinct cruxes the real challenge is doing no move easier than 10a for the whole 35M+.


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We had done the final corner & gross slab before so we hi fived & did 2 quick 35M raps down the neighbouring route, grabbed the bags & headed to town where we met our buddy Justin. He had only ever been climbing twice so we took him to the smoke bluffs & lapped him out on some easy classics before putting him on his first lead ever!! It was rad & cool to have the opportunity to teach a friend this fine art.



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I wish i had a pic of my first lead!


After that some other buddies came by & we had a fire & got drunk in my backyard.

A great Monday…..




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Feels like summer, go get some.









  Trip Report Views: 3,379
RyanD
About the Author
RyanD is a climber from Squamish who is always looking forward to going rock climbing on the Klootch buttress.

Comments
Ezra Ellis

Trad climber
North wet, and Da souf
  Jun 5, 2014 - 03:43am PT
Thanks Ryan, way pimp!!!!
Norwegian

Trad climber
dancin on the tip of god's middle finger
  Jun 5, 2014 - 04:04am PT
my only complaint
is that yo trip report
is lacking in hoes.
Fish Finder

climber
  Jun 5, 2014 - 04:57am PT



You're a butterfly
And butterflies are free to fly
Fly away, high away, bye bye
kaholatingtong

Trad climber
The fake McCoy from nevernever land.
  Jun 5, 2014 - 06:50am PT
a distinct lack of hoes. to put it properly the last few days. besides that, like, #redemptionisweeeeeeeeeet #nsh#t, cheers, looks like a beautiful spot besides some sweet climbing.
clinker

Trad climber
Santa Cruz, California
  Jun 5, 2014 - 06:49am PT
Good stuff.
Norwegian

Trad climber
dancin on the tip of god's middle finger
  Jun 5, 2014 - 07:16am PT

there, i fixed it for you.
donini

Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
  Jun 5, 2014 - 07:24am PT
Great tr! Looks like a fantastic climb....the traverse looks scary.
Ghost

climber
A long way from where I started
  Jun 5, 2014 - 08:22am PT
So, all that practice climbing is starting to pay off.
Vitaliy M.

Mountain climber
San Francisco
  Jun 5, 2014 - 08:22am PT
Sick TR name and the photos are not bad neither! TYFP!
drljefe

climber
El Presidio San Augustin del Tucson
  Jun 5, 2014 - 08:31am PT
Sick!
Looks like all three of you fell asleep on the funny papers. ;-)

I've checked on some other routes in that area, looks killer!


this just in

climber
Justin Ross from North Fork
  Jun 5, 2014 - 08:39am PT
Great tr and that climb looks steep. It is a great feeling watching a friend get their first lead.
Thanks for the TR, but no drunken fire pics? Poseur ;)
snowhazed

Trad climber
Oaksterdam, CA
  Jun 5, 2014 - 09:16am PT
radical

hoping for my first squamish trip this year
le_bruce

climber
Oakland, CA
  Jun 5, 2014 - 10:19am PT
Holy sh#t this looks killer


Thanks for the TR. The route seems like a d-w'ing classic, with wide, thin, face, traverses, views, position... NICE!
thekidcormier

Gym climber
squamish, b.c.
  Jun 5, 2014 - 10:22am PT
Nice pics

F*#k yeah
Michelle

Social climber
1187 Hunterwasser
  Jun 5, 2014 - 11:29am PT
definitely want to head up there!
Mungeclimber

Trad climber
Nothing creative to say
  Jun 5, 2014 - 11:37am PT
stoke is high
drljefe

climber
El Presidio San Augustin del Tucson
  Jun 5, 2014 - 09:52pm PT
Bump

It looks warm but everyone's wearing sleeves.
this just in

climber
Justin Ross from North Fork
  Jun 5, 2014 - 09:58pm PT
I see what you did there Jefe. Well played.
RyanD

climber
Author's Reply  Jun 5, 2014 - 11:12pm PT
Thanks everyone for the comments, this was my first time getting more than 35m off the ground since last fall & even though I got bouted it was a blast.


Bruce, I agree. It's the best I've done out there but I feel like I say that every time I climb on the klootch, the climbing is just so consistently steep, featured & sustained out there. I haven't done the white feather yet so can't be sure that squampton is the best but hopefully soon. Lemme know whenever you want those tubes.


WL you are so right dude, I edited with a soundtrack which was such a no brainer for this one, hope u like it.


Edit- for some reason all the practicing I've been doing didn't amount to sh#t when it came to 5.11 OW on this particular route.
thekidcormier

Gym climber
squamish, b.c.
  Jun 6, 2014 - 06:09am PT
[youtube=NG2EGOB9-lc&feature=kp]


kaholatingtong

Trad climber
The fake McCoy from nevernever land.
  Jun 6, 2014 - 06:16am PT
music only available in canada? gonna make me work for this, eh??
Grippa

Trad climber
Salt Lake City, UT
  Jun 6, 2014 - 06:28am PT
Thats the new crag just lookers left of the squaw right Ryan? Heard good things last time we were in squam about it.
MH2

Boulder climber
Andy Cairns
  Jun 6, 2014 - 06:56am PT
Good way to get >35 metres off the ground even if a bunch of it was sideways.
Gerg

Trad climber
Calgary
  Jun 6, 2014 - 10:14am PT
awesome TR thanks!
chill

climber
The fat part of the bell-curve
  Jun 6, 2014 - 10:56am PT
Best route name I've heard in a while.
melski

Trad climber
bytheriver
  Jun 29, 2014 - 04:02pm PT
that rock looks awesome ,i know it dosent rain all the time in canaadia, but last time I tried 30 days in the ciurqe of un climables ,2 days dry enough to evan think about it,left you knowing why the name,,and that was september,,,anyway thanks for pump up,,hope to make it your way someday,,,
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