Another weekend and another horrible forecast.  Jared and I spent most of the week duking it out over where to go climbing.  Smith? Leavenworth? WA Pass? Squamish?  Somehow the weather model for squamish got just good enough that we decided to take our chances.  I left Seattle around 6:00AM on saturday, and made good time up to Bellingham.  We wasted a bit of time to allow things to dry, pulling in to squamish around 11:00 or so.  Driving past the cheif we noticed numerous water streaks running down the apron.  Apparently it had rained a bit over night.  Already hungry for lunch, we grabbed a Hot’n'ready from Little Ceasers, then headed to the Smoke Bluffs to climb the SB connection.  There was a party on Mosquito, and SM was wet, so we opted to wait a few minutes.  The current leader had just followed the pitch and seemed to be making an early lead for himself.  Contrary to what one would expect in such a situation, he hiked the pitch, rapped, and cleaned his gear in short order.  I started up Mosquito and found it to be a wonderful pitch of climbing with great varied moves.  Jared swung the next lead up Phlegmish Dance, which was short, but provided some very good climbing as well.  At the top we walked over to Jabberwocky and were disappointed to find it running water.  A quick walk around and we finished 3/4 of the connection on Wonderland: an amazing traversing pitch with great exposure and fun climbing.

Phlegmish Dance:

From squamish

Wonderland:

From squamish

On the hike back down, we stopped by Neat and Cool where Jared lead the namesake route. This thing was surprisingly steep, with somewhat fiddly pro and a bit of water pulling the roof. Needless to say, a great lead.

Me following Neat and Cool:

From squamish

We hoped that some other things would be dry by now, and we wanted to scope out the grand wall, so we headed over to the grand wall base area. The grand looked a bit wet, but maybe ok. The base area though was mostly deserted. We walked over to the super classic Exasperator just as another party was finishing up. I started up the first 30m pitch of amazing 10a finger locks. Hands down the best finger crack I’ve ever climbed. Jared took the crux 2nd pitch. The moves off the belay are very thin, and Jared took a short hang after fiddling too long with a nut. The rest of the pitch went off without a hitch. Amazing tips finger crack to great rests to thin hands splitter. I’ll have to come back and lead it as one long pitch, but even so I think it is the best <60m climb I've ever done.

Leading P1:

From squamish

Following P2:

From squamish

From squamish

We debated between Apron Strings and Seasoned in the Sun next, ultimately deciding on Seasoned. With great luck again, we walked up just as another party was pulling their rope. Unfortunately 30 seconds later it started drizzling. Optimistic with the nicer skies around us, we waited and 30 min or so later the rain stopped. The warm rock was instantly dry and soon I started up. Not quite as good as exasperator, but still a great crack. My slightly tight climbing slippers were a poor choice on this climb, leaving me cursing by the top.

Leading Seasoned:

From squamish

Nice Evening:

From squamish

Another stop at Little Caeser’s and we headed down to the water to drink beer in the car in the rain.

We slept in late to give the Grand Wall a chance to dry, but we were not too optimistic. We hit the trail around 9:30 or 10:00 I think. We thought we might move ahead a bit in the cue using the flake ledge bypass. The soaking water on the hanging chain didnt inspire too much confidence though. We ended up self belaying this section.

From squamish

We got to the base of Merci Me and noticed quite a bit of water across the runout dyke. We waited a while and contemplated. One party had made it up, but another had turned around without giving an attempt. Shortly after another party showed up, so we let them give it a go to cure our indecisiveness. The leader made short work of the wet sections, instilling some confidence in me. I started up, encountering occasional wetness, but generally nothing too worrisome. 10′ beyond the third bolt a came across a very wet area with fewer positive holds. I weighed my options for a while, but unwilling to commit to the wet moves, I left a carabiner and lowered off. Jared wasnt too eager to give it a shot himself, so we resolved to find an alternative.

The day before we had scoped out the Peasants Route, a 6 pitch 10c between Apron Strings and Exasperator. The start looked very wet, but the rest appeared dry. Because of the wetness at the start there were no other parties on route. Jared set out with some improvised aid up the first 20′ before things got dry enough for free climbing. Well worth the time and effort for the pitches above. P2 is easily the best pitch on the route. A left facing corner of increasing stiffness with crux moves coming near the end. I felt quite privileged to have drawn this lead after Jareds messy first pitch. The climbing begins technical but relatively low angle, with short cruxy sections. The final arching bulge was a bit intimidating, but I managed to push through it. At the base P3 I looked up to see more water. Jared seemed to be getting the short end of the stick, although the pitch was still free climbable and the water didnt seem to detract to much from the climbing. A cool move off the deck followed by a great rest and some liebacking up to easier bolted climbing. Without a topo, the next pitch was a bit confusing, but eventually I determined it was just a move-the-belay type pitch to get to the next corner system. P5 is another money pitch with steep undercling liebacking to a rest in a tree, folllowed by even steeper liebacking. Great Fun! P6 looked pretty uninspiring from below and we werent sure whether to follow the corner to it’s end, or pull on to the face on the left. We almost just gave up on it, but it seemed unfortunate not to finish the route, so I headed up. Turned out to be really fun. Some balancy moves in the corner to a crazy bolt protected swing up on to the neighboring face. Some fun face climbing and then the chains. Super easy 5×30m rappel descent to boot. All in all a fun climb with a couple great pitches and some other ok ones.

Jared aiding the wet start of P1:

From squamish

Free climbing higher up:

From squamish

Me leading P2:

From squamish

Jared following (it is as good as it looks):

From squamish

From squamish

Jared heads up P3

From squamish

Jared gets P5 (another great one)

From squamish

Me on P6:

From squamish

From squamish

After Peasant route, it was time to head back to town for beer and late lunch. We opted for Taco Del Mar, which proved to have dire consequences at the base of our next climb, Centerfold on the Papoose. Jared led the first pitch onsight, stressing a bit at the slippery crux, but pulling through just fine. I started up, and was immediately hit by the revenge of my tacos. I lowered 10′ back to the ground and ran as fast as I could in to the woods to take care of business. Back to the climbing I wasnt quite feeling 100%, and ended up taking a fall at the start and at the crux. By the time I reached the first belay, I felt a bit better and didnt really want to turn down the stellar looking pitch ahead. It started out in a great splitter hand crack, then moved left into an awkward chimney finger crack flare thing. I checked out a finger crack to the right, but it looked a bit steep, so I stuck with the flare. At the top I placed some pro, but was having a hard time commiting to the crux traverse ahead. Turns out my right foot was low, and I ended up hanging. After a readjust I got back on and found the moves reasonable. Beyond the crux, outstanding face climbing (reminiscent of Loving Arms at Index) led up to the belay. Jared set off on P3, with steep moves off the belay leading to easier climbing before some steeper slab. The slab gets steeper and steeper, and after pulling the crux one is supposed to escape left to easier ground. However, we did not read the topo closely before leaving the ground, and straight up was heavily worn (by rappels in retrospect). After smartly realizing that straight up would result in injury, Jared smartly traversed out, but probably not far enough, and reached the belay a bit frazzled. I followed and after some discussion, it became clear where the proper topout was. We made the descent in 2 rappels (1x 32m, 1x 50m). Another outstanding climb that I would definitely go back and do again.

Me heading up P2:

From squamish

Jared follows in beautiful evening light as a train speeds by:

From squamish

Awesome face climbing:

From squamish

From squamish

Jared heads out on hard moves at start of P3:

From squamish

Higher up:

From squamish

Me following:

From squamish

Another gorgeous night:

From squamish