Gripped Magazine
Two New Multi-Pitch 5.8 Rock Climbs Open in Squamish
Driving down the Sea to Sky Highway and entering Squamish, the first thing that most people will notice is the Stawamus Chief. But draw your attention ever so slightly to the lower right, and you have the entire south face of the Papoose, a mini-monolith that’s home to a number of smaller multipitches.
Ryan Block, a route developer, saw this every time he drove through, and it made a lasting impression. “For quite some time, I’d looked at that face, wondering why nothing was developed there,” he told Gripped. “How could it possibly be that such a clean, obvious face had no climbing?”
It seemed crazy that no one had bothered to develop the area. So Block thought that the terrain was too blank for an enjoyable route. He put the thought out of his mind. But one day, things changed.
“I got a call that a pal, who’s about my age, also with a young kid, had passed away after a short time with cancer,” said Block. “It was an absolutely beautiful summer day, but I felt completely crestfallen. I needed to just be in the trees, so I decided to wander around the Papoose. Who knows, maybe I might even find some obvious lines to start that cliff. Well, I found a start. A few of them, in fact. It was all uphill from there.”
Block, with help from Jesse Godlington, the founder of the Squamish Climbing Academy, then got to work cleaning and bolting the area. Removing dirt, mud and moss is particularly challenging for moderate routes, which are generally at a lower angle. That means material doesn’t drop cleanly off the cliffside and winds up getting stuck.
“One thing folks may not realize about developing more moderate routes is that stuff doesn’t just fall away into space as you clean the climbs,” said Block. “You have to chase it all the way down to the bottom. And then you have to go clean up behind it again. Over and over. It’s a lot of work, but I guess that’s why they pay me the no bucks.”
On top of that, he wound up battling core-shot static lines, elbow tendonitis, an unexpected emergency trundle in the night and, perhaps most famously, work delays that resulted from this spring’s infamous VW Beetle prank.
Fast forward to the present, and Block is opening up two choose-your-own-adventure trad multipitches: Welcome to Squamish and If You Lived Here You’d Be Home Now.
Both are about 5.8 and four or five pitches long. However, they feature a number of branching routes. As a result, there are 16 pitches between both of them, making for a multitude of variations ranging between 5.9 and 5.7.
Both routes feature plenty of opportunities for natural protection, along with generous bolting for sections where gear can’t be placed. There’s also a good variety of terrain that gives climbers a bit of everything Squamish has to offer. One can also expect panoramic views of Howe Sound.
Finger, hand and offwidth cracks exist alongside opportunities for laybacking, stemming, chimneying and face climbing. And, of course, there are slabs, which the area is quite well-known for.
Block’s favourite pitch is a corner crack with a unique dike intrusion. It was a big job to clean and, initially, it was hard to see, as it was obscured by dirt. But he had a good feeling about it. And that hunch turned out to be right.
“The start is a fairly vertical, but nicely protected 5.7 finger crack with some nice, flowy moves,” he said. “You pull onto a ledge by grabbing this jug that, well, it’s the most like a literal milk jug I’ve ever seen. It’s a bit hilarious, it’s like an actual handle. I laughed so hard when I unearthed that hold.”
He liked the pitch so much, he named it after his son, Julian.
The approach to both multipitches are a 10-minute hike from the Shannon Falls parking lot. Hike the main Papoose trail at the corner of Highway 99 and Shannon Falls Road. Take the first right and walk under the main Papoose face and go slightly right at the bench with the sign.
A gentle downhill trail passes by Laid Back, 5.9, and heads up the ledge. Welcome To Squamish begins next to the power pole. Follow the handline further down the ledge for If You Lived Here You’d Be Home Now.
Block has created and shared file with all of the information you’ll need, check it out here.
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