We are pleased to announce that Will Stanhope completed a four year project yesterday in the Bugaboos. A close source indicated that the thin faced headwall finally went free yesterday at solid 5.14. Will had been working the route with his good friend Matt Segal for the last four summer seasons. According to Will, the pair has spent well over 100 days on the wall trying to free it.
Snowpatch Spire, Bugaboos. Photo by Sam Jones ©
Over the past two months, a number of pictures have surfaced showing a lot of people climbing on the sea cliffs of Howe Sound. Climbing off the water looks amazing but it also comes with a lot of risk so we thought we would check in with Chris Weldon, who has been developing these cliffs along with Andrew Boyd and Jim Martinello (just to name a few!).
Here is what Chris had to say.
Big sea cliffs in the Howe Sound. Photo courtesy of Chris Weldon ©
Bitter sweet days on the Dawn Wall with multiple sources reporting that Tommy Cadwell has redpointed the final 5.14 pitch while Kevin Jorgenson still attempting pitch 15. The media storm on this thing is pretty wild. Here are a few in the latest round-up.
Video and article from ABC here.
The Dawn Wall also made the audio podcast ‘All things Considered’ by NPR found here.
Hilarious comments by New York Times readers haters here.
Over the past few days, there has been a lot of excitement on the Dawn Wall in Yosemite valley, CA. According to sources on the ground, Tommy Cadwell sent the ‘Loop Pitch’ last night, which is a high point for the team. Both Kevin and Tommy are going for a team ascent but I am sure they both want to complete the harder pitches on the wall. From what I can tell, Tommy has sent both pitch 15 and 16 so far and Kevin had trouble of pitch 15 because of a few skin issues. Instead of down climbing, Kevin has also decided to stick with the dyno beta for what people are calling the loop pitch! Good luck today Kevin!
The weather in the valley looks like it is going to hold for the next week with highest temperatures over the next three days.
Tommy and Kevin continue to push this week. This event is getting a lot of media converage. Andrew Bisherat wrote a great article for Nat Geo here that is worth reading.
He also wrote a climbing specific update at his own blog here.
Local Vancouver climber Rich Wheater has been a pillar in the climbing community for as long as I can remember. Although Rich himself would argue the above statement, his photos of rock climbing in British Columbia have inspired many a climber throughout the years. Lets just say, it would be an odd sight not see Rich in a Squamish or Skaha parking lot during the climbing season (beer in hand of course!).
Over the past year, Rich has been on a mission to document the vast array of climbing on the North Shore of Vancouver. Set to be released in SPRING 2015 (according to the website at Quickdraw publications), Rich’s findings will surely shock and awe a number of people in the Vancouver climbing community. Closer to its release, Squamish Climbing Magazine hopes to catch up with Rich for an in depth look. For now, here has a sneak peak at some of the photographs Rich has taken over the past few years of the North Shore. Hopefully, these images inspire you during the next few months of monsoon before the sun comes out again.
The Dawn Wall: perhaps the most famous undone climb in the world, and certainly a contender for the hardest. All the single pitched have now been redpointed and once again Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson are making a push to free the entire route. Thanks to modern social media, we get to watch their progress live. If you haven’t already, checkout their Facebook pages for daily updates, including some great photos.
And since no one can get enough Tommy Caldwell these days, here is a video of him preparing for The Dawn Wall by redpointing a bunch of hard routes at the Monastery in day.
Peter Winter / Leavenworth WA / Grand Wall Boulders / 25 V4 Circuit / Home Campus Board
Hope BC / Jeremy Smith / Scrub your Face / Godman Creek / Ring Workouts / Wiretap