We are pleased to announce that Tucker Webb, originally from Penticton, sent World of Hurt (v10) last week. Originally put up by Jordan Wright, this problem towers over the forest as one of the highest ‘highballs’ in Squamish. Tucker started working the problem last September and practiced the rig on top rope before gathering enough pads (and courage!) for the send.
Tucker Webb on World of Hurt. Photo by Jill A Brown ©
Here is a video of Jeremy Smith on the problem.
A little bit of local news to keep you going. Dan Beland recently made an ascent of Revival (5.14b) on the Big Show in Chek Canyon. Dan has steadily making headway on hard sends over the past few years, with ascents of Driven (5.14a), Dinosaur Highway (5.14a) and Mike Doyle’s Adato (5.14b) at Horne Lake last year. Dan also recently made a trip to the rockies where he climbed Fully Jingus (5.13d) and Army Ants (5.13c). Great work Dan!
Dan Beland. Photo by Kim House ©
Despite less than ideal summer conditions, a number of strong locals are ticking off projects in the boulders. Most notably, Reagan Daly, a school teacher from Victoria who spends his summers in Squamish, sent his multi-season project Squaminator (V12). Reagan adds this latest ascent to an already long Squamish ticklist. What makes this list even more impressive is that he’s sent almost everything on it in the summers.
In other news Hans Christian Montenegro, originally from Colombia now calling Squamish home, has been working his way through the classics. Most recently he climbed Overdrive (V11) after falling many time from the last move of this long traverse. He also pulled off a rare repeat of Viper Low (V10) and climbed classics like Summoning Sit (V11/12) and Encore Une Fois (V11), among others.
The always industrious Jamie Finlayson made short work of the tricky Tippytoe, Tippytoe (V10) between attempts on his long term project, Dreamcatcher (14d).
Here is a nice little video of Reagan sending a couple problems in his local area, the boulders of Duncan, BC:
Despite some very warm weather, Jamie Finlayson has managed to send his first V13, climbing Terminator in the North Walls. This excellent long problems links Squaminator into Squaminator Traverse and requires a unique blend of power and endurance. Jamie posted this photo and caption on his Instagram feed:
Indoor climbing in the Vancouver has come a long way in the past decade, with the opening of Climb Base 5 (formerly known as Cliffhanger Coquitlam) and The Hive Vancouver. However, one thing that has always been missing (in my opinion) is a 45 degree training wall jam packed with holds that stay the same for the years. This style of training is very much a throw-back to the british climbing scene and the old guard of climbers from Vancouver Island have known the benefits of having a wall like this for years.
Kaleb Thomas, the head routesetter at Climb Base 5, recently posted this photo of their new outdoor training wall. We hope it gets everyone thinking in the right direction!
Photo by Kyle Rurak ©
Pleased to report that Jamie Finlayson has sent The Summoning from the sit start in Murrin Park. This is his second v12 this month, with an ascent of Frontside (v12) and Sidhartha (v11) during the great weather. Pretty awesome considering Jamie is still recovering from back surgery.
Jamie on Frontside. photo: Unknown ©
Luke Zimmerman also sent The Summoning sit start last week, but reported it as v11 on his scorecard. Luke used the exact beta as featured in the video.
The North Shore Hive has made a lot of progress over the past month. The facility looks amazing and there is a lot of excitement about the potential of this world-class bouldering center. The video here speaks for itself. Enjoy!
Today, I came across an interesting article by cruxcrush.com regarding the recent crowdfunding effort by Alex Puccio. It is well known that professional climbing athletes make far less money than in other sports. This ‘lack of funding’ has recently led to a number of athletes (not just Alex Puccio) trying to raise money through crowdfunding on the internet. Is it right to ask for money from your peers as a professional athlete?
We checked in with Marco Lefebvre to see what has been going on in the Fraser Valley over the past week. Here is what he had to say.
‘Mike Crapo did a first ascent of a problem called Trepanning (V6) at The Stacks. The problem starts with a roof to prow offwidth and ends with a press out mantle on a steep, featureless slab. One of the best offwidth problems I’ve been on in The Valley. I then added an extension to his problem, Trepanning Ext. V7, that climbs Trepanning and transitions into the right side lip to finish with a pumpy 30+ ft uphill traverse with a press out finish.’
Kelly Sheridan just announced that the new Leavenworth Guidebook is off to the printers and those who want to receive the book as soon as possible can now pre-order. I know a lot of work has gone into this book and it is very exciting that the project is almost complete.
The pre-order for the book can be found at the Sharp End website and you will also receive a digital copy of the book immediately. If you missed our interview with Kelly about the book, please click here.
Photo courtesy of Aaron Matheson ©
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