Local News ‘Luke Zimmerman sends ‘Down System (5.14a)’ in Chek Canyon

We are very pleased to announce that Luke Zimmerman sent ‘Down System (5.14a)’ yesterday in Cheakamus Canyon north of Squamish. Over the past two years, Luke has primarily focused on bouldering but switched to routes early this season to tackle one of the link ups on the Big Show. After a finger injury, Luke switched his focus to Down System (5.14a) where he found early success linking the opening boulder problem. After two falls at the top crux of ‘Heffer Down’, Luke finally linked the whole route together yesterday! Congratulations Luke!

Photo courtesy of Luke Zimmerman ©

I used to identify as a sport climber but when my wife gave birth to twin boys 3 years ago, I found bouldering fit into my life much better. Since then I've bouldered almost exclusively and have come to appreciate that discipline as much, if not more, than climbing on a rope. This season I felt I could finally handle the logistics of a hard sport project and decided to take one on. Captain America (14b) was my main objective. After not so maybe attempts I found that a niggling finger injury was being aggravated by the opening moves and I had to walk away. Fortunately just around the corner is Down System (14a), which turned out to be very finger friendly and totally rad. Down System is a short route but it packs in a lots of climbing. A v11 boulder problem leads to hard intricate power endurance. Huge pulls on relatively good holds with terrible feet. At 2/3 height there is a bad rest on a flat sloping ledge. This is where the 12d Heifer Down links in. Above that is the final, redpoint crux: a huge deadpoint to a pinch. 24 moves in total and not an easy one in the bunch. The video here shows a close attempt the day before I sent. I should have done it on this try. Everything felt really solid but I somehow bobbled the redpoint crux and was off. When I actually sent it wasn't solid at all. It felt heinous. Maybe it was conditions or maybe it I just wasn't climbing as well but every move felt harder than it ever had. On my first attempts that day I couldn't even link the crux off the dog. Then somehow, I managed to get through the crux and absolutely sketch my way to the top. While styling it would have been nice, climbing it this way was pretty cool. It definitely stands out as one of the biggest fights I've ever been in and just an awesome experience. As always thanks to my incredible wife for the support .. and for putting up with all the nervous pacing. #squamishclimbing #sportclimbing #squamishbouldering #climbing

A video posted by @zukelimmerman on Jul 10, 2016 at 8:16am PDT