We are very pleased to have an update by Tom Wright on the development that has taken place on the Prow Wall over the past few weeks.
The Prow Wall is one of the most impressive chunks of granite on The Chief. It lies lookers left of the South Gully, across from The Buttress and to the right of the Echelon Wall. Most of the development has occurred on the right hand side of the wall, in the steep corner systems. Classic hard routes such as Teddy Bears Picnic (5.13a) and Gravity Bong (5.13a) shouldn’t be ignored by those who are capable.
Tom climbing ‘On the Prowl’ (5.12c) on his Prow Wall link up. Photo by Jia Condon ©
The bulk of the wall – the beautiful smooth sweeping wave, left of these corner systems, was relatively untouched until a couple of years ago. Colin Moorhead & Andre Ike developed some of the best climbing on the Chief with Written in Stone (8 pitches, 5.11d) in 2013.
The king line of the wall is, as usual, straight up the middle. People have been looking closely at this line for years – and a strong crew of local climbers (Jesse Brown et al.) started to bolt and work the line as far back as the late 1990’s. It sat untouched for many years, until Sonnie Trotter put in the work this spring – redpointing the route and ropegunning me up the wall a couple of weekends ago.
Like ‘The Grand Wall’ and ‘Tantalus Wall’ routes dominate their namesake cliffs, Sonnie decided to call the route ‘The Prow Wall’ (5.14a, 8 pitches, 200m) – potentially the first 5.14 multipitch in Squamish. It was extremely cool to be taken along for the ride, and although I couldn’t really fathom doing the crux pitch – the climbing on the route is magnificent. Another world class addition to Squamish climbing by Mr. Trotter.
As we were climbing that day, it was obvious that a beautiful white dyke cut across the wall linking the two established routes. I decided this looked pretty cool, and realised later on that you can see it clearly from town. Therefore it had to be climbed! This weekend, I climbed the pitch at an approximate grade of 5.12c. The climbing is techy and graceful and matches the quality of the rest of the cliff.
I fell on the last heartbreaker move of the endurance 13a pitch – but as Sonnie has already sent these pitches, the link up is established. It still needs a continuous ascent though so if anyone wants to partner up let me know!
Photo by Jia Condon ©
An obvious name for this link up is ‘Written Into The Prow Wall’. It allows you to bypass the 5.14 crux of the king line, while providing high-quality sustained sport climbing to the top of the wall.
It’s a tiny contribution to the wall compared to what the other route developers have put in. A huge thanks to Colin Moorhead and Sonnie Trotter for all of their contributions over the years – I can only dream of putting up as many classic routes as you guys!
Also a massive thanks to Jia Condon – for lending me the drill, rapping in to take photos and leaving us a couple of cold ones on top! What a guy!
The Prow Wall – FFA Sonnie Trotter (2016)
A light rack, 15 quickdraws (some extendable)
Pitch 1 – 10c – same opening pitch as Written in Stone (20m)
Pitch 2 – 10b – Instead of scrambling left for Written in Stone – go directly up through trees to find another set of anchors. Belay here and climb up through a mix of cracks turning to face climbing and bolts. You may want some gear to protect the bottom of this pitch. (25m)
Pitch 3 – 12a – An excellent long pitch with tricky face climbing on dyke features. Finish with a cruxy traverse right and up the left facing corner. (35m)
Pitch 4 – 14a – Boulder up through the incredible black wave feature. V10/11. More tricky slab guards the anchor. (20m)
Pitch 5 – 11c – Climb up the right facing corner. (20m)
Pitch 6 – 13a – A fantastic sport pitch of gently overhanging granite that weaves up through many cool features. One of the best of the grade in all of Squamish in an excellent position. (14 bolts, 35 m)
Pitch 7 – 12b – It ain’t over yet. Burly moves and small crimps could foil your clean ascent. (9 bolts, 20m)
Pitch 8 – 12 a – A sting in the tail? A one move wonder boulder problem guards the top out. (2 bolts, 7m)
Written into The Prow Wall – FA Sonnie Trotter, Tom Wright (2016)
A link up that combines the start of Written in Stone with the top of The Prow Wall via the distinct white dyke that cuts across the wall. A great sustained sport climb.
Pitch 1-5 – as for Written in Stone. If you are a confident 5.11 trad climber, a light single rack will suffice. After this, it’s bolts all the way to the top.
Pitch 6 – ‘On The Prowl’ 5.12c – traverse right across the beautiful white dyke, ending at the base of the 13a pitch of The Prow Wall. (10 bolts, 30m)
Pitch 7-9 – as for The Prow Wall.
Special thanks to Tom Wright for the write up and all his development work over the past year!
