Stawamus Chief

Being back in Vancouver gave me the great opportunity to bag a climb I had wanted to make for quite a while, the classical route on the Stawamus (or Squamish) Chief, which is a big granite dome standing on top of the Howe Sound, north of Vancouver and south of Whistler (for NIPS longterm attendees!). In 2011, Julien, David and I went climbing for a whole day a cliff nearby called Burger and Fries. While the Chief is a 600m big vertical wall that makes for a fairly involved climb, the standard route is mostly bypassing the vertical exposure and goes up on gritty granite slabs that do not require hand pulls (The Apron) and then cracks that make for an easy climb, until the crux of the climb (Buff), again involving cracks if vertical ones and a half chimney, somewhat more exposed, with a solo free climber passing my guide Brett Nixon from Vancouver Mountain Guides and myself on the way. Something around 12 pitches total. Just a great climb, well-suited for my lack of sufficient training in the past months!, and with terrific views all the way, plus constant shade a big plus on a very hot day! Meeting with friends at the top, who had gone up the hiking path, was an added bonus as we could hike down together. Hopefully, I will be back in a near future to try another route, like Angel’s Crest…