Climbing adventures in BC - day 4 of 10, crack climbing on slab, sweeeet
Megan is feeling even better today, yet still not 100% to go on any multi-pitch routes. Not a problem, we could check out another area that is scenic and has a classic must-do climb, Klahanie Crack (5.7) at Shannon Falls. A late start in the morning, breakfast at Sunflower Bakery, trying to figure out whether to park at Shannon Falls or the Chief campground (so Megan doesn't have to walk too much)... when we eventually took the long approach from the Chief campground to Shannon Falls, it was about noon. Just as we got to Local Boys Slab it started drizzling. It wasn't a big rain, just enough to wet the rock slightly. Oh well. We decided to wait around for a bit and see if the rock will dry out. Another team got there a little later, and they decided to wait as well. I saw them last night while cooking dinner at the campground, so I chatted with them a little bit. Turned out they were from England, traveled around Canada for a while to climb, and getting ready to go back to England soon.
Shannon Falls
The drizzle soon stopped, just like the first day we were in Squamish, and surprisingly the rock dried up quickly. I figured this must be the way the weather was here, this little assumption would cause me an epic later, but right now, the two British climbers racked up to climb Cardhu Crack (5.8) on the right side of the Local Boys Slab, so I racked up to climb Klahanie Crack (5.7), this beautiful looking hand crack that goes right up a slab. The guidebook said this is a must-do, and I agree. There were great hand jams one right after another on Klahanie Crack, it was excellent. The moves were all continuous and sustained at the same difficulty level. The only problem was that I was wearing my Evlov Kaos, which was pretty painful for toe jams. It was pretty painful to stop, stand on a toe jam, and place gear. When I finally got to the anchors, I was hurting pretty bad. But I still liked the route (just remember to bring suitable shoes next time when climbing cracks). Megan cleaned the gear, and enjoyed the route as well. It wasn't 35m long like the guidebook said though, we were climbing on 70m double ropes, and I was able to set up the rappel by doubling one of the ropes, and there were still plenty of rope left when I got back on the ground.
Beautiful jamming on Klahanie Crack (5.7)
The British team were done climbing Cardhu Crack as well, but they elected to just call it a day. I racked up and led Cardhu Crack. The first part was very easy, with multiple cracks and big no hand stances. The crack was hand sized, since I had great stance, I decided to made a stacked-placement with two medium nuts, which would not fit anywhere on the route on their own. Save the bigger gear for the harder part, eh? The only thing I didn't do was to clip the second nut to the first one somehow so it won't fall down when removed, but I was trying to conserve gear for the route above.
Stacked nuts, old school
The multiple cracks thined out into one hand crack, pulling over a small bulge (which was the crux), then hand and fist jams on a slab to the anchor. The moves were more varied than Klahanie Crack, my feet weren't hurting as bad since there were stances around, and there was a cruxy feeling section. I think I enjoyed leading Cardhu Crack even more than Klahanie Crack. Megan seconded and took a photo of my stacked nuts (I asked her to), then we rapped and called it a day. The only other route in the area I could lead was another 5.8, which share half of the route with Cardhu Crack. Two great routes in a day was good enough. We went back to camp and cooked vegie-burger for dinner.
Megan jamming on Cardhu Crack (5.8)
The drizzle soon stopped, just like the first day we were in Squamish, and surprisingly the rock dried up quickly. I figured this must be the way the weather was here, this little assumption would cause me an epic later, but right now, the two British climbers racked up to climb Cardhu Crack (5.8) on the right side of the Local Boys Slab, so I racked up to climb Klahanie Crack (5.7), this beautiful looking hand crack that goes right up a slab. The guidebook said this is a must-do, and I agree. There were great hand jams one right after another on Klahanie Crack, it was excellent. The moves were all continuous and sustained at the same difficulty level. The only problem was that I was wearing my Evlov Kaos, which was pretty painful for toe jams. It was pretty painful to stop, stand on a toe jam, and place gear. When I finally got to the anchors, I was hurting pretty bad. But I still liked the route (just remember to bring suitable shoes next time when climbing cracks). Megan cleaned the gear, and enjoyed the route as well. It wasn't 35m long like the guidebook said though, we were climbing on 70m double ropes, and I was able to set up the rappel by doubling one of the ropes, and there were still plenty of rope left when I got back on the ground.
The British team were done climbing Cardhu Crack as well, but they elected to just call it a day. I racked up and led Cardhu Crack. The first part was very easy, with multiple cracks and big no hand stances. The crack was hand sized, since I had great stance, I decided to made a stacked-placement with two medium nuts, which would not fit anywhere on the route on their own. Save the bigger gear for the harder part, eh? The only thing I didn't do was to clip the second nut to the first one somehow so it won't fall down when removed, but I was trying to conserve gear for the route above.
The multiple cracks thined out into one hand crack, pulling over a small bulge (which was the crux), then hand and fist jams on a slab to the anchor. The moves were more varied than Klahanie Crack, my feet weren't hurting as bad since there were stances around, and there was a cruxy feeling section. I think I enjoyed leading Cardhu Crack even more than Klahanie Crack. Megan seconded and took a photo of my stacked nuts (I asked her to), then we rapped and called it a day. The only other route in the area I could lead was another 5.8, which share half of the route with Cardhu Crack. Two great routes in a day was good enough. We went back to camp and cooked vegie-burger for dinner.
posted by Boer @ 7/04/2005
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