A great adventure in July 2016:
When we returned from Yosemite and Tuolumne Meadows in July this year, we thought that we will use the remaining 15 days to go alpine climbing to the Buggaboos. But really, we both were kind of climbed out for a bit and were happy to sleep in a real bed, so we decided to relax in Vancouver.
Fortunately, we live close to Squamish, so we did not have to relax for too long, especially because Todd had a goal lined up in Squamish. The goal existed since last year, when we climbed the Chief twice in a day in around 13h. The Chief has three peaks, so of course all three in a long day sounded reasonable!
How to get up the first and second peak was pretty clear, the Buttress and Angel’s Crest, but the routes up the third peak are not so straight forward. We needed a route that was not too tough, considering the amount of pitches we were planning to climb. Parallel passages would be one, but it has very sustained climbing at 10c, which I decided is too hard for me. Furthermore, some block had broken off the Chief in 2015 and destroyed part of that route. But Todd had found a barely climbed route described in the old Squamish guidebook called the North North Arete that goes at 5.9/10a. So on a Friday afternoon, we went to check it out.
The approach is fairly long but the climb itself is only 6 pitches. We hiked up the north gully for a while, squeezed under a big rock and eventually cut right to walk on an exposed ledge around the rock for just a couple of minutes to find the start . Todd is good at finding climbable rock and we scrambled up some blocky bits to the start of the climb. The description of the pitches was pretty good in the guidebook and we did not have a hard time finding the route. The rock was pretty good too! Happy about our route scouting success we hiked down the Chief and went to sleep to get an early start the next day.
The plan was to start with Angels Crest, then climb the North North Arete and finish off with the Buttress, as by that time in the evening, nobody should be on that very popular route anymore. We were wrong, I had forgotten how stupid some people are.
On a beautiful Saturday morning at 4.30 am, we started with Angel’s Crest, it was dark when we hiked up the trail to the start and it was quite enjoyable but at the same time I was nervous. I told myself that I am just going to climb Angels Crest and then have a rest. Not surprising, nobody was at the start of the route at dawn, so without delay we were on it, and up it a couple of hours later, let’s say 5. On top I told myself that I now can relax while hiking down the Chief and will be rewarded with a Salami Pretzel bagel when I am at the car again.
Soon we were at the car again and happy to start the North North Ar ete with minimal eating delay. I used the same technique as before, and told myself that I just needed to climb the North North Arete now and then could have a break. And I have to say, it went pretty well again, we topped out around 5pm through the birth canal and were soon on our way down again.
And another Salami Bagel at the car and the last route for the day! It was around 6.30 pm when we started to climb again. This time we simul climbed Banana Peel to Boomstick Crack, then to the ledge below the Buttface. I had some minor problems following the correct slabs up banana peel and ended up on a 5.9 slab, that I had to downclimb, because Todd shouted up: “I am not going to simul climb 5.9 slab!” Fair enough, but also scary enough for me trying slowly to get down a couple of meters (lets say two) to the last bolt. When we reached the Buttface around 7.30 pm, we could not believe what we saw. Around 9 unhappy climbers were waiting for their turn to get on the Buttface. We really wanted to finish before dark, but we also really didn’t feel strong enough to climb the Buttress instead, which at stiff 10c, is much harder. Eager to finish the long day, Todd decided that he would go for it, rather than rapelling down the Chief or waiting for 5 h to get up the easy route. And it worked out fine, with some grunting. I felt I owed him to get up the route without falling too, so I pulled myself together and made it up clean too. I did drop my headlamp in the process, but that was alright.
We met the culprits that seriously delayed/cancelled the Chief ascent of so many other climbers that day, and why? Because they were a group of 4 that did not know how to lead climb (except for 1 person).
And then I was relieved, because hiking down the Chief in the dark was no problem, in fact, it was quite enjoyable too, and we finished our adventure just under 18 hours. I forgot if I had another Pretzel Bagel, I probably did..
