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New Squamish North Wall Cracks, One is Over Eight Inches Wide

The North Walls on The Chief in Squamish hold some of Canada’s most accessible hard granite climbs. Many will remember last year when a large section of the upper wall fell and took out part of the forest below. In 2013, the effort of Danny Guestrin, Jon Rigg, Ben Stanley, Dave Brown, Dom Ngo, Chris Dinner and Will Kahlert saw the completion of Nanook and in 2016, Guestrin, Rigg and Laurent Janssen made the first free ascent at 5.11d. The five-pitch line pieces together cracks and corners on the left side of the North Walls. The first pitch is the crux at 5.11d and is followed by two 5.11bs, a 5.8 and a 5.10c pitch. A 70-metre rope is required to get down.

The other new route reported on the Squamish Rock Climbing page on Facebook is High and Dry, a 30-metre off-width 5.9. It was first climbed in 2014 by Ben Stanley and Dom Ngo and it was freed in 2015 by Jon Rigg and Ben Stanley. It climbs a steep corner right of the start of Nanook and widens to over nine inches. Rigg recommends bringing a Valley Giant 12, because a Valley Giant 9 tips out, and Big Bros won’t work due to the nature of the crack. “Climbs like an 8″, protects like a 10″,” wrote Rigg on his post on the Squamish Rock Climbers forum on Facebook. For a topo see here and a photo see here.

Nanook 5.11 is marked with a yellow line on the far left of the North Walls on The Chief. Photo Matt Brooks
Nanook 5.11 is marked with a yellow line on the far left. Photo Matt Brooks

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