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Squamish Dihedral Re-cleaned

Marc-Andre Leclerc and Brette Harrington have spent some time cleaning the splitter Squamish route Deadend Dihedral.

Deadend Dihedral was first climbed in 1969 by John Rance and Frank Baumann using aid. In 2007, Craig McGee and Evan Stevens cleaned the route, added anchors, replaced pitons at the crux with a bolt and free climbed the route at 5.12b.

As will all routes in Squamish, if they do not see regular ascents then vegetation takes over.

“I had wanted to climb Deadend Dihedral ever since I first saw a photo of the first pitch featured in a magazine when I was 15, but had never gotten around to actually trying the thing until this year,” wrote Leclerc on Squamish Climbing.

For more on the story of re-cleaning the three-pitch 5.12, see here.

Leclerc finished his post with: “As we rapped we gave the whole route a thorough cleaning so it is in primo shape for sending. It is a four-star line and we both highly recommend it. Bring a double set of RPs and doubles of cams to 0.5 BD, and one each of 0.75 and #1 and #2 camalot. Brette placed the #3 on the last pitch because she had it, but its not required. While the line appears thin and scary we thought the gear was bomber and easy to place and the line does not warrant a PG-13 or R rating. Have fun!”

Follow Leclerc on Facebook here.

Deadend Dihedral (by Evan Stevens on Mountain Project)
The Dihedrals area to the left of Freeway and the right of Arrowroot and Millenium Falcon. There should be a fixed line to pull up to a stance below a 40 m by one-metre-wide dihedral with a thin crack.

Pitch one: 5.11b Use any technique in the book to climb the dihedral for 35 m to the bolted belay. Many small cams and wires, but there are good rests, hang in there!

Pitch two: 5.12b 10 m Clip the bolt above the belay and figure out the short but vicious crux, followed by a beautiful thin finger crack to the two bolt belay.

Pitch three: 512a 20 m Follow the impeccable dihedral to its end, then undercling and traverse left to the anchor. Clip the bolt and call upon the onsight gods to figure out the mystery finish move to the bolted belay.

Descent: Two 35 m raps

Brette Harrington on Deadend Dihedral Photo Marc-Andre Leclerc
Brette Harrington on Deadend Dihedral Photo Marc-Andre Leclerc
Brette Harrington on the 5.12a third pitch
Brette Harrington on the 5.12a third pitch Photo Marc-Andre Leclerc

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Source: Mountain Project, Squamish Climbing

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