Stu Smith Sends New Squamish 5.13+R on Malamute

Stu Smith has completed his summer project on the Malamute in Squamish after taking countless big whippers on tiny gear. He named it E.M.U.B.I.G.S (everyone’s moving up but I’m going sideways) and graded it 5.13+R.

There’s about 15 metres “of great vertical dyke climbing that leads to a horizontal seam that heads left. The start has good holds that get smaller and smaller.

Match, paste feet, Dyno, campus cross through, left lock off, place gear, lock off, lock off, lock off, lock off, lock off, don't fall, lock off lock, DONT FALL, clip chains. One of these months it will happen and it will warm my sole of the deepest of depths, or feel extremely empty either or! Full project mental madness #Squamishclimbing #newrouting

A post shared by Stu Smith (@stusmit) on Jul 10, 2017 at 1:59pm PDT

“The end has an explosive dead-point that starts the crux of the route. From there on its pedal to the metal on heinous edges/slopers and techy footwork with the gear far behind. In total around 30 metres of climbing.”

Smith is no stranger to climbing hard new routes on the West Coast. Some of his hard Squamish trad first ascents include Every Minute 5.13+, Mullet Power 5.13 and Ship of Theseus 5.13R.

“Trying this route on and off for the past few months started out great challenging myself to try hard and fall big on spicy gear,” said Smith about his newest line.

“I quit this route countless times with my tail between my legs and ego abolished. On this last visit, the point was to have fun… and I clipped the chains. Struggles like this don’t come often in life so when they do commit and enjoy the process.

“Thanks Nicole Deuchar for the countless stressful belays and keeping me fired up. And Kieran Brownie for the killer whip footage.” Watch below.