Long Sport Route Climbed in Squamish

The granite walls, bluffs and boulders of coastal British Columbia’s temperate coniferous forest have attracted climbers for decades. First the big walls were climbed, then the smaller walls and eventually the bluffs and boulders. The rock is solid and offers excellent traditional climbing up cracks, chimneys and other gear protectable features.

The first steep walls in the region to be bolted for sport climbing were Petrifying Wall at Murrin Park and the cliffs at Cheakamus Canyon north of Squamish. Cheakamus has the highest concentration of sport climbs and therefore sport climbers, along the Sea-to-Sky corridor. In 1995 Jim Sandford climbed Pulse, 5.14a, on The Big Show; a wall Sonnie Trotter climbed Superman, 5.14c, on in 2001. On Galaxy Buttress the route Star Chek, a three pitch 5.9, was the first to offer multi pitch climbing at Cheakamus. Now a new wave of route developers are cleaning and bolting the often looked at walls that exist off the beaten trail.

Centurion is the newest and one of the longest fully bolted climb in Squamish region at an area dubbed The Outpost in Cheakamus Canyon. Jamie Chong and long time Squamish climber Conny Amelunxen established the route and approach trail over a 10 day period. On June 4 the pair climbed the 180m line and graded the route 5.10c. The six pitches are graded 5.10a, 5.8, 5.10b, 5.10c, 5.10a and 5.10a. One rope and 12 quickdraws are sufficient and the route is built for climbers to rappel. The moderate grades combined with a user friendly approach, one hour on foot, will be a draw to climbers hoping for an adventure above the canyon walls. Helmets are recommended by the first ascent team.

The climb adds to the growing list of new routes in the Squamish area as efforts have surged this spring to climb unclimbed rock. Routes such as Marc-Andre Leclerc and Luke Neufeld’s new line on the Chief’s Tantalus wall called Labyrinth which climbs three pitches up to 5.12c. In Murrin Park the new crag Valley of the Lost Tribe, recently cleaned, adds ten new routes up to 20 meters long that range from 5.6 to 5.11. Along with the addition of moderate new routes hard climbs such as The Bull, 5.14aR, was climbed by Jeremy Smith early in May, at Lakeside in the Woods crag at Murrin Park.

The Outpost area reportedly has room for further development of both sport and gear climbs from single to multi-pitch.

See here for more information:  http://sendage.com/climb/centurion-the-outpost