Home > News

B.C. Boulders Fall as Temperatures Rise

West coast bouldering heats up as Squamish prepares for its hottest June in recent memory

As the country settles into vaccination vacations, more and more climbers are embracing the less-than-ideal temperatures of the summer months to get out on their favourite projects. Over the last couple of weeks, numerous hard boulders have been sent at the hands of Canada’s strongest.

In order of completion, Ontario’s Cameron Gibbs completed Shelter V13 on his first session back. While Gibbs had found early success on the first move last year, the remainder of the boulder problem proved too challenging to complete. He sent on his final attempt of his first session back on the boulder. Gibbs has climbed for just over three years.

In Kelowna, the Hive’s Ivan Luo tackled the rarely repeated Brewtality V12 at 11:30 in the evening. The slick and fingery face climb takes the climber through a challenging drive-by before continuing up through a high gaston. The somewhat tall top-out adds a little spook when climbing at so late an hour.

On that same trip, Lucas Uchida tackled Slippery When Wet V13 and Asclepius V12/13. Slippery When Wet features extremely tense moves that revolve around a small in-cut left-hand. The positions themselves require no small amount of finger strength and body tension, but climbing into, and out of, the first move requires an unreal amount of finger-power.

Back in Squamish, Ryan Sklenica and Brennan Doyle completed the new classic Elephant Shadow V12. The power problem revolves around two underclings that bang out toward a lip. The extremely powerful and aesthetic climb joins numerous modern classics that have been established in these last 18 months.

Also in Squamish, Ethan Salvo took down the Deputy V12. After some difficulty on Black Magic, Salvo trusted his skin and fired the boulder problem. The aesthetic 12 rocks on perfect grips through a narrow compression toward the top of the wall.

Finally, Jakob Scharfman completed a longer-term project he that had injured him in a previous season. After a dedicated series of weeks, Scharfman climbed Squaminard Low V13. The powerful roof features a style unique from anything else in Squamish and brings the climber to the top of an aesthetic highball. The following image from Scharfman features Andrew Funk with whom he worked this project.

Although this next week in Squamish appears to be the hottest June in recent memory, the psych is high as some of Canada’s strongest outdoor boulderers set up to send despite the sun.

Featured Image of Cameron Gibbs by Natalie Chan.

Check out the latest buyer's guide:

The Best Climbing Gear According to Our Editors – March

Every month we're bringing you our favourite gear so you can complete your climbing kit with the latest and best stuff out there