Squamish Bouldering with Zach Galla and Ethan Salvo
The pair climb a few hard blocs in the Canadian town in a new short film from Tension
American climber Zach Galla visited Squamish in April for some granite bouldering. He ended up having a very successful trip, repeating many of the town’s most classic hard lines. Highlights include repeats of Seven V14/15, Zazen V14/15, Room Service Low V14, Deadlift V14, and Offenders of the Faith V13. He also flashed Shelter V12 and Room Service V12.
A film was just released by Tension featuring a few of Galla’s Squamish sends: Shelter, Offenders of the Faith, and Zazen. The video also includes footage of Squamish local Ethan Salvo’s send of the mega-classic The Method V12. The film is embedded below.
Offenders of the Faith V13 is low start to the popular Defender of the Faith V9. Located on a boulder near Gibbs’ Cave, the V9 problem was originally sent by Vince Chung in 2002. The low start had been an open project in Squamish for years until Lucas Uchida linked the difficult moves into the V9 in 2022.
Zazen V14/15 is one of Canada’s most difficult boulder problems. The line is a low start to the classic Gibbs’ Cave V8. First sent by Harry Robertson in 2003 and graded V13, shortly after the FA, a key hold broke and the problem went unrepeated for almost 20 years. In February 2023, Salvo unlocked the new moves and made the first post-break ascent.
Galla is one of the United States’ top boulderers. In February this year, he made the long-awaited second ascent of The Process V16. He’s also repeated Grand Illusion V16 and Sleepwalker V15/16. Salvo is one of Canada’s top boulderers. In Squamish, he’s put up first ascents of Sword in the Stone V14 and 1-Up V14, as well as the first post-break ascent of Zazen V14/15. He has repeated many of Squamish’s hardest problems including The Singularity V15, Seven V14/15, and I Shot the Sheriff V14, among many others.
Zach Galla and Ethan Salvo in Squamish
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