A Stolen Boulder, 5.15a and More Squamish 2025 News
It was another year of big sends on Canada's west coast
Brandon Pullan
There were plenty of big stories coming out of Squamish this year, from hard repeats to big first ascents. One of the most viral stories, however, was the disappearance of Portable, a granite block roughly a foot tall that was most often found near the boulder Spiderfly. It was known as both a V6 pinch and a V4 mantle. News of its disappearance shook the local climbing community, and climbers across Squamish have been keeping their eyes peeled for Portable since it was reported missing in early fall.
V16 and V15s by Ethan Salvo: Ethan Salvo became the first Canadian climber to send V16 with his repeat of Event Horizon, which he made during the same week that he climbed Dreamcatcher 5.14d – read his story here. He also climbed two new V15s this year in Squamish: The Youngster’s Roof and IMAX. A few weeks after repeating The Hunkster’s Roof, Salvo made the first ascent of The Youngster’s Roof at V15, which adds two shouldery moves to the start of Hunkster’s, increasing the difficulty of the full line – read Salvo’s story here. Located in the Lost World sector of the North Walls, IMAX was an old project that Salvo rediscovered through Peter Michaux. Widely considered one of Squamish’s most stunning hard boulders, the line follows a vertical rail feature to a huge throw to a crimp – read Salvo’s story about IMAX here.
Banana Man: In September, Connor Runge made the first ascent of Banana Man 5.14d, as a variation of Creepshow 5.13d, which was opened by Marc Bourdon in 1998. Runge named the route after his late friend, Dave Tan, a local climber who tragically passed away last summer while hiking the Armchair Traverse in Whistler. “I had to fully level up to send this strange, strange rig and after an honorary punt above the crux (for my boys in the Rockies) I found the chains,” said Runge. “I had to dream big and dig in to get this one done, just like Dave would’ve wanted me to do. (I sent the day after his birthday!)”
9-Year-Old Sends Sentry Box: Reagan Goodwyn, 9, had already racked up an impressive resume of trad climbs, including multi-pitches. This year, she added Sentry Box 5.12a, a Squamish classic, to her list. The route is located on Nightmare Rock in Murrin Park and was first freed by Eric Weinstein in 1976. “My new favorite climb, and one of my proudest sends!” said Goodwyn. “Sentry Box (5.12a), starts out with a super fun 5.10 hand and finger crack that leads to the first crux—the roof! It’s a pretty long reach for me, so I have to get my feet high and stretch as far as I can to reach the finger lock around the corner.”
The Singularity V15 Climbed: The famous Squamish boulder got two ascents this year, one by Zach Galla and one by Toshi Takeuchi. “I send the lifetime dream problem,” said Takeuchi. “On the send attempt, every move was spot-on, but the holds were in poor condition, so I just pretended to be holding them with my lats and somehow got through. I’d already given up in my mind. I thought about going home over and over, but I didn’t stop. Even if you give up, you can’t quit. Thank you, Singularity. It was an amazing journey.”
Midnight Way 5.15a Climbed: Ben Harnden made the second ascent of Midnight Way 5.15a in Squamish. Located on the Paradise Wall in Paradise Valley, the 35-metre route is a link-up first climbed by Connor Herson in summer 2024. Jonathan Siegrist then made the third ascent of Midnight Way, saying after, “Midnight Way is an amazing granite testpiece route that was bolted and envisioned by my friend Tom Wright. The first half was FA’d by my good friend Mike Foley and then Connor Herson did the first ascent of the whole line last year. I absolutely loved climbing on this wall in years past so it was high on my list to try and repeat the line when I got back to Squamish. The wall is a bit of a mess with link ups but there’s no denying how amazing the quality is here.”
Jernej Kruder Sends The Shark: Jernej Kruder repeated The Shark, a 5.14 trad route opened by Connor Herson in 2024. About his send, Kruder told Gripped: “The second try was even better—a strong fight, though I had a moment of insecurity and fell. Time was ticking, and I had only one chance left with a short rest. After about 20 minutes, I taped another bloody finger and started climbing. This time I focused on my breathing and surprised myself by not falling through all the hard opening moves. I reached the same tight hands as in my previous try, but this time I didn’t let go. I took a solid rest and then climbed smoothly to the top, placing only six cams in total. A huge victory scream followed as I clipped the chains. I cleaned the route and ran down to catch my flight.”
New V9 Highball: On March 30, Jake Tiger made the first ascent of Hollow Man V9 in the Apron Boulders to the right of Dynamite V6 and Rat Death V5. The striking 36-foot problem works its way up an imposing face to the highest point on the boulder. The fingery and technical crux comes in the second half of the problem on excellent stone, followed by a very high and airy topout. The first half of the problem unfortunately sports some chossy and hollow rock, with friable holds. After many hold breaks, this lower portion of the line eventually settled into a climbable condition for Tiger. Also this year, Tiger completed the famous “Top 25 Highballs” boulder problems in Squamish, ticking the ultra-intimidating World of Hurt V10 and Palm Meat V6 on the same day to finish off the list. Read our interview here.
Climbers Honoured with Park: The Baldwin and Cooper Park is a new park located at the Highline at Garibaldi Springs Strata, approximately five kilometres north of central Squamish. The park honours legendary rock climbers Jim Baldwin and Ed Cooper, who made the first ascent of the Grand Wall on The Chief in 1961, a pivotal moment in establishing Squamish as a premier rock climbing destination. It also celebrates the broader contributions of climbing pioneers to Squamish’s cultural and recreational world.
