Dry Autumn Leads to Highball Sends and First Ascents in Squamish
The rainy season started late this year in Squamish, opening up boulder problems typically soaked by waterfall spray
September and October were unusually dry this year in Squamish. The lack of precipitation caused rivers to run much lower than they would in a typical, rainier year. Shannon Falls, a 335 metre waterfall south of the Stawamus Chief, felt the effects of the drought, slowing to a trickle in October. This left the boulders at the base of the falls drier than they’ve been in years.
The dry conditions sent boulderers flocking to the “Raging Waters” area of Shannon Falls Provincial Park. The stunning highball Panta Rhei V7 in particular saw a lot of action. First climbed by Keenan Takahashi in 2018, the problem had not seen an ascent since its FA due to wet conditions.
This fall, Ben Fenton and Cory Best rescrubbed the boulder and leveled out the landing before picking up the 2nd and 3rd ascents of the problem. You can watch a beautiful send video by Simon Yamamoto below.
Fenton climbed another impressive highball in the area, this time an FA of a striking slab problem he named Flow State. You can watch his send of the problem in the video below.
Jake Tiger also put up a couple gorgeous moderate problems that were potentially previously unclimbed. He named them Selkie and Kelpie and they both go at V3 up different sides of a large, water-eroded boulder. Tiger got another first ascent on a techy V6 problem he’s named SinulKA. Gabe Lawson prepped the boulder and handed it over to Tiger for the flash FA.
Be sure to keep these problems on your Squamish bouldering tick list. It’s uncertain when a weather window like Autumn 2022 will open up again, but when it does, these boulders will be waiting.
Tiger’s FAs
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