Watch Stu Smith Send New Squamish 5.12: Babe’s Crack

Babe’s Crack is a fine line at the top right side of the Apron in Squamish, just below the Pan Wall. It was first tried about 10 years ago by Tony McLane and Nick Elson on aid, but they bailed low on the pitch.

In 2013, Jon Rigg and Danny Guestrin made the first ascent by aiding the thin crack. Earlier this month, Squamish crack crusher Stu Smith made the first free ascent at 5.12-. Watch Smith’s shaky headcam footage below.

“Approach as for the buttress but just after the trail squeezes between the two large boulders in the forest take a right off the trail, hike down for a moment then follow rough trail along cliff for two minutes,” said Smith. “The belay is accessed by a rap off a large tree. Good exposure as you step off the ledge and traverse steep crimps before gaining steep physical crack. Gear from tips to hands.”

Steepness, Crimps, jugs, heel hooks, fist jam, wild laybacks, big exposure, big falls, shit gear, great gear, shit rock, best rock. This aid line has it fucking all packed into its 25m and it goes free to boot.

A post shared by Stu Smith (@stusmit) on Mar 24, 2019 at 5:49pm PDT

Babe’s Crack

Five Hard Squamish One Pitch Trad

Bruce Lee Vs. The Kiss Army 5.13a at Smoke Bluffs
Zombie Roof 5.13 at Smoke Bluffs
Sixty-Nine 5.13b/c at Murrin Park
Lake of Fire 5.13cR at Murrin Park
Cobra Crack 5.14 at Cirque of the Uncrackables

After 12 years I’m thinking about selling the van and moving into a place this season. This is what I could afford… the square footage is a bit sparse but the view is pretty good. Sleeping will be a challenge, peeing on the other hand, will not.

A post shared by Stu Smith (@stusmit) on Mar 29, 2019 at 8:44pm PDT