Squamish’s Angry Beaver

The Squamish classic Split Beaver, 5.10b, has humbled many wanna-be off-width climbers. Mike Hengeveled summed it up, “My off-widthing started with a climb called Split Beaver. In the local climbing circle, it had a reputation as a hard climb, it is steep, sustained, and–worst of all–it widened all the way up. It is a beautiful, stand-alone line, running directly through a smooth granite wall. I went late in the season and led it on-sight, with much grunting and groaning, but my style was good. For the first time in my life, having big hands meant something more than that you were going to get cancer, or that your dick was really big. Where most people were suffering from rattly, bad fist jams, my cleavers stuck. It felt good to rock a climb that was widely respected as a ‘burly’ route.”