While working Project Grizzly in August and September I couldn't help noticing some bolts on the wall just to the right, which did not seem to be associated with any route. There were at the end of an impressive undercling feature, crossing golden glacier-polished granite above and left of several established routes, notably the hallowed "Burning down the Couch". I asked on the squamishclimbing.com web forum whether anyone knew anything of the bolt's history and got two incompatible responses: that they were bolts used during filming of the last Twilight movie, which contains a brief climbing sequence; that they were an abandoned project of a climber who had since left town. The latter seemed more likely, so I tried emailing the climber, Craig, through his guiding website, but got no response. I then lost interest for a while. But about two weeks ago I happened to mention the topic to my friend Eric, who seems to usually know something about most things. Eric knows Craig and suggested I messaged him through Facebook. Craig did then respond, acknowledged the bolts were his and kindly offered the project to me.
Craig also made a comment that he had decided that the project needed more bolts, which was my conclusion after rappelling the line once. A lot of bolts have been placed at Squamish but there is definitely a sense that drilling is not welcome everywhere. There are no "rules" as such, and no final arbiter of what is OK, but I am aware there are some strong opinions out there and that as a recent arrival in the climbing community I should probably tread carefully. Pet Wall in particular is an impeccable piece of granite with several famous climbers involved in its development, even though it has come to be viewed mainly as a sport cliff and has many bolts. The excellent Squamish Access Society has produced a best practices document, which warns:
"Careful consideration and thoughtful contemplation of your actions is warranted whenever considering placing fixed protection. When in doubt, seek opinions of other climbers including seasoned route developers before you take action. Keep in mind, opinion on these matters vary widely and individuals who disagree with what you have done may take action and remove your work."
Anyway, after a session top-roping the line with Eric, I decided to take the plunge and added two more bolts. There are two obvious ways to access the new climbing, either directly from below on a brutally crimpy .12d route, Rocket, or by a short traverse from halfway up the easier Burning down the Couch. I opted for the Couch approach as it results in a long route with escalating difficulty - about .11d to half-height then about .12b. The hardest moves are right at the top.
The process of leading the route wasn't too eventful. As often, timing the weather and getting a belayer to the cliff at the right moment was the key issue. In this case, I am very grateful to Mari-Michelle, a recent partner, who came to the cliff twice on consecutive days to assure success, even though we didn't get much else done on either day. The length of the route and reasonably high difficulty throughout means a lot of focused concentration; not always my strong point. The final redpoint was quite a beautiful experience. I climbed very precisely but in a nicely detached way. Just before the final crux, which was fully in the sun, I looked back and saw the rope arcing away then vanishing back into the shade at the base - an amazing illusion.
Though it is now mid-October and was raining hard at the same time last year, we are instead being blessed with bluebird skies and crisp conditions. No excuses for slacking off!
Whilst casting about for a name for the new route I came up with "Off the Couch". As well as the reference to Burning down the Couch - which it unquestionably moves "off" - I also liked the inference that the "work" must continue! I don't think I have the stomach for any more long redpoint campaigns but I hope to exploit the great friction to try some of the harder trad routes on my wishlist.
The unclimbed rock
Craig also made a comment that he had decided that the project needed more bolts, which was my conclusion after rappelling the line once. A lot of bolts have been placed at Squamish but there is definitely a sense that drilling is not welcome everywhere. There are no "rules" as such, and no final arbiter of what is OK, but I am aware there are some strong opinions out there and that as a recent arrival in the climbing community I should probably tread carefully. Pet Wall in particular is an impeccable piece of granite with several famous climbers involved in its development, even though it has come to be viewed mainly as a sport cliff and has many bolts. The excellent Squamish Access Society has produced a best practices document, which warns:
"Careful consideration and thoughtful contemplation of your actions is warranted whenever considering placing fixed protection. When in doubt, seek opinions of other climbers including seasoned route developers before you take action. Keep in mind, opinion on these matters vary widely and individuals who disagree with what you have done may take action and remove your work."
Anyway, after a session top-roping the line with Eric, I decided to take the plunge and added two more bolts. There are two obvious ways to access the new climbing, either directly from below on a brutally crimpy .12d route, Rocket, or by a short traverse from halfway up the easier Burning down the Couch. I opted for the Couch approach as it results in a long route with escalating difficulty - about .11d to half-height then about .12b. The hardest moves are right at the top.
Top-roping at the start of the new climbing - the line is obvious!
The process of leading the route wasn't too eventful. As often, timing the weather and getting a belayer to the cliff at the right moment was the key issue. In this case, I am very grateful to Mari-Michelle, a recent partner, who came to the cliff twice on consecutive days to assure success, even though we didn't get much else done on either day. The length of the route and reasonably high difficulty throughout means a lot of focused concentration; not always my strong point. The final redpoint was quite a beautiful experience. I climbed very precisely but in a nicely detached way. Just before the final crux, which was fully in the sun, I looked back and saw the rope arcing away then vanishing back into the shade at the base - an amazing illusion.
Though it is now mid-October and was raining hard at the same time last year, we are instead being blessed with bluebird skies and crisp conditions. No excuses for slacking off!
And finally ... I did some research to try and make sense of the Twilight filming anecdote, and found this clip. "My" part of Pet is clearly visible (briefly! 1:45 -1:48) but the climber is a few metres right of the new line, below some other mystery bolts I have spotted there. Actually that is also a potential short new route ("Breaking Dawn the Couch"?) but I will leave for someone else!
