There’s obviously a lot about having a child that’s special but one of the many wild things is that after waiting patiently for nine months, you don’t actually know when they’ll arrive. It could be the due date. It could be a week, or two before. Or it could be after. You don’t know what day. You don’t know what time. It’s just a surprise.
I’ve been adjusting to life as a professional athlete with a growing family. Family time took a higher priority this summer so my time in the alpine has been pretty limited. Luckily rock climbing on the Chief is a good option during daycare hours. While I’ve been loving trying to pull harder, I’ve also missed the long endurance efforts. On top of the toddler we have at home, Baby number two was due imminently so I really wanted to get one last long effort in before settling into a new routine. I had to figure out a way to do that without being too far from the house just in case she decided to come early.
I’ve always wondered about a linkup of the three major buttresses on the Stawamus Chief. I’m of course not the first to think of linking up three routes and my goal wasn’t a speed record or to do something new. Just climb a ton of pitches in an efficient style and have fun with a friend. Luckily Brian is always up for an adventure and is pretty susceptible to peer pressure.
Our biggest worry for the day was that we’d encounter other parties and slow down so we opted for a 5am start from the Chief parking lot. I was still pretty groggy as we jogged down the path to the base of Angel’s Crest, after choking down some tea and a bagel. We turned up the approach trail and the humidity of the day, even before dawn, hit us hard. We just hoped we’d be in the shade for most of it. The first few pitches of Angel’s Crest went by in a blur of headlamps. The sun rose as we started linking the easier pitches in the middle of the route. We felt slow and bumbly but started to get our systems figured out. At the Acrophobe Towers about two hours after we started, I watched my wife pull out of the driveway, taking our daughter to school.
The sky was lighter but a weird cloud up high had us a bit confused about the weather. It wasn’t until we topped out that we realized smoke from nearby wildfires was pouring over the ridge and settling into the valley. Should we be worried? I love using my telescope to watch climbers out the living room window and routinely see exhausted leaders struggling to top out on Angel’s Crest. I expected a bit of karma here, but climbing the crux pitch, I found the moves easier than I was anticipating.
Angels Crest 5.10b, Evan Wong Photo. 
Evan Wong Photo.
At the top, we said hi to photographer Evan Wong who would meet up with us a few times throughout the day. All the gear got crammed into our backpacks and down we ran from the second peak! With a brief stop at our car/aid-station, we were back running down the path to the base of the North North Arete. This is an old route that I’d climbed a few years ago and has a reputation for adventure. It’s only 6 or 7 pitches but they are a little more “alpine” (or jungle) than most Squamish rock. More recently, Paul Cordy has added some variations called Hyperspace Bypass. The topos are sparse and confusing but it’s generally possible to figure out.
We quested up, first on Hyperspace, then NNA, then back on Hyperspace. At the second to last pitch, we wandered around lost. None of the descriptions matched the topo and what we were seeing. We started up one way, downclimbed, then looked up another. Several options looked tempting but we didn’t want to dead-end. We could see Evan at the top of the route but couldn’t figure out how to get to him. Time was ticking by quickly and we were getting frustrated. It was a one-bar phone call to Paul that ended up saving the day as he described in detail how to find the pitch on Hyperspace – scramble up and left and then stop at the chimney with the tree that splits in two. Check!
Evan Wong Photo. 
Hyperspace Bypass 5.10a. Evan Wong Photo.
This chimney pitch is one of the wildest that I’ve climbed in Squamish. A perfect handcrack on one wall while pressing your back on the other before you transition onto a series of chockstones and then pop out on the far side of the arete! Wild. Again we met Evan and he shot photos while we climbed up the 10a finish. Now our feet were really starting to feel the day’s effort in climbing shoes and it was a welcome switch back to running shoes and blast down the 3rd Peak trail.
Evan Wong Photo. 
Evan Wong Photo.
At the aid-station, we resupplied and swapped out our gear. For our final route, the Squamish Buttress, we switched from a more traditional style of pitching it out, to more of a speed-climbing style. We’d simul-climb as much as possible and slow down for the crux pitches. One block got us to the top of The Rambles, another up Banana Peel to the top of Boomstick Crack, and then a third to the base of the 5.9 crux pitch on Butt Lite. Our toes were really burning at this point and all we could think about was getting out of our climbing shoes as fast as possible. Here we slowed down a touch for another party (the first we saw all day) who graciously let us pass at the next station before a nice solo up the top of Raven’s Castle and onto the summit of the First Peak.
Evan Wong Photo. 
Evan Wong Photo. 
Evan Wong Photo.
High fives all around and we jogged back down the first peak trail. Just under thirteen and a half hours after starting, we were dunking our heads in the fountain at the parking lot. Even better, I made it home in time for stories before bedtime.
What made this special? It felt like a big adventure, 30+ guidebook pitches, all within sight of my house. It definitely had ‘backyard ultra’ vibes. I was pretty nervous my wife would go into labour and I’d get the call at any moment so it was great to never be far away. Luckily she didn’t (that would be two days later) and we stole ourselves a big adventure close to home!
