New Route info
A place for me to post some info on new routes and topos of climbs and cliffs I have helped to develop. Scroll down for Debecks Hill.
SW Buttress of Dione, Tantalus Range, July 2018
Final pitch!
I have been climbing around the Tantalus range for over a decade and with every passing year, it seems more and more people are discovering it, which is good! An amazing hut, a short heli flight and some world class alpine rock climbing awaits. Fickle coastal weather and short rock season, with too many distractions in Squamish, means the pace of new routes has been slow and info is scarce. In July of 2018 I coerced my soon to be wife into an alpine adventure on Dione. I had climbed around and near a prominent buttress of fine looking rock on the SW prow of the peak and thought let’s check it out. So I threw the drill in the pack and we went exploring ground up.
Laurie cruising up the ramp way high on the ridge, glacier below.
For the first 4 pitches we followed Jamie Chong and Connie Ameluxen’s Dehydrated on Dalwhinnie, a modern bolted route on a similar face. A few fun, and rambling pitches get you to the big ledge system the can be traversed in from the main gully on Dione in early season. From here another rambling and broken 5.6 pitch can be climbed to just below the notch that can get you over to the SW face. Above your head are some steeper cracks and this is where the quality climbing starts!
Splitter alpine cracks
Follow the right most crack to a groove and climb up and out of this at 5.9 to an airy pedestal belay with 2 bolts. The position gets better with every pitch.
Another steep 5.9 crack leads up to a great ledge with a bolt, belay here and get ready for some more stellar climbing.
A steep splitter finger and hand crack leads up to a hanging ramp on the buttress. 10a climbing at its finest in a spectacular position for 35m. At the top of the feature belay, and then move the anchor 10m before you start the final prow pitch.
The final pitch to the summit ridge from below.
Wonderful face climbing at 10a leads to the top…but right now it is rated R (but I am going to go back this summer and add 2 bolts). You can climb around the left side at 5.9 with some gear to skip the R section. Wonderful top out ledge near the Dehydrated finish. Pack up, and scramble easy 5th/4th class to the summit and follow the standard descent off Dione.
There was no evidence of an existing route in my travels, although a line nearby is marked in the hut book. Judging by the flakes/rocks I pulled out of the cracks I would hazard a guess that most of the upper pitches had not been done before, as you could not climb past a few of these features. But who knows, its the mountains and there are a ton of bad asses out here…either way, my attempt at a more modern classic in the home range. Enjoy.
Debeck’s Hill
Access info and route descriptions are on the topo link below, but here’s a brief history. Scroll down for downloadable .pdf
Andrew Councell leads the 40m Covision 11a.
While biking by dozens of times, I always stopped, looked and thought, there might be some decent routes around here. Jack Fieldhouse and Sonnie Trotter each had a random line they put up YEARS ago, but it fell to the wayside. So a few years back with some free time while I waited for a building permit to be approved in Squamish, I dropped Jack Fieldhouse a note and we started scrubbing. A die hard trad climber in my youth, my former self would roll his eyes at how many bolts I put in! But I sought to fill a gap in the Squamish cliff scene by putting up loads of well bolted lines in the 10 to 11- range, with even an easier line or two. The rock is granite, slightly altered from volcanic activity, with a few basalt intrusions that add for some different climbing!
The base is shaded and quiet, with a few old big trees, you can park at the far south end of Alice lake and take a dip at the end of your session, or bike up from Skyridge and ride a trail down. Of note it takes 2-3 days of no rain for most of the climbing to be dry. The upper tier routes and a few of the lower ones dry quickly, but don’t head here the afternoon it stops raining, wait another day. The upper tier will be in the sun until 1-3pm depending on time of year. Don’t forget to look back at the views from the upper tier!
Andrew Councell linking Deflowered into Pandemic Prow for 40m of amazing 5.11 climbing.
Wear a helmet and yes there might be a loose rock or two left, so take caution. I do have a few fixed lines around, so please don’t use them and keep them in place so I can keep adding lines. Most routes have only had 1 or 2 ascents so the grades are loose. Expect short cruxes on many of the lines. Most anchors have leaver biners on the chains so please leave them on for easy use. Caution on a few of the longer lines that your rope makes it, so put a knot in the end of the rope when in doubt.
Thanks to Jack Fieldhouse for his awesome routes, Travis McClinchey and Andrew Councell for amazing contributions as well. Most importantly thanks to the Sea to Sky bolt fund for some hardwear. An updated page with how to contribute is coming shortly.
Have fun!
