Climbing at Smoke Bluffs- Squamish

Last weekend I was fortunate to find a climbing buddy willing to drive me and him to Squamish for my first outdoor climbing session this year and in Canada overall. The weather was inviting and I have been dying to go outdoors, especially in Squamish.

My climbing partner for the day was a very experienced and very well area oriented fella. He didn’t even need a guidebook to go around and show me some awesome routes at Smoke Bluffs. I mean, I know most of the climbs we were doing were easy but he was just soloing most of them 🙂 I love climbing with people who I can ask any questions and who highlights to me what I might be doing wrong or right. Best way to learn I think (along with loads of YouTube videos and lecture to read).

Getting to Smoke Bluffs in Squamish BC.

Very easy access to free parking at Smoke Bluffs Parking and area navigation across the site is quite easy. Rock is well-scrubbed and cleaned, but in areas not so popular with climbers, the rock is not so clean and moss is slowly taking over the routes.

The area around is absolutely amazing. View of The Chief from Smoke Bluffs is pretty awesome. Makes me really want to just climb the face as soon as I feel fit enough for it.

Here are the climbs we have done during the 6-7 hour day trip:

Neat and Cool:
No 14 – Flying Circus 5.10a trad
No 13 – Corner Crack 5.7 trad (rappel down if possible)
No 9 – Cat Crack 5.6 trad
No – 26 Kangaroo Corner 5.11a trad

Burgers and Fries:
No 27 – Bilbo Baggins 5.7 trad on lead
No 28 – Gollum 5.7 trad on lead
No 17 – Jammers Delight 5.7 trad on lead
Mr. Dressup 5.9 sport with couple of extra pcs of gear on lead

I can honestly say I have never done so much crack climbing in one day before. My hands were ok, but my toes were absolutely dead. Ended up going to Climb On Equipment when we finished our climbing session, to get some trad shoes for me (Tenaya Masai as they are vegan and felt comfy) and couple extra pieces of gear for my slowly growing rack.

Note, shoe sizes here in Canada seem to not match the UK sizes for me at all and I don’t know why. Took me like 30 min to find the right fit between 4-5 different designs.

Below are some more pictures from the day. Besides having my back slightly burned from the sun, it was absolutely beautiful.