This is my first TRIAD, it has been quite a challenge. Both mentally & physically i am exhausted at this point. If i didn't find those 2 cans of gross big surf lager in my fridge an hour ago i don't know if i would have been able to pull this off.


So, after all these weird days of this bright thing thing in the sky here in Squamish, that bright thing that dried out all the rock & made it extremely enticing to go clip bolts & hang out in the boulders, or session the kids zone at the bluffs- instead of going multi pitch climbing- the weather finally became more predictable & usual. Enough of this wierdness-Rain was in the forecast & was expected to commence around 11am today.


Yesterday after clipping said bolts with the warm, bright thing looking at us Kieran texted me & asked what i thought about today. Even knowing the forecast, for some reason, like a genius or an idiot i texted him back & said "we should wake up early & go do Unfinished symphony", i'm not sure why exactly i said this but of course he said yes & again i surprised myself by saying i'd be at his place at 8am. After many snooze buttons & looks out into the gray oblivion which the sky had become i called Kieran around 7:37, he didn't answer. I immediately started to fall backwards towards the pillow with a gigantic smile on my face, thinking of the sweet dreams i would have! Even though he immediately called back, since my head had touched the pillow again it was to be that by the time i said hello i had instantly become super lite, coors lite even. I suggested the papoose & some other dumb things & possible lesser routes while pleading that my lite-ness was only due to the weather & that we couldn't bail without 2 ropes & other lame lite statements.


This was the Squamish climbing i've grown to know & love & was happy to be doing again: making excuses, Being lite & trying to stay in bed as long as possible. I've learned these very real, essential techniques that come with the territory here from some of the best. Executing these techniques at 745 is way better than waking up at 10 & going to pet wall or hanging out in the boulders for a few hrs before the night shift. Luckily for me Kieran had done the research on the weather & knew way more than i did & dismantled all of my attempts at infecting him with my Liteitis. So, i was forced to spring out of bed, my attitude improved exponentially once i actaully got out of bed & went directly to two birds eatery for a bit of food. I got to Kieran's place around 815 & we were headed over to the apron parking shortly after. By the time we got there we were stoked & stormed up the approach pitch to the good ledge below the first "real" pitch of Snake/Unfinished.


I'm not sure exactly but i think we tied in around 9 & with my trusty but outlandishly long & heavy & impractical 70m rope i was able to climb a 72 M pitch right up to the ledge at the base of the main corner


It seemed like nobody had visited this climb for a bit as there were quite a few needles & debris, we chalked it up & had a good time, really fun thin corner climbing & a great warmup. One of the reason this climb is so good, it progresses from easy jugs to thinner & steeper & more technical corner climbing.


From the ledge Kieran took us up the fun 10a corner which is a little bit steeper & quite a bit cleaner with great rock.

Hey does anyone know what the black coating is on some of the granite near snake & unfinished? It's the kind of shiny stuff?? We were wondering about it up there.



Off the next little tree ledge i took the sharp end & went up what i think may be one of the coolest pitches on the apron. Technical gear protected climbing takes you up to and over an overlap with some steeper moves to a good ledge & rest, after this you continue up the thin corner with a runout feel to another rest, clip a bolt & when ready you get 20m or so of awesome sustained technical laybacking in the slammed shut corner with perfect 1 pad 2 finger pockets every 4 feet & bolts every 15, i managed to get excited & peel about 3 feet from the station which was fun, Kieran styled it out on TR. We were having a good time with the grey skies.






Kieran took off up the next pitch which features decent spacing between the anchor & the first bolt, when he got to the first bolt something interesting happened. I think in some sort of denial from being coerced into going sport climbing yesterday Kieran grabbed a green alien off his harness to place at the bolt, after some more internal dialogue he succumbed to the quickdraw & clipped his way up for a nice onsight!




We were starting to notice the weather building a bit but through our state of childlike wonder we managed to ignore those types of things as we only had one real pitch left, which was right in front of our faces.



I cast off & managed to find a way over the funky overlap, after clipping the bolt above i made a few moves & crumbled some crusty feet around before peeling off the blank slab. I went back up & realized i was blowing it before & padded up to the station where i started to feel the first drops.


Kieran made it over the bulge & i thought he might just go all the way but managed to pop off in the same spot as i did. We cruised up the last bit of slime & kicked it on top of Diedre for a bit & shot the breeze with a few other dudes who had just topped out banana peel.


Kieran was on point with the TRIAD as well & with his lightning quick & creative media skills has been able to grab the feel of the day with some video here:


[Click to View YouTube Video]


We headed down around 12 & after we were presented with an award in the parking lot i dropped brownie off & bid him adieu & to enjoy the rest of his day. Pretty much exactly then i turned on my windshield wipers. Next, i headed downtown & met the wife at Kozo Sushi for lunch which is really a must do for anyone, by far the best sushi in the corridor. After an awesome lunch wifey had to go back to work & the pooch needed to lap out too so i took her for a burn around nexen beach.



So nice in Squamish, even when it's raining.




I dropped the dog back at Jess' office just after 2 and headed home to get my sh#t together for work. After a 20 min nap & a shower i left the house at 3 & did the 40 min haul up to a compound deep inside the innukshuk boundary & hung out with the crew at work & a boatload of British people & other various vacationers for 7hours which was decently entertaining to say the least!



Unfinished Symphony is a Squamish classic & should be on the list of any climber who visits Squamish & enjoys technical granite climbing. Another cool factoid is that members of the FA & FFA team are both notorious tacostanders who really had some great vision & probably a kick ass time on this thing as well once upon a time, maybe they will chime in with some info.

Was a pretty awesome day, i hope yours is as well!



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