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The Chief

Submitted By: Jesse James on Mar 13, 2006
Administrator: Peter Spindloe
Elevation: 2,303 feet
Latitude: 49.6867  Longitude: -123.1350 
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BETA PHOTO: Panoramic shot of the Chief from the top of the Ma...


Description 

The chief is the giant dome that can be seen from just about anywhere in Squamish. Routes can be incredibly varied from runout slabs to spliter cracks to bolted face climbs.


Getting There 

Take the sea to sky highway north from vancouver to the parking lot on the right side just before the town of squamish.



Featured Route For The Chief
Starting up Dierdre - it's steeper than it looks!

Diedre 5.8  International : Squamish : The Apron
Diedre climbs a small right facing dihedral on the right side of the central slab. Over 100m of consistent laybacking on nicely textured rock make this climb very popular; arrive early or be prepared to join a line.P1. Begin up a low-angle slab to a horizontal break with a tree. Make a few face moves to a left-angling crack system and follow it up before making a slightly downward traverse across a small face as the cracks end. Foll...[more]


Add Photo Photos of The Chief
This picture, taken from the side of Hwy. 99, a few hundred feet south of the main parking lot, shows most of the Chief's east facing walls. This picture doesn't do the size of the formation justice.<br /><br />From left to right:<br /><br />At the far left of the photo you can just see the top of the Apron (six pitches up, to give you a sense of scale).<br /><br />Then there's the University Wall and Grand Wall areas. The Black Dyke is visible going through the big roofs. <br /><br />The Dihedrals area is the darker section in the middle. Up and right from the Dihedrals you can see the Tantalus wall.<br /><br />Finally, the Bulletheads are on the far right.

BETA PHOTO: This picture, taken from the side of Hwy. 99, a fe...

Looking southwest from the Center Summit of the Chief you can see the South Summit, Howe Sound and Hwy 99.

Looking southwest from the Center Summit of the Ch...

The Chief from the Smoke Bluffs

The Chief from the Smoke Bluffs

the Chief as seen from Smoke Bluffs

the Chief as seen from Smoke Bluffs

Climbers on the Chief.<br />Photo by Blitzo.

Climbers on the Chief.
Photo by Blitzo.

The Chief from the North (taken from hospital parking lot)

The Chief from the North (taken from hospital park...

Also from the north gully, I think. This may be where the BASE jumpers launch from, but I'm not sure.

Also from the north gully, I think. This may be w...

Looking north from the top of the North Gully. Garibaldi Peak dominates the skyline. The slabs on the right side are the "northern flanks" of the Sqaw. They are up and left of the main climbing found on the Sqaw. Word has it that there has been some exploration and development there lately...

BETA PHOTO: Looking north from the top of the North Gully. Ga...

One of the sections of ladder and chains leading to the South Summit. As a climber you aren't likely to need these, or even encounter them on a climbing day unless you climb on the Raven's Castle. Even the routes that take you high up on the Grand Wall like The Roman Chimneys allow you to traverse off below the summit where these are encountered. For taking non-climbers for a fun hike, however, these features give them a feel of adventure not found on most hikes.

BETA PHOTO: One of the sections of ladder and chains leading t...

A stitched together panoramic of the north walls of the Chief taken from the loop trail in the Smoke Bluffs just above the far right side of Ronin's Corner.<br /><br />Angel's Crest runs up the edge visible in the middle of the image, just left of the Sheriff's Badge.

A stitched together panoramic of the north walls o...