PRINT: Rock Climb South Arete, Squamish

South Arete

5.8, Trad, 5 pitches, Grade II,

Avg: 3.1 from 97 votes
FA: Fred Beckey, Hank Mather, Don Claunch, 1959
International > N America > Canada > British Columbia > Squamish > Stawamus Chief > Apron > N Apron

Access Issue: SIGNIFICANT ROCK FALL CLOSURES - UPDATED Feb 29th 2024 Details

For the most up-to-date information about closures in the Stawamus Chief Park, please refer to the following link: bcparks.ca/stawamus-chief-p…

The closures posted on this Mountain Project page are the latest according to the date mentioned above.

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TRAIL TO THE PROW AND ECHELON WALL VIA THE SHERIFF'S BADGE CLOSURE

Due to a rockfall event on April 17, 2023, the approach/access trail to the Prow and Echelon wall via the Sheriff’s Badge have been impacted. Please stay out of this area until the full extent of this event has been determined.

Posted April 17, 2023

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Due to multiple significant rockfalls in the North Wall, Slhanay, Grand Wall, and Western Dihedrals climbing areas of Stawamus Chief, a large number of climbing routes and bouldering areas are currently closed until further notice. Efforts are underway to assess and remove hazards in the hopes of opening some of these areas soon.

NORTH WALL CLOSURE

The following routes in this area remain closed until further notice due to a large rock fall event. All routes between Lunar Tide and Polaris on the upper Zodiac Wall, as well as all routes between Parallel Universe and Polaris on the Lower Zodiac Wall. The Climb known as Angel’s Crest is open, please be cautions on the approach and avoid the debris field to the left.

Climbing Route Closure Map: nrs.objectstore.gov.bc.ca/k…

GRAND WALL BOULDERS CLOSURE

Due to hazards created by significant rockfall events the following bouldering areas(and associated trails) remain closed until further notice. Lipsmack: Black Sabbath & Halfway Around the world, Octogon: Kemoslabby and Viper: Old and Serious, Beachcomber & Towlie.

Boudlering Closure Map: nrs.objectstore.gov.bc.ca/k…

WESTERN DIHEDRALS CLOSURE

Due to hazards created by significant rockfall events the following climbing routes between Teenage wasteland and Deadend Dihedral remain closed until further notice. Including: The Black Dyke, The Gauntlet, The Façade, Sticky Fingers, Sunset Strip, Millenium Falcon, Rutabaga, Turnip Arrowroot, and Europa.

Climbing Route Closure Map: nrs.objectstore.gov.bc.ca/k…

Updated June 30, 2023

Access Issue: Camping Details

The popularity of Squamish within the #vanlife community has increased to the point that there is great concern about the group’s collective environmental impact. “Wild” or “Freedom” camping has become unmanageable environmentally because of the high numbers of campers. This is a serious issue that causes conflict between locals, home owners, and climbers!

VAN CAMPING / WILD CAMPING

Within District Boundaries

The  District of Squamish PROHIBITS camping within the municipal boundary. This includes sleeping in a vehicle anywhere within District boundaries. A bylaw gives the District the power to issue tickets for contraventions.

Camping on urban / residential streets is prohibited under pre-existing bylaws.

The “hot spots” that have been of most concern are below.

· The whole of the Mamquam Forest Service Road under the North Walls of the Chief between the junction with the 99 and junction with the Stawamus/Indian Arm Forest Service Road (as a salmon run and sensitive riparian area, camping close to the Stawamus River is especially inappropriate)

· The Powerhouse Springs Road including the parking area for the Fern Hill cliff

· The dirt road to the kitesurfing “Spit.”

Outside of District Boundaries

If you explore forest roads in crown land outside the municipal boundaries, it may be possible to find discreet roadside sites suitable for tents or van camping. However, the provincial authorities do have some restrictions ;

· Stays are limited to 14 days.

· Campers should follow Leave No Trace principles. HUMAN WASTE is a major issue.

· Strictly observe any current fire bans.

DESIGNATED CAMPGROUNDS

Please see the District of Squamish website for a comprehensive list of designated campgrounds.

Recommended affordable camping:

- At the Chief: Stawamus Chief Provincial Park Campground BC parks site, spots start at $10.00 CAD/person. No reservations.
- 7 minutes north: Mamquam River Campground A non-profit site, spots start at $15.00cad/night for a drive-in site. Reservations recommended, not required.
- 20 minutes north: Chek Canyon Recreation Site A public site; no fees, no reservations and world class sport-climbing. No running water. The road is steep and rough but 4x4 not required

Description

P1: Shares first pitch of Calculus Crack, climbing tree routes up to a large ledge.

From the ledge, head straight up.

P2: Climb the dual hand/finger cracks that are left of St Vitus and right of Calculus Crack.

Once at the next large tree'd ledge, find a faint, steep trail and climb upwards through the trees. Keep going until you hit rock. The trail climbs through the trees longer than you'd expect, so unless you're climbing trees/roots for 25+ feet, you're not in the right spot.

P3: Climb the steep 3" crack for 20' where the angle backs down and the crack widens to 4"-5". Belay just below the obvious crux bulge, or at the flakes about 20' below. 5.8

P4: Climb through the bulge. It's easier than it looks. Climb up the 5.6 3" crack to a small dirt ledge, belay here on gear. 5.9 (crux)

P5: Scamper up the low-angle slab to the top, using the crack as necessary for pro. 5.4?

Descent:

Scramble to the top of Broadway ledge, or climb Memorial Crack (5.9), then walk down, or rappel from the tree'd ledge before Memorial Ledge. Find the brown rap anchors on the climbers left side of the ledge between the two down slab trees.

R1: Large chain from bolts (15m)

R2: Chain anchor station part way down the wall on a ledge (35m)

R2.5: If have a 60, there is a single bolt with a locker to the right for the remaining 5m

R3: Large chain anchor off tree (28m)

R4: Bolted anchor (25m)

Location

Approach via the steep tree and dirt pitches (5.8, 5.8) of St. Vitus Dance or Calculus Crack. Take the steep trail with fixed line to the left of St Vitus Dance P1. This leads to a 3" crack; the first pitch of South Arete.

Protection

Single rack to 1", doubles #2-#4 (Camalot sizes)

Photos [Hide ALL Photos]

Harder slab option (No Saints Left) on Pitch 5 of the South Arete route. The guidebook describes an easier way but somehow we ended up here.

Start of P1 of South Arete (after first two pitches of St Vitus/Calculus). This is what the crack looks like behind all the trees.

Belay of P2 looking at the top of the climb. We reached from below bulge to these anchors with a 70m no problem. Marked approximately where the rap anchors are, just behind the bulge, a few steps d…

Look for this at the bottom of the "jungle pitch," the second half of P2 in the description. The narrow trail up is straight up from the sling, but it's easier to go R around the vegetation

This is technically P1 of St. Bernard. P2 of South Arete is to the left of this.

Looking up from where I belayed at P2.

Crack that starts off Pitch 5 of the South Arete route.

We went a bit too high on Pitch 3/4 of St. Vitus' Dance, pulled a hard move (bolt) up a headwall, and arrived at a ledge with a bolt anchor, hence joining the South Arete route.

Comments [Hide ALL Comments]

Sherri Lewis
Sequim, WA

This climb deserves more attention than it gets. Mellower than St. Vitus, more actual crack climbing than I remember Calculus having-- especially if you do the new start to Calculus to get to it--and no crowded belays!

link to info about new start to Calculus area:
squamishclimbing.com/squami… Aug 25, 2010

Mason Gunneson
Vancouver, BC

I agree that South Arete deserves more attention than it gets. The crack climbing is steeper, more varied, and more sustained than Calculus Crack and only marginally more difficult.

The climb itself is hidden due to the shrubbery that guards its first pitch, which is likely why few people climb it. But, once you see it, you wonder how you've never been on it before.

If you have a competent follower, you can simul the entire thing in one beautiful 90m pitch with little drag as it's straight up.

A hidden gem to be sure! May 31, 2018

Kyle Wall
Richmond, BC

5.9-

P3 - A bit hard to believe there's a pitch through all the dense, steep shrubbery, but just trust that it's there and eventually a great crack comes into view. The pitch is excellent, although I would recommend building the belay just above the bulge, or at the flakes below as in the description. I belayed beneath the bulge and regretted it, wishing I had climbed just above to the comfy ledge; the rock itself didn't appear 100% bomber and the stance a bit uncomfortable.

P4 - A dropped cam meant I had to run this one out quite a bit... Good thing it was an absolute cruiser. Fun pitch. Jul 11, 2018

Tess Wendel
Seattle, WA

As Kyle Wall said finding the initial crack behind the twenty or so feet of steep shrubbery seemed improbable but viola! I think one of the books mentions that there is a fixed line through the shrubbery but that is no longer there. Definitely enjoyable, secure climbing, with great gear. May 28, 2019

Mark Roberts
Vancouver, BC

5.8

I'm not sure there's any way to get to the top of the Apron that has more pure hand-jamming on it. If you add the newly scrubbed (May 2020) hands-to-wide second pitch that gets you up to Baseline Ledge and you're loving life with hands for days.

I've built the belay directly below the roof/steep section and (~10m) lower at the hollow flakes, and I'd strongly recommend the hollow flakes. Building under the "roof" forces you to either build a belay using hand-sized pieces or building it in a band of janky rock. Don't place any gear behind the hollow flakes obviously, but if you go behind them to the good rock you can build a bomber belay using .75 and #1 Camalots, saving the hand-sized pieces for the next climber. From there, you can do a rope-stretching pitch through the "roof" and up to the bolt anchor from Calculus Crack (~60m pitch) of basically nothing but hand jams.

Once you finish the "roof", it is easy to traverse right 5m to the first (bolted) anchor of No Saints Left, which gets you to the top of the apron through some 10- thinner crack climbing and friction. Looks beautiful, I'm going to do that next time.

For South Arete proper we took a third #2 and found it useful. You can get up this with a basic rack, but if you've got the gear I'd recommend keeping all the small stuff in the car and racking a set of big nuts and singles from .3 to #4 C4, double-up on 0.75, #1 and #4 and triple-up on #2, #3 C4s. (You can do without triples or a second #4 for sure.) May 19, 2020

Adrian Suskauer
Sewanee, TN

5.8+

It's an awesome climb. Because of its consistent locker jams this route is popular with soloists. Linking with p1 of St Bernard will give you a bit more, plus some OW. I like to put the p3 belay in the crack directly at the base of the short vertical face, with two bomber 4s side by side. Fast and secure Jun 15, 2022

Andrea Z

Finally got on this today after climbing Calculus and St Vitus too many times.

I found it a tad more sustained than Calculus only bc it’s a bit wide for me (2s and 3s), but if you just climb it with right arm deep in the crack, right leg in crack, you can pretty much rest after every move. It’s definitely easier than St Vitus.

Although P4 is the “crux”, I felt it was easier than P3. Getting through the “roof”is also pretty straightforward, great jugs.

Added some photos of P3 and P4/roof for beta. Also added a picture of where the rap anchors are. Jul 8, 2023

Alexandros Kazantzidis
College Station, TX

5.8+

Far more sustained than calculus crack, and to me far more fun too.

I thought that p3 was hard for the grade, more 5.9 than 5.8, while the "crux" 4th pitch was easy for the grade, I think soft 5.8 is fair for the bulge pull moves.

I'd recommend two number 4's for this one, I didn't place a single one on the route as pro, but I used one on two consecutive gear belays.
You can definitely use 3 #3's on this route, given that you're likely to use one or two for gear belays, but you'd be probably fine with 2, just save one for the gear belay before the bulge if you build your belay right underneath it as I did.

Other than that, single 0.4 and 0.5 for the first two pitches, and doubles between 0.75 - #2 are (probably) all you need if you're comfortable with 5.8/5.9 hand cracks.

If you wanna stitch it up completely, you can bring a 3rd #2 and/or a 3rd #1.

No need for anything 0.3 or smaller for this one. I don't think I even placed the 0.4 anywhere. Jul 7, 2024

Ming

Maybe this info is elsewhere is in the beta for the North Apron, but we had a tough time finding it.

Approach

Using the Rock On trail coming in off of Mamquam FSR, take a left at the first big rock. At the first big mossy rock after that, take a left, then at the second big mossy rock with a large platform in front of it, go up and to the right to get to the bottom of Calculus Crack/St. Vitus. The start is tough to see if coming from Snake/Read Between the Lines (go around the corner of the Apron and keep going!), as you have to walk past it, then cut back to the right and up.

Find the Rap Rings

After topping out, to find the rap rings, we scrambled up on the slab (it can be protected at the top with a small cam, then veered left. Near the sloping edge, will be a set of chains.

All the raps reach a ledge of some sort with chains for the next rap. On Rap 3, we passed 2 bolts maybe 30' down, and those were not it.

For p2, we took the beautiful splitter crack directly ahead of us, which I believe was p1 of St. Bernard (5.9).

For the second part of p2 (the jungle scramble), there is currently a doubled black rope with a ring on it slung on a tree, that is directly below the line of the scramble. We had to go around the trees to the right and cut back in to the left (you end up to the left of two parallel cracks, the right of which is p1 of St. Vitus Dance (5.9)), then go straight up through the trees, and p3 is behind the last lone tree.

We had lost of fun and a great route from which to scout out the other 5.9's in the area. Hope this helps! Aug 13, 2024

Omid J

My absolute favourite way up the Apron. Hand jams for days. You can comfortably link the shared first pitch into P1 of St Bernard with a 70 m and the requisite gear. If you scramble up the trees to the belay ledge at the base of P1 of S Arete proper, then I believe you can link P1 and P2 to the better belay stance at the tree, but you must be comfortable running it out on the easy terrain, otherwise you won't have gear at the anchor (need a 1, 2, and 3, if I remember correctly). I find the P1 anchor belay stance incredibly uncomfortable. I've also tried to figure out where to build a belay stance per Mark's suggestion, and I could neither find a comfortable stance nor particularly inspiring gear at that flake. Doubles to 4" is great, plus a single 5 is nice to protect the P1 wide bit. Sep 11, 2024