Altamont- Murrin Park
Topo by Chris Small and Matt Magee
Altamont is the newly developed zone between Woodstock and Quercus in
Murrin Park. The climbing style present at Altamont is analogous to its
namesake 1969 music festival where things ended in murder and mayhem.
Altamont trends towards the mercurial and sinister, and requires a selfpreservationist attitude due to the sportier distances between bolts and
traditional protection ethic. This vibe is reflected in the rock also with more
technical crimps, slimps, and water polished dyke inclusions for holds. The
eastern aspect and gully location of Altamont enhance the darker ambience.
Altamont Receives filtered morning sun and comes into shade in the early
afternoon making it an ideal place to escape the summer heat. The developers
wish to thank several Individuals and groups for assistance and materials:
Brian Moorhead (Trail Crew organization and Trail building), CASBC (Route
Hardware), Squamish Rock Guides and Capilano University Wildness Tourism
Program (trail building assistance), Chris Little (scaling expertise and
assistance).
Approach
Head up the Pet wall Branch of the Murrin Loop Trail. Go right at the Up
Among the Firs Junction. At the top of the first switchback a large cliff
(Woodstock) will be on your right side. At the North end of this cliff the
cliff steepens dramatically adjacent to a left facing off-width dihedral
prior to entering a gully. Altamont begins here.
1) Beast Of Burden. 10+.
Chris small. May 2015.
Trad. Gear to 3”. ***.
Some people say I am a
“beast of burden” at
times. But somehow I
don’t think they are
referring to my ability
to carry loads of
cleaning equipment
(Bolts, Drill, various
tools, etc.). Starts just
right of Waiting on
Dylan. Climb burly lay
back flakes to emerge
onto right trending
ramp. Ramble right on
ramp toward to the
anchor of the
Peashooter. From the
Peashooter anchor technical, sporty climbing up shallow
discontinuous seams and a large pocket gets you to the top anchors.
2) The Peashooter. 12d (r) Ben Harnden. Feb 2015, 15 m. Trad. Pro to 0.75”.
It appears someone has very large peas in his peeshooter, er,
peashooter. Climb Steep overhanging wall toward a giant scoop
feature, climb left using two large pockets in the scoop to get to the
mid –wall ring Bolt Anchor.
3) Sympathy for the Devil. 10+. Chris Small. Trad, gear to 4”, # 5 Camalot
optional. ****. And there is Lucifer staring you straight in the face.
Carefully Scramble up the Very Large dubiously attached blocks at
Base (Attempts to remove the X block at the bottom caused ominous
shifting of the adjacent humongous blocks) to meet Lucifer, the huge
off width crack above. Shake hands with the devil to gain the ledge
above. A technical step off the ledge leads to a large ramp. Depart
from the ramp into delicate climbing on seams and discontinuous thin
cracks to the anchors.
4) The Midnight Rambler. 10-. Chris Small. Trad. Gear to 3”.***Start on
Beast of Burden and ramble up the giant ramp system past peashooter
and Sympathy. A single bolt protects the access to an undercling flake.
Surmount the flake to gain the anchors.
5) Sympathy for Ramblers 10-. Chris Small. 2015. Trad gear to 4”. #5
Camalot optional”. This route combines the lower burliness of
Sympathy for the Devil and rambling upper portion of Midnight Rambler.
Climb Lucifer to the ramp Feature and then follow the ramp to the
anchors of Midnight Rambler.
6) Street Fighting Man. 10. Chris Small. 2015. Trad to 3’. Like going 12
rounds with Mike Tyson - a long and Tiring Affair likely to leave you a
little beat. Especially when you don’t pay attention to rope drag. Climb
the Arête crack system right of Sympathy to where it traverses right
along the top of the ledge. From the ledge enter a right facing layback
corner to a small roof. Either traverse right on good underclings
through the roof or face climb to left on a sloping rail and crimps to a
single bolt. Some interesting face moves bring you to a series of left
slanting cracks. Climb these to get to the Anchors. 30m.
The next two climbs start on the large ramp above the capilano
connector trail. Scramble up the small gully and boulder about mid –
way up the trail to a constructed platform under two wide cracks.
7) Under my Thumb lock. 11+. Chris Small. 2015. Trad gear to 1”. ****At
Altamont it was during the rolling stones performance of “under my
thumb” the hells Angels killed Meredith Hunter. Start on the Left very
wide crack through short overhanging wall to gain a good ledge and
trend right along the ramp/scoop feature to a vertical headwall.
Interesting Technical climbing on side pulls. Underclings and edges
will allow you to surmount this headwall.
8) Nineteenth Nervous Breakdown. 10+. Chris Small. Mixed. Gear to 4”.**
Starts in left facing corner with wide crack. Climb short off width
corner to two bolt anchor atop large boulder. (alternate belay
location if you wish to avoid the off-width - but then who would want to
do that?). Step left off the Ledge up a short slab to a good ledge with a
large cedar on it. Stay right of the large cedar and follow a bolted
left trending shallow arch to what looks to be a blank slab. The
crimping on this slab aptly lends itself to the route name. Continue
through a couple horizontal breaks to reach the massive horizontal
break ¾ the crag’s height. Traverse diagonally left on this break to the
higher set of ring rappel anchors.
9) Playing with Fire. 10-.
Chris Small. 2015.
Mixed. Gear to 1”. ***.
Sometimes I wonder if I
do this with my route
names. Scramble up
easy wide crack to
series of left facing
thin flakes. Place thin
gear in flakes and
proceed through a
spicy section to a right
trending ledge. From
the ledge clip the bolt
and traverse left on
thin crimps. After the
left traverse climb
straight up on the left
facing flake to the
chains.
10) Just Waiting On a
Friend. 11-. Chris
Small. April 2015.
Trad. Pro to 1”. 3
bolts. ****. Well, you
could do this route
while waiting.
Scramble up easy wide
crack to ledge. Use
the flake in the
shallow right facing
corner to get to good holds along a left trending arc to paired
shallow right trending seams. A perplexing sequence will take you
through these seams to a horizontal crack. Easier climbing exists from
here on the anchors on the headwall.
11) Shattered. 10+. Chris Small.
April 2015. **** Mixed – 6 bolts –
Friends 0.3” *2, 1”. The name for this
route came from a massive scaling
chain reaction rock fall which left
the first ascensionist quite
emotionally shattered. Start in
Corner and grab nice jugs through
slightly overhanging terrain to gain a
thin dyke. Technical handiwork on
slopers gets you to where the dyke
opens into a crack. Have your friends
available to plunge into the crack for
the finish.
12) The Royal Flush. 5.9: March
2015. Chris Small. Mixed
(7bolts - Pro to 1, Double 0.75,
1” cams). ****. Climb left facing
ramp, skirting the toilet like
large pothole feature. Climb
straight up face on edges and
jugs to horizontal break.
Traverse right at break to
anchors of 500 $ in Beer.
Extendable slings are
recommended to reduce drag
at traverse.
13) 500 Dollars in Beer. 5.9 Chris
Small. 2015. Mixed (3 bolts,
pro to 3"). 500 Dollars in Beer
(2015 equivalent $ 3500) was
the fee the Hells Angels were
paid to do security at
Altamont. In retrospect
probably not the greatest idea to have drunk bikers as security. Start
on Left Facing ramp corner system. Climb corner, skirting the left of a
small cave/ right trending ramp feature through juggy overhang to
second right trending ramp. From ramp trend left up bolted face to the
major horizontal break and vertical crack to the chains.
14) Perfectly Wrong: 5.10+. Matt Magee, Feb 2015. Mixed: SR to 2" and 4
bolts. Start on the right side of a blocky nose feature into a short,
right facing V slot. Up and to the right along a ramp, at its top pull a
small bulge onto a ledge and into a scoop (save a yellow Alien or TCU
to protect the move out of here to the first bolt). Follow 4 bolts
through a maze of small edges to a horizontal fault. Finish up and right
through a short hand crack. Use the anchor on the right.
15) Bummer from the Beginning: 5.11-. Matt Magee, Jan 2015. Sport+:6
Bolts (optional # 1 Camalot). Mantel onto the large ledge and follow
jugs and blocks to a high first bolt. Pull steeply through the
bulges/ledges and delicately through the headwall at the top. (After
the initial mantel it is low fifth class to the first bolt if you take time to
find the jugs, consider bringing a red #1 Camelot if you don’t like the
run-out).
16) Tense Vibrations: 5.11-. Matt Magee, Feb 2015. Sport: 6 Bolts. Follow
bolts up to the large horizontal break. Make a tense mantel into a
sloping and polished scoop of a ramp. Carefully reach left to a rail and
a few more easy but slightly run-out moves to the top
17) Aquarius Wept: 5.10-. Matt
Magee, March 2015. Gear: SR to 2”
doubles of the small Aliens/TCUs.
Start at the lower of the two
seasonal 'weeps' (easily avoided). Up
through the herringbone like fault
of incuts protected by devious and
unlikely small horizontal cams and
a nut to the large horizontal break.
Pull up onto a couple of ledges and
left around the roof to a short
layback.
18) Fences on Fire: 5.11-. Matt
Magee, March 2015. Sport: 5 Bolts.
First bolt line left of 'The Tramp'.
Start at the upper of two seasonal
seeps. Follow bolts with increasing
difficulty. It's not over until it over.
19) Terry the Tramp: 5.11-. Matt
Magee, March 2015. Gear: SR to 1”
doubles of small aliens/TCUs. Save
a green Alien or blue Metolius TCU
for the top Furthest right climb at
the top of the hill. Start below and into the bulging crack with
increasing difficulty. As the crack seams out head left then back right
through horizontal features. Short and surly!
The next climb is on the eastern side of the gully opposite Perfectly
Wrong.
20) N2 the Talking Cat. 5.8. Elise Bourdon (Age 8!). Trad. 5m. N2 is a famous
internet cat. Follow the nice finger sized right trending crack.
Approximately another 40m uphill
from Terry the Tramp just prior to
getting to Quercus cliff are 3
additional climbs:
21) Ramping it up a notch. 5.10.
Chris Small. 2015. Trad – gear
to 1” ***. Climb shallow right
facing crack and face moves to
left trending ramp. Follow ramp
to Anchors.
22) Beware the Top Rope Parasite!
5.10. Chris Small. 2015. Trad –
gear to 3”, extendable draws. ***
The bane of its host species,
Homo sapiens var. rope gunni,
the top rope parasite (Homo
Sapiens Pseudoclimberus)
causes frayed cords (both
vocal from continuous beta
shouting and confidence building, and physical on ropes from excessive
friction and scraping on granite slabs and edges), pronounced irritation, and
physical weariness. The top
rope parasite is readily
identifiable by its lack of
testicles (primarily
figuratively but often
literally), pink or green
parchment flaps attached to
their backsides, and its shrill,
high pitch calls of “take…. –
Take More!!!!” and “Keep me
Tight – Tighter!!” It often
rampages in the host’s habitat
in large vocal aggregations.
23) The wonderful thing about
Diggers. 5.7. Chris Small.
2015. Trad – gear to 2”.
Because Diggers are a
wonderful thing as we scrub,
scrub, and scrub. Climb right
trending crack under the
overhang.