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Just over a week ago, I was lucky enough to climb The Grand Wall at Squamish. And now it's Grand Final Day, and Huey is chucking it down in Hobart. Here's what we've got just about right on midday: Image Added

It's probably like this all over the state, so I thought you might like a bit of a diversion.
First though, a bit of back story. When Di and I were at City of Rocks in southern Idaho we met a couple from Bozeman. HJ and Tammy were there with a large group of friends: kids, dogs - the whole shebang. Over the course of our stay, and through running into each other at various crags, we got pretty friendly with this mob, especially HJ and Tammy. As you do, we got talking about various climbing venues, including Squamish. HJ had been to Squamish and done lots of climbing there, although not for quite a while. He'd done The Grand Wall (a route that I'd aspired to for a long time, but thought I'd missed my chance) twice before. When I said that I really wish I'd done it, HJ said that he and Tammy were thinking about a trip out to Squamish about the time Di and I would be there, and offered to climb The Grand Wall with me, leading the harder pitches. 'Brilliant!', I thought, but maybe too good to come true? Well, sure enough, HJ and Tammy did come to Squamish and we had a great couple of weeks with them. Now, here's the report. I've copied and pasted from my blog, so please excuse any repetition (and apologies in advance for photos taken at ground level - Di wasn't using a very powerful lens).

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Once HJ had led across to the base of the Split Pillar, and we'd swapped positions with Shona and Johnny I rolled up my sleeves (literally: the top I was wearing has very long sleeves!) and got to work. I was really looking forward to getting back on this pitch again. It's an absolutely stunning 40 metres of climbing. As you can see, the guide says "Pumpy for the grade." Not unlike a lot of the great classic pitches at around the 18 - 20 range onBen Lomond|../../../../../../../../../../display/thesarvo/Ben+Lomond+-+Northern+Escarpment\ in Tasmania. Here's the beta:

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