Squamish Bouldering Circuits

Structure to Chaos

Climbers are obsessed with lists, they're everywhere with books and websites dedicated to them. Sendage.com and 8a.nu are giant lists of your own climbing accomplishments and tick lists.

Climbing literature is littered with lists from the famous “50 Classic Climbs in North America” by Steve Roper and Allen Steck to the hotly debated “Top 100” found at the start of our local guidebook.

Next time you stand on the summit of a mountain, look inside the cairn that sits on top for a small tin, open it up, and inside you'll find a list of everyone who came before you.

In a nonsensical sport like ours, where we divide rocks and subdivide portions of rocks to ever-increasing minutiae, lists have become our only way of tracking and recording ascents thereby bringing structure to the chaos of boulders, walls, and mountains everywhere.

Warm-Up Circuit

The forest below the Stawamus Chief is full of amazing, easier problems that can be linked together to warm up your fingers before you start projecting, or as an enjoyable day for those just starting out their bouldering career.

This V0 - V1 circuit can be completed with just one bouldering pad and is located in the Easy Chair zone of the Grand Wall boulders.

• Blasted Face V0
• One Track V1
• Left Slab V1
• Dyke Surfer V0
• Starsky and Hutch V0-
• Huggy Bear V0
• Where's the Duke V1
• Any Rock'll Do V1
• Little Miss Nothing V1
• The Alligator V0

Benefits of Lists

Lists can provide motivation, a sense of accomplishment, increase productivity, and can give structure to a day out bouldering. We looked back and found lists that have become hallowed Squamish accomplishments to downright lists of pain and suffering. They range from the absurd, 60 Laps of Viper (V5) in 60 minutes to skin-shredding lists that only those with Antihydral'd skin and perfect conditions could ever complete.

However, many of these lists provide an amazing day out and can save you time and energy from sorting through the 1000s of problems found in the forest. We've sifted through the existing lists and compiled a collection that offers amazing challenges, perfect warm-ups, kid-friendly problems, or just quick post-work solo circuits. We've added a few of our own with the help of Ethan Salvo, one of our staff members and a dedicated bouldering aficionado. Enjoy!

Ethan's Favourite Moderates

Just because you're a double-digit bouldering machine doesn't mean you can't climb moderates! We asked Ethan Salvo to put a pause on his projects and lend us some beta on his favourite moderates.

Ethan's V2-V3 Circuit

• Largonian Bulge V2
• Power surge v2
• Stupid face V3
• Choss-a-block V2
• Tumbleweed V2
• Titanic V3
• Slot Machine V3

Ethan's V4-V6 Circuit

• Viper V5
• Superfly V4
• Easy chair V4
• Minor Threat V6
• Swank Stretch V5
• Lounge Act V6

Watch: Squamish Bouldering Circuit | Featuring Ethan Salvo & Dylan Hardy / Directed by Alex Ratson. 

Kid Friendly Circuits

The youthful bouldering lifestyle of van living and working problems often morphs into a hybrid of pursuing a career and raising a family while still getting your days out slapping slopers and squeezing blocs. If you have a young family that you want to share the bouldering experience with, then check out this list of kid-friendly problems that are selected for their flat landings and non-reachy moves.

• Twister V1
• Stu's Dyke V0
• The Telltale Heart V0
• Shade Dyke V0
• Fast and Hard V0+
• Squamish Days Traverse V1
• Squamish Days V0
• Fried Ant V0+
• The Alligator V0+
• Blasted Face V0-
• Dyke Surfer V0
• Any Rock'll Do V1

Enjoyable Challenge

Endlessly chasing your climbing limit will beat up your body, thrash your skin, and can be hard on the mind. Instead, why not spend your day enjoying many classic problems? For some, namely Rich Kupskay, Brent Mickelson, Pat Chung, and Tim Schaufele, attempting 25 V4s in a day fit the bill exactly. This list was compiled by the aforementioned group in 2007 when they attempted to climb 100 “V” points in a day.

• Pocket Problem
• Atlas
• Trad Killer
• Star Fish
• The Golden Bowl (stand start)
• Mantle Madness
• Fish Food
• Charge (stand start to Autobody)
• The Rail Thing
• Child Abuse
• Lipsmack Traverse
• Superfly
• Easy in an Easy Chair
• Palminator
• Practical Horseman
• Propagandi
• Chicken Burger and the Devil
• Skin Graft
• Sloppy Poppy
• Hmmm
• Pulling Teeth
• Thighmaster
• Black Mark
• Mantis
• Timeless

Alternates:

• Squamish Jump Start
• Tea Bag Undies
• Tim's Sloper Problem

(Note: The problems above may no longer be graded V4)

Not Hard Enough?

Believe it or not, some will easily walk through and claim the 100 points listed above in a day. So, then what? For Peter Michaux, it's the 20 x V5 version he created which was inspired by the V4 list above.

• Very French
• A Kind of Magic
• The Twist (called Twisted in Squamish Bouldering 3rd Edition)
• The Squeeze
• Smut Traverse
• Legitimate Eliminate
• Class Dismissed
• Fire in the Disco
• Busted
• Jack's Baby
• Monkey Lunch
• The Hoop Wrangler
• Wafer Thin
• Sloppy Poppy Traverse
• Doubt
• Viper
• Gastonomical
• Tim's Sloper Problem
• Gas Arete
• It's About Time

Hidden Gems

The Sea to Sky corridor has bouldering spots that see less traffic. Hidden away in these lesser travelled areas are some absolutely stellar lines that deserve your attention.

• Spasm in the Chasm V2
• Wild Kingdom V3
• Pat Crapped At V3
• A Tribe Called Quest V4
• 411 V4
• Re-Up V5
• The Claw V6
• Weakling V6
• Spring Fling V6
• Amazing Direct V7
• Warp Spasm V7
• Echidna V8
• Planet of the Apes V8
• Rock Fu V9
• Everything Roses V10

Scary and High

Highball bouldering is terrifying and requires a serious stack of pads and friends to spot. The line between free soloing and highball bouldering often gets blurry. If you have the head space for this sub-niche of bouldering, enjoy completing this list of 10 amazing Squamish highballs.

• Is It Pure V2
• For The Birds V3
• Enchanted V4
• No Excuse for Porn Hair V4
• Funeral Arrangements V5
• Teenage Lobotomy V6
• Black Slabbath V7
• Ride the Lightning V8
• Resurrection V9
• Straight Outta' Squampton V10

If these aren't enough, check out the full list of 25 in the latest edition of the Squamish Bouldering guidebook by Marc Bourdon.

Slab Is Sexy*

If you love burning through rubber, and have legs and feet of steel, this list is for you. These slabs will spit you off and are often referred to as the “Seven Evil Slabs,” brought to you by the twisted mind of Matt Lucas.

• Kemoslabby V1
• Public Sweat Towel V3
• Phat Slab V5
• Snake Pit V5 (aka White Rhino V5)
• Masterbator V6
• Bali Song V6
• Black Slabbath V7

*Slab is sexy is a Anna Hazelnutt slogan @annahazelnutt

Only Mutants Need Apply

Are you reading these lists and thinking about how lugging pads between problems is harder than climbing them? Are you person in the gym doing one arm pull ups on a 20mm edge? If so, this unimaginable tick list is made to challenge the best of the best.

• The Reckoning V14
• The Singularity V15
• Deadlift V14
• The Megg V16
• North Ridge V14
• Offenders of the Faith V13
• Zazen V15 (Proposed grade post break)
• Room Service Low V14

History of Circuits

While wandering through the Fontainebleau (Font) forest, one might wonder why there are hand-painted arrows, numbers, and dots on the boulders and plaques with arrows and times nailed to the trees. These are well-established circuits that range from a few problems per challenge to over a hundred that follow an easy-to-navigate system.

The original idea was to replicate the amount of vertical you might climb in the alpine. This tradition was started in 1947 by Fred Bernik and has become both a right of passage and an amazing way to explore one of the best bouldering areas in the world.

Whether you follow your heart, a list, or just go with the flow, the bouldering in Font is world-class. The Squamish ancient granite is composed of feldspar, quartz, and amphibole crisscrossed with basalt dykes that offer variations of holds boulderers love to find. These minerals create a huge variety of colours and shapes that have added to the simple joy of solving problems and linking moves.

So, while trying to complete one of the lists above, don't forget that bouldering is all about fun and that there is simplicity and connection in bathing in the forest, touching the rock, and the wind blowing across your face.

[ Main cover image by @ragechelshands. ]