Photophobia 5.10 5 p on Slhanay (Squaw)

[squamish climber]

Glenn Woloski sent me a topo and some photos of a new route he and Robin B did on Slhanay. By the looks of it this looks like a quality route. Glenn and Robin compare it to Rock On but harder (and better?)

Someone better get up there and report back.


Photophobia base


Photophobia pitch one


Photophobia pitch 3

[enchanted]

I rapped part of the route while getting into our project and I've seen the other pitches from the ground and they look amazing. Glenn has cleaned it so it shines. Once we finish our lines it's next on the list.

[mcfly]

Saw this topo last night - climbed the route today...
Amazing! Thanks for all the hard work putting this route up!
Great climbing with well protected cruxes and comfy belay ledges.
It is similiar to Rock On but better! (and possibly 2 letter grades harder?)
The rock was dry and clean and there was nobody around.
Get out there and climb it!!!

[BK]

Another good addition. Thanks Robin and friends. for a bit of beta we did it in 3 pitches easily with a rack of singles up to 3" and a set of stoppers.

[AaronRN]

Did this route the other day, an excellent addition to the area and will be deservingly popular in years to come. I'd like to offer the following beta for anyone considering the climb. The grades are as follows, P1.10c, P2 5.9, P3 10d, P4 10a, P5 10a.

[J Mace]

I think you have a few too many pitches there? I only found 3.5.

Grades seem off to me as well, I would venture a guess at 10a/b,10c,10a,10b

Considerably easier than Squeamishness

[tendollarpants]

I got on this yesterday. climbed 4 pitches as per the topo above (belayed at the rap stations).
Dry, fun, with a little sun on the top pitch.
Very nice. Much thanks to glenn & robin!

[harihari]

This is a great route. Short, well-protected cruxes, good rests, cool position, and great rock. You can do this in 3-5 pitches. We had doubles to 2" which was nice for making long pitches.

P1: Climb up the obvious corner to a rap station and a glue-in (5.10a). Judicious use of long slings means you can go right then up another 15m of easy 5.8 to a belay with 1 cam and 1 glue-in.

P2: Up a shallow ramp/groove and then right past a 5.10b move or two onto another ledge with a rap station.

P3: The money pitch-- up a beautiful 5.10a corner to another station. Again with judicious use of long slings, keep going past 3 bolts up some 10a face climbing for a 50m pitch.

4 raps.

[scrubber]

Did it yesterday evening and WOW! What a great route. Thank you so much Glenn and Robin for all the hard work up there. This will be the route that draws people to the area.

We split it up into it's 5 small pitches because we were behind another party and it worked well. Doing the longer linked pitches would be fun but you may want a bigger rack and communication would become considerably harder, especially on the last two.

I think the grades that are being printed in the upcoming guidebook are settling in at pretty accurate. 10b, 8, 10d, 10b, 10a.

The ambitious project to the left looks like it will yield a fantastic moderate route. Good luck to whoever is taking it on, it will be a battle.

Kris

[Optimally-Primed]

I too think this is a quality line. For sure in the top 10 new trad lines (sub 5.11) in the past 5 years.

Best parts

- Pitch 1. Second half. An incredible, vertical meat-and-potato corner. Lots of good feet on the face. Excellent gear. Exposed. Burly 10b. Quality. The photo upthread is accurate. It's dead vertical.
- Pitch 3. Second half is even burlier 10d corner cracks. Steeper than it looks. It's actually 5-10 degrees overhanging. Great gear. Some cool backsteps to take the weight off the arms. Memorable and pumpy.
- Pitch 4. The whole thing is amazing 10b. Mostly 5.8-5.9 with the odd 10- move. Crux at the end. Classic corner work.

Unfortunate parts

- Anchor atop pitch 4 is 1 proper bolt + 1 staple. Staples have no place in Squamish. Glenn, fix it.
- 10d crux pitch has a few hard moves right above a ledge. Gear is in abundance but the ledge forces you to either place it closely or risk decking.
- Pitch 5 is a good face pitch but is out of character with the rest of the route and goes nowhere. I'd skip it next time.
- A strange, perhaps unnecessary bolt on p1 is followed by face climbing with deckfall potential. The face has big holds. In my view, the bolting on this pitch was not well-considered.
- In several locations, chopped bolts could use some grey epoxy to cover it over. On pitch 5, a bolt hanger was removed but not chopped, leaving a stud... which poses a manufactured hazard. This stuff works great... either grey/white or grey/black. Available at hardware stores.


All in all, this is a 3 out of 4 star route. A tiny bit more thought and quality control in the bolting would be a good move. Refer to the Best Practices Guide for specs on proper hardware.

[natsdad]

Hi Folks:

Climbed Photophobia yesterday - we were the first of three parties climbing it - and really enjoyed it. Very nice route and great climbing and fantastic exposure. Thank you Glenn and party for developing this climb. I thought the grades published in the Select Guidebook for this are accurate.

Nice work on the launching platform. Note that a single 70 m rope will make the last rappel to this platform. A single 60 m gets you down to a fixed line for the last few metres of scrambling.

There are two bolts sticking out (no hangers) below and to the side of the third station. Should those be removed?

Does anyone know about the bolted line paralleling this climb, just to climber's right? (Really close, not Squampton.)

I enjoyed all pitches, including the last, despite the change of character - and the view from the top station is great. But I do agree that the bolt on first pitch does not make much sense, since you climb down and to the right (away from the bolt) and then face climb up. Maybe a "face" alternative could continue (more or less) straight up from the existing bolt, at a harder grade?

Bottom is still a bit scruffy, but increasing traffic should help clean that up. Again, great work and thanks very much.

Steve

[andypl100]

Climbed the route last week. Great climb, and destined for popularity.

Impressive amount of work on the launching platform at the bottom!

All pitches were fun.

P1 - The bolt seems perfectly placed to protect the second on the slab moves prior to the traverse. Top stemming corner is sweet and sustained
P2 - We didn't link the pitches, so this was just short 5.8
P3 - Fun pitch... but both cruxes are very short. The ledges are very much in play, which is yet another reason not to link the pitch below.
P4 - Long 10a corner. A little gritty but once it cleans up this will be classic.
P5 - Worth doing once.