Cleaned: Men Holding Hands and Stone Free

[TravisMcC]

I've cleaned and climbed these two routes (both just left of Freeway) in the past week. They deserve more traffic; both are really good, especially Men Holdings Hands. The second crux pitch of Men Holding Hands is one of the best in town!

Lots of fixed gear (and some pins/bolts) just where you want them in the cruxes of both routes.

[evenstevens]

I was just looking up at those thinking how clean they looked! Good on ya! Those are some of the best pitches in squamish and deserve more traffic. The next one left 'sports action' is just as good as well and tops out nicely too.

edit-I misread, thought you meant Brothers in Arms. Ya stone free/sports action, so good. Did you top out both/either? Did you do the move off the anchor on the crux pitch? It was originally 12c if you pulled off the chains, but it was the crux of the route to actually free it.

[marc_leclerc]

Thanks Travis! That's rad, haven't done men holding hands yet but stone free is really good, complete with a sideways dyno at the start of the crux pitch!

[imnotnate]

Thanks for puttin' in the work! Been wanting to check this area out for awhile but heard it was dirty...

[TravisMcC]

Well, I do not think I deserve too much credit for cleaning. It was actually not very hard at all. I only rappelled in and cleaned the crux pitches of Stone Free, which was not as bad as it looked from below. And we cleaned Men Holding Hands while leading it; again not as bad as it looked.

Evan, what is Sports Action? Can’t say I’ve ever heard of it??

We did top out on both routes.

I would defiantly recommend toping out on Men Holding Hands, which is an extra three pitches before joining up with Freeway after the Autoban pitch. We actually found the 12b pitch (after the two 12c pitches) to have the hardest individual moves on the route! We linked the next two 5.10 pitches into one and although not spectacular pitches, they were still good with only the occasional spots of questionable rock.

I have differing opinions on toping out on Stone Free though. The route descriptions we read suggested that the 5.9 pitch after the two crux pitches was going to be heady, but it was actually not that bad. We linked this pitch into the next 5.10 pitch and this pitch was WAY spicier than the 5.9 pitch. The final moves force you to yard up on a thin and expanding flake, which is also home to the only gear you have. The only solid gear prior to this was more ~ 20 feet away, with a nice ledge between to get hurt. Anyways… I was a bit scared, but the flake did remain intake and all was well. The next pitch was fun in a chimney kind of a way… defiantly some questionable rock on that pitch to navigate but nothing to be concerned about. The final pitch is the only saving grace, in my opinion, for a party to top out. The final moves to the anchor are super fun, powerful, balancy and committing!

We did not attempt the 13a move off of the chains of the second crux pitch of Stone Free. 12c is a grade I fund hard enough!

Marc, you must get on Men Holdings Hands soon! Here is a photo of the second crux pitch to wet your appetite:


Also, here is a photo of the first crux pitch of Stone Free:

[evenstevens]

Ya I edited my post because for what ever reason I am locked on to the first two names of the route that were floating around when they were getting put up...sports action is the same as stone free.

We would link the 12c pitch into the 5.9 to the ledge and then those next two pitches weren't memorable, aka forgettable but the top out pitch is a good sting in the tail.

I put up the 3rd hard pitch of men holding hands with Andre and I remember thinking that it had harder moves than the previous two pitches!

Glad some one is doing these routes...next up hit the prow wall! Those routes are all so good and doable if you are doing MHH and Stone free.

Evan