By: Will StanhopeIn early September, I freed the Cannabis Wall in Squamish BC, a classic and highly traveled aid line directly to the right of Freeway. It is five pitches long and the grades are as follows:
5.12R, 5.13-R, 5.12, 5.13-, 5.12-. I split the last pitch into two to reduce rope drag.
I spent about six days dangling on a rope with a variety of partners, trying to decipher if it would go. The features are all there, but just barely. After a Jamaica-like August, with soaring temperatures followed by biblical amounts of rainfall, the weather finally split for three solid weeks of perfect crisp weather.
On my first attempt at freeing the route, I took a big fall on the second pitch, slamming hard into a slab which tweaked my back a bit. That was a wake-up call that this route is actually quite serious and no give-away.
After a couple days of rest, I led the whole thing from bottom to top. My friend Jason Kruk followed me up it, freeing alot of it along the way.