Guided Mentorship: Building to the Split Pillar
It all begins with an idea. Maybe a poster on a wall, or an article in a climbing mag, or a friends photos from a recent climbing trip. You see a photo of an epic mountain, wall, boulder, route, or linkup; and think DAAAAM I wish I could do that. Or maybe its the causal, “One day i’ll do that…” WELL! as the saying goes, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.
So when I was wrapping up a day with a guest after a full afternoon on the malamute, He asked where do we go from here if I want to continue? As with many venues in Squamish you could spin a bottle and be pointing towards countless good suggestions of landmark routes in the sea to sky corridor. So with a little further discussion of what appealed to James, and what kind of challenge he wanted to set out on, we started to fill in the blanks of what would become his summer rock climbing goal. To climb the split pillar on the Grand Wall of the Stawamus Chief.
A little background of James first: James and I met when he decided to take his next step in his climbing journey and learn to trad climb. He has a strong appetite for wanting not only to learn the technical systems but to practice and refine them. He also takes to movement coaching really well, and what is key here is that he was always eager to learn rather than be hyperfocused on the outcome. This attitude of perfecting the 1000 steps rather than searching for a silver bullet that will unlock a zero to hero growth was such an asset for his outcomes and his satisfaction as we strived for his summer goals.
So as the summer progressed James and I would meet once a week to discuss how he felt his climbing was coming, to drill the fundementals and to take 1 step each week that would feed into our following session so that by the end of 8 weeks not only would we climb the split pillar, but he would have a satisftying core experience as he climbed the most iconic pitch of 5.10 on the chief. Only 8 weeks after learning how to place gear, jam cracks, and layback when you can’t jam anymore.
Getting to climb the Split Pillar is hardly the definitive goal in this experience. For me the critical part of this experience is to instill the fundamentals of what can be evolved into that of a proffecient and wise climber capable of leading themselves into any experience they desire, and being wise enough to know when to slow down and re-evaluate. Along the way James and I covered topics like, advanced anchor building, escaping the belay, reversing the ATC Guide in emergency situations, Crack climbing techniques, Mental strategies, route selection, along with other countless tips the come with the territory of navigating some of Squamish’s most classic routes.
If having experiences like this resonates with you, get in touch through our contact us page or our social media and start working with a guide today so that you can unlock your full potential and start crossing objectives off that tick list!
