While bouldering may be an individual sport, our collective story enriches each individual’s experience. An area’s guidebook is the primary reference for our story and should be as accurate as possible.
Squamish Bouldering 3rd Edition contains errors. Collecting tens of thousands of facts without making any mistakes is an almost impossible task. Some errors are surely accidental. Others errors, like the renaming of some problems, are intentional.
One goal of this website is to provide a venue to set the record straight and preserve our story as accurately as possible. If you know of any errors in the book, please submit a comment or email petermichaux@hotmail.com. This page will be updated as accurate information arrives.
page 95: The problem listed as The Silk Road is actually called An Understanding.
page 140: The first ascent party of Viper was Peter Michaux and Stu Worrall.
page 140: The problem White Bread actually is the line labeled “low start” in the picture. It can be started very low matched on the crimp. It can be started one move higher with the right hand on the low crimp and the left on a crimpy sidepull. It can be started even high with left on the crimpy sidepull and a high right sloper at the angle transition. The line described in the book starting on the right arete should be called something else. Perhaps White Bread Arete.
page 141: The problem listed as Stairway to Devon is correctly spelled as Stairway to Devin. The first ascensionist’s name is spelled “Devin Card”. This problem is very good and deserves at least 3 stars.
page 142: The problem listed as Peter’s Crack should not be. When Peter Michaux first saw the face, the crack looked like it may have been climbed already. (Taking a guess, if anyone had climbed it, it was likely first ascended by Adam Diamond as he had done some very early development in this area.)
page 142: The problem listed as Break Away was an unnamed slab. If it needs a name, it should be Peter’s Slab. The fact that the crack is out of bounds should also be mentioned.
page 142: The first ascent party of Tea Bag Undies was Andrew Boyd and Stu Worrall. (While the undies mentioned did belong to Peter Michaux, he has never climbed the problem.)
page 145: Summer Vacation was not first ascended in 1992. It was heavily mossed over in summer 1996. It was cleaned during the winter of 1996-1997.
page 150: Pat Nosil made the first ascent of Bo Jo Jones on June 8, 1996. Nick Gibbs made the second ascent sometime soon after in June.
page 162: The problem well known as The Bulb was originally named John Shaft.
page 162: The description for The Seam says “start on the good shelf, not the undercling below.” That is incorrect. It does start on the undercling below, not on the shelf.
page 172: The problem listed as Gravedigger is actually named Cheese Grater and was first ascended by Andrew Boyd, Myles Holt, and Stu Worrall.
page 179: The first ascent of Plan: Insanity was by Tim Doyle. He said that the second ascensionist could name it. Peter Michaux made the second ascent and named it.
page 189: The first ascent party of Muff Chest was Stu Worrall, Andrew Boyd, and Tim Doyle. (Peter Michaux has never touched the problem.)
page 190: The problem listed as Slabicus should not use that name and Nick Gibbs did not claim the first ascent of this rail traverse.
page 190: The problem listed as Centre Slab is actually named Slabby and uses the sloping rail near the top.
Page 192: The problem listed as Slabby is actually named Slabicus.
page 192: The problem listed as Superdyke is actually named The Dyke Problem.
page 194: The problem listed as Stud Arête is oddly named. It is more appropriately known as Stud Face by some. Climbers much more than capable of free climbing this face were drilling holes in the boulders in the late 1960s and 1970s. It is hard to imagine they didn’t free climb this face. So we will likely never know who made the first ascent of this easy but good face climb.
page 196: The problem listed as The Pool is actually named The Pool Low. The stand start is called The Pool and it is not “a poor, neutred version of the full, proper problem.” Tim viewed the stand start as a complete boulder problem when he made the first ascent.
page 208: The problem listed as Roach Motel is actually named The Big South Face (and it definitely deserves more than 1 star.)
page 212: The problem listed as An Hour Early is actually named East Face.
page 212: Worm World Cave Low was first ascended by Tim Doyle in August 1999.
page 241: The boulder listed as Gibbs’ Cave is actually named The Cave Boulder.
page 241: The problem listed as Gibbs’ Cave is actually named Gibbs Cave. No apostrophe.
page 247: Nick remembers starting Queva de Lobo with his right hand in the Black Hole slot undercling and his left hand on the hold you would use to reach to the slot undercling when doing Black Hole. That is actually the hand position he used for the original ascent of Black Hole before he added the extended starts from much farther to the left. As described in the book, Queva de Lobo is harder than V6. Even as Nick started it the problem, V6 is likely stiff.
page 247: The history and naming of the Black Hole problems is complex.
page 248: The problem listed as The 25th Hour is actually named Righty.
page 251: Rat Death does not “climb off the right side of the boulder”. It starts as low as possible in the pit between the two boulders. Put one pad on that log in the pit and go straight up.
page 272: The problem listed as The Virus is actually named The Serpent.
page 280: The problem listed as The Jewel of the Nile is actually named Sheriff’s Badge Arete.
page 281: The problem listed as Tim’s Arete is actually named Left at Last.
page 298: The suggested heal hook beta may actually be uncommon and harder than using foot chips on the face below the rail.
page 302: The problem listed as The Squaminator is actually named Coping.
page 302: The problem listed as The Terminator is actually named Squaminator.
page 303: The problem listed as Squaminator Traverse is actually named Mr. Smith.
page 309: Everything Roses is V10 and is not on the arete. It is on the face right or the arete. It is the line marked 26 in the photo. (The arete is unclimbed.)
page 309: The Dirty Rascal is right of the line marked 26 in the photo.
page 315: The problem listed as The Changeling is actually named Mono.
page 325: In the description of The Reckoning, there is a mention of the stand start version. The book calls this Darksided but it is most commonly called The Reckoning Stand. (I’ve never actually heard anyone call it Darksided.)
page 409: The problem listed as Drive goes by the name Drive Direct and was first ascended by Tim Doyle.
Page 409: Tim Clifford made the first ascent of a problem named Drive which shares the start with Amazing Direct and traverses right to finish on Common Core.