Down Amongst the Cedars – Murrin Park

Down Amongst the Cedars (DATC) is a new freshly scrubbed primarily trad cliff accessed

through Murrin Park. Nestled within mature second growth forest 5 – 10 minutes from Pet Wall,

the west-facing aspect of DATC receives filtered afternoon sunshine and peacefully shelters the

crag from the high decibel environs of Highway 99. The cruxes of DATC’s traditionally protected

routes utilize a uniquely wide variety of climbing techniques: Slopey mantles, technical crimps and

side pulls, Jug Hauling on incut flakes and Jamming on moderate to mega steep cracks. Incut

flakes, horizontal breaks, and vertical cracks provide bomber protection opportunities beyond

the bolt protected open faces. A standard Squamish rack with cams sized from 0.3” to 3” should

be adequate, with doubles in the 0.3” to 1.5” range particularly useful. The cliff increases in

steepness from south to north, providing routes graded range from 5.8 to really, really, hard.

The northernmost sector of the cliff is a rock tsunami overhanging 3m in 15 m. The climbing could

best be characterized as combining Pet Wall crimping with the incut flakes of Flying Circus.

Approach

From the Murrin Park parking lot, head around Browning Lake to the start of the Murrin

Loop trail. Follow the Pet wall branch of the Murrin Loop Trail to the lowest western end of

Pet Wall (Heavy Petting area). Follow a short trail (50m) to the southwest which merges onto an

old forestry road bed with immature cedar growing on it. Follow the cut trail on this road bed

downhill until an approximately 10m high cliff appears on the left (south) side of the road and

scattered small rock bluffs disappear on the right (north) side. A small drainage will come into

the road on the right side at this point. Follow a trail along this drainage for approximately 100m

and the cliff will be on your right. Alternatively, a trail exists from Up amongst the Firs to DATC.

This trail is brand new and is still a little rough around the edges but should improve with traffic.

It passes by two other high potential cliffs.

Route Descriptions

1. Monkey See, Monkey Do. 5.8.

Trad. Chris Small. 2014.

Henry Rollins said “monkey

see, Monkey do, Monkey will

destroy you”, but this route

won’t. Start on jugs right of

thin crack, then follow thin

crack up and left past the

widow maker tree to end on

anchor.

2. Cat herding. 5.9. Trad. Chris

Small. 2014. Herding cats is

probably easier than trying

to get a Squamite climber to

be belay slave for an

overzealous scrubber on a

nice day. Climb bottom half

of Monkey See, Monkey Do.

Traverse left at the large

midway ledge to a series of left facing flakes to the second anchor from right.

Extendable draws needed for rope management

3. Not fully equipped. Open Project. 12+? Needs two bolts in top fingery section. Climb

through stepped roof to gain access to easy slab above. Climb the left leaning

traverse crack leading to a fingery finish ending on the anchors of the 2. Hard core

Squamish boulderers will love this route.

4. My Nice Butt. 5.8. Trad. Chris Small, 2014. How relationship success eludes me is

baffling considering that many women seem to consider my ass to be fantastic. After

all they consistently say "Your nice butt....." Starts on Monkey See and Traverses into

the ramp corner into the anchors of Like Pulling teeth.

5. Into the Jaws. Open Project 2. Mixed. Climb the Right side of the ’Fang’ on the Left Side

of large roof. Dyno (?)

over the roof on the

slab above then proceed

to the “Crime” –like

splitter finger crack.

Looks stellar.

6. Like Pulling Teeth. Open Project

3. Mixed. Layback the Left side of the

Fang over a small roof to a thin crack

splitting ledge series. Proceed to the

fingery bolt protected face and then

up the right facing corner systems.

7. Batteries Not Included. 5.10 +.

Mixed. Chris Small. 2014. Climb the

first 3 m of Mantel Problems to the

first horizontal break. Traverse the

horizontal break into a shallow right

facing corner and continue up and

through a series of right facing

corners to the anchor below an Ent -

like Douglas Fir. Extendable draws

are critical for rope management. A

potential much harder direct start

variation exists to Batteries Not

included. Not fully built yet and

requires a second bolt at crux.

8. Mantel Problems. ***5.10+. Mixed.

Chris Small. 2014. I figure I must

have these to take on such a massive

cleaning project without help. Climb

the perfectly spaced fat flakes to

the technical shallow left facing

corner. Surmount the corner to

face the small roof above.

9. Experiencing Technical Difficulties.

5.11-. Matt Magee. 2014. Starting in

the second corner past Mantel

Problems, head up to the bolted

traversing scoop. Crimp and smear

your way through the scoop to

merge back onto Mantel Problems

below the roof.

10. And the Cat came back. ***5.10-.

Mixed. Chris Small. 2014. “And

He should have been a goner”-

The Name is inspired by a NFB

short film and a near death

experience while Cleaning this

route. And yet the Cat (me) was

back scrubbing the next day.

Superb sporty crux.

11. The Weirdo Next Door. ***. 5.10-.

Trad. Chris Small. 2014.

Traverse right at the first bolt

of Feeding The Rat up the

strange sandstone textured

ramp inclusion to the second horizontal break. Meander left and then back right.

Extendable draws assist with rope Management.

12. Feeding the rat. ***. 5.10 +-. Mixed. Chris Small. 2014. The technical crux knaws on

your fingers while feeding your internal rat visa ve Mark Twight. It seems this rat

prefers sushi.

13. Lost and Found***.5. 11-. Mixed. Chris

Small. 2014. This note below spotted

on the Chief Campground Bulletin

board describes the process of

“Manning Up” for this route. I finally

found my set again for the redpoint.

Bring some small gear for the crux.

14. Woman Up. 5.8. Trad. Gear to 4”. Chris Small. 2014. Hey Gals if you expect us Guys

to “Man Up” maybe you Gals should “Woman up” - you know, learn to cook, clean, do

domestic stuff…..? See isn’t that offensive gender stereotyping too? Climb the

right wide crack past cedar stump to ring anchors on big midway ledge.

15. Mechanical advantage. 5.9. Trad. Gear to 3”. Chris Small. 2014. Using all available

`Mechanical Advantages` certainly helps with this scrubbing game. Climb the Left

corner crack to shared ring anchor of Woman Up. The finish provides some

entertainment. An extension into the anchor of Feeding the Rat provides an extra

10- move or two.

16. Hatchett, Axe, and Saws-all. 5.11-. trad. Chris Small. 2014. “There is unrest in the

forest, There is trouble with the trees” Rush, 1978. Climb Mechanical Advantage to

approximately its midpoint. Head up the shallow left facing Corner on the slightly

overhanging headwall above to a prominent horizontal crack. Hand traverse the

Horizontal crack to gain the anchor.

17. The Land of Milf and Honeys. ***** 5.10+. Trad. Chris Small 2014. With recent

epidemic levels of pregnancy amongst Squamish’s “intimidatingly attractive” active

set creating peak population levels of Yummy Mummies it seems to be what Squamish

has become. Climb the series of incut flakes to the mid wall chain anchor. Bring

Double cams in the 0.3” – 0.5”

18. Dirty Divorcee AKA The land of Milf and Honey extension. 12c. Ben Harnden . 2014.

After the chain anchor the difficulties increase substantially despite appearances

from the ground.

19. Re-bequeathed. ****5.11 +. Sport. 8 bolts. Mike McCarthy. That which is given is

giveth away. Sustained pulling on crimps and side pulls with technical footwork.

Super good stuff.

20. The Day that Never Comes. ***. 5.9. Mixed. Pro to 1”. Chris Small, 2014. Certainly

felt like it for the IPO day of this cliff after about 400 hours cleaning and

landscaping here. That is a lot of Metallica in the headphones. Start in corner

below big cedar. Step right at cedar ledge and follow bolts to bomber incut

flakes and the shallow left face corner under the chains. Pretty fun stuff.

21. The Sad life of Bunsen Honey-Do. 5.10 -. Mixed. Chris Small. 2014. Originally the

chosen project of a valued climbing partner…until nesting season started. Climb

corner below cedar tree. continue to second ledge moving to incut Flake on right.

Climb over flake and back left up groove to the anchors. Balancey.

Fukushima Wall

This wall currently only has one route with potential for 4 to 5 more very hard routes

(5.13, 5.14?). The cliff’s Tsunami like shape and radical overhanging nature (3m – 4m in

15m) will likely cause the nuclear meltdown of many forearms.

22. High Alert. ***. 5.12b. 3 bolts + #2 Camalot. Mike McCarthy. Likely the

Easiest route on this Wall. Stick clip First bolt. Strenuous technical

underclinging, bouldery start leads to dynamic movement above.