Trip Date: Nov. 13th, 2024
Participants: Noah Macdonald, Peter Gledhill, Hannah Saarimaki, Xinran Cai, Trevor Breen, Nicole Lopez, Lucas Braun
§1 | Trip Report
Daughter of Drytool is the VOC’s annual introductory drytooling trip (and drytooling is the practice of climbing rock with ice tools/crampons). Historically, a rainy day is chosen to run this trip; drytooling makes for a great shoulder season activity when conditions are conducive to neither skiing nor regular climbing, since the tools are indifferent to a bit of seepage on the rock.
I decided to run this year’s Daughter of Drytool on Wednesday, Nov. 13th—the last day of our fall reading break—as it was forecast to be appropriately dreary weather. I posted the trip to the agenda 6 days beforehand, so only a small number of VOCers signed up to attend. This was lucky since it meant everyone who signed up got to come on the trip and no one was turned away.
Our crag of choice was Cat Scratch crag near Brohm Lake (location detailed below in §2). A ~7am start from Vancouver brought us into Squamish, where we made a quick stop at Canadian Tire to buy a new tarp to replace the one I accidentally melted earlier in the week.
We convened at the trailhead, then meandered over to the bluff. After setting up a tarp to shelter our packs from the rain, I ran a quick instructional session on drytooling technique while Lucas helped rig 3 topropes. The rest of the day consisted mostly of practice.
Highlight include:
1. Peter sending his first drytool lead (Does My Butt Look Good in This Crack? D4)
2. Acts of violence against rental crampons (plenty of comments were made about the sound of steel on granite…)
3. Everyone getting absurdly pumped at some point or another.
4. A hanger fell off one of the bolts as I led one of the routes. Strangely enough, the hanger hadn’t wiggled when I clipped it, but the nut was loose enough to come off as I moved above it. A good reminder to check the nuts on all expansion bolts at rarely-visited crags…
§2 | Notes for future instructional drytooling trips
NOTES ON LOCATION:
Cat Scratch crag is incredibly convenient; you can practically drive to the base of the crag. It is located 1km past Brohm Lake. Parking is on the east side of the road at: 49.833381, -123.135120 [https://maps.app.goo.gl/gmmRSjKpqEiTzyrg9].
There are, however, two major limitations to this location: there are only three routes and those routes are not the most beginner-friendly (they go at D4+, D4, and D5). If you wanted to run a larger drytooling trip, you may want to choose a bigger/easier crag. I recommended bringing no more than 8 people to this crag. 6-7 is an ideal number, in my view. Likewise, if you want the trip to be more accessible/beginner friendly, a crag with easier routes would be ideal. Dennett Lake Bluffs might be the better option on both counts (e.g.: https://shashishanbhag.com/climb/dry-tooling-at-dennet-bluffs/).
If you do run a trip to Cat Scratch, I think my requirement that all participants were capable of climbing at least 5.10a on toprope was reasonable/prudent; drytooling can be absurdly pumpy (especially for beginners) and participants are much more likely to have fun if they have the requisite strength to battle their way up a D4/5 as they figure out the right technique.
NOTES ON GEAR:
I strongly recommend bringing a tarp to provide shelter during lunch (and to keep gear/spare layers dry).
I also provided the following gear list:
- Crampons (w/ vertical front points) [NOTE: monopoints are ideal]
- B3 Mountaineering boots (e.g. toe and heel welt) [NOTE: make sure the crampons are adjusted to fit ahead of time]
- Ice tools
- Harness
- Belay device and a locking biner
- Helmet [VERY mandatory]
- Waterproof layers (jacket + pants)
- Gaiters [helps stop your pants from getting ripped from poor crampon technique. You WILL rip your pants at some point; it is a rite of passage]
- Warm layers [for hanging around when not climbing]
- Gloves (ideally waterproof; rubber dishwashing gloves work well for this, or buy the Showa 282-02 gloves from the club)
- Eye protection (e.g. safety glasses) [strongly recommended but not strictly required]
- A hat (e.g. baseball cap) [recommended but not required; this can help keep water out of your face as you climb]
- A change of clothes for the drive home [a towel isn't a bad idea either]
- Food + Water [a thermos is a good idea too; it makes life much more pleasant]
The following should be coordinated to ensure there are enough for the group’s purposes:
- A tarp + bungees/cord to rig the tarp
- Anchor materials (i.e. slings and carabiners)
- Ropes
- Rock rescue equipment (e.g. prussiks, a microtrax, a knife, spare slings)
- Quickdraws [quickdraws are nice to redirect topropes, even if no one plans to lead]
- First aid kit [beginners will be playing around with pointy metal things attached to all appendages. Don't forget the first aid kit...]
The ropes will probably get fairly wet/dirty. Be ready to wash them afterwards.
RESOURCES FOR STUDENTS: