Last weekend, while I was slowly cycling my way to celebrating a calorie-laden 39th year as a member of the Living at the Slow Food Cycle event in Pemberton, climbing history was being made in another part of our beautiful province. Will Stanhope, a Squamish local – at least in the amount he appears affixed to our local rocks – was adding his own page to Canada’s contribution to world rock-climbing standards.
Stanhope spoke to me about his success free climbing the Tom Egan Memorial Route on Snowpatch Spire in the Bugaboos, a project five years in the making.
I’ve known Stanhope for more than a decade and have watched his change from an indoor trained kid to a fledgling traditional climber to a professional climbing athlete pursuing long, difficult free-climbing challenges to test his courage.
His boyish gait and self-effacing humour catch many off guard; Stanhope is one of Canada’s most talented climbers, motivated by a complex mix of beautiful line, historical respect and personal ethics.
Q: Will, if five years ago I had told you you were going to free climb the Tom Egan Memorial Route on Snowpatch Spire in The Bugaboos, what would you have thought?
A: I thought when I first rapped the line that I could potentially free the line in a season. Either that or it would be totally impossible. Turned out it was in the magic realm of just too hard for many seasons.
Q: Many have compared your route to the Dawn Wall in Yosemite in terms of difficulty, logistics and the tenacity required. What do you think? Did Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson’s success inspire or add stress to this year’s effort?
A: Yeah maybe. I didn’t know if those guys would ever free the Dawn, just like I didn’t really know if we’d ever free the Egan. Seeing it come to fruition for those guys gave me hope.
Q: What kept you motivated over these past five years? Did this year just feel like the year, or was it as uncertain as ever?
A: What kept me motivated? The sheer aesthetics of the line. I know for certain I’ll never find anything more stunning and singular, at least in crack climbing. This year I got serious on the hang boarding tip – actually, you helped me with that. I would say I just got more serious in general. If I went in there just as strong as last year, there basically was no point going in there.
Q: Partnership on the wall and friendship – how did you and Matt Segal not want to strangle each other, or was this simply a match made in heaven? How important is the teamwork to a project like this?
A: Teamwork is critical. We knew how to work hard, not bug each other, and when the day was done, we switched modes, told jokes and enjoyed a Kokanee or two. Matt is a tough, strong climber and a pioneer in my eyes. It’s really hard to find partners for this kind of thing. The perfect mixture of humour, perseverance and vision are hard to find in a partner.
Q: British climber Leo Houlding is purported to have once said, “If it was easy, it wouldn’t be hard now, would it?” Does this truism contain an element of climbing truth for you, and is Mr. Houlding an inspiration?
A: Yes, Leo is a huge inspiration. He’s not afraid to take a monumental objective head-on. Basically you have to be willing to fail to do these kinds of things.
There were no guarantees on this route.
Once I let go of that steely eyed, gotta-do-this-thing yearning for success and just enjoyed being in the mountains, I did it.
It sounds cosmic, but I had to learn to jive with the Bugaboo spirits.
