La Sportiva Skwama Review

Seleccio Natural, 5.14d Santa Linya, Spain Photo: Ruben Firnenburg

I spent a month climbing in Santa Linya, Spain over the Christmas holidays putting the new La Sportiva Skwama to the test. The Skwama is an aggressive downturned slipper meant for steep climbing and was right at home on the severely overhanging walls of Santa Linya. I was very impressed - so much so that I think this will be my new go to shoe!

La Sportiva Skwama

The Skwama replaces the Python in La Sportiva's climbing shoe lineup. I never wore the python myself to compare the two shoes, however it is also comparable to the Solution which has been my shoe for years. I think the Skwama offers a few upgrades over the solution, namely:

• New S-Heel technology allows for very secure and confident heel hooking. The heel cup fits smaller and is less bulbous than the Solution heel, which is one deficiency of the Solution.
• Strong Velcro strap. Ever cinched a pair of Solutions so tight the Velcro strap snapped off? Not a problem with the Skwamas.
• Going at $145 USD the Skwama is an elite performance shoe that will not break the bank, a rare find these days.

New S-Heel technology, Vibram XS Grip 2 Rubber, Performance Power Platform (P3)

The S-Heel is a stiff strip of rubber along the side of the heel that prevents the heel cup from deforming and slipping when doing aggressive heel hooks. 

Heel hooking definitely comes in handy when climbing European tufas. I'm not the greatest at heel hooking and will often avoid them if I can. Over the course of the month I found myself heel hooking more often than normal and the Skwamas definitely helped my confidence while attempting precarious heel hooks!

Although generally an advantage, the stiff heel does has some drawbacks. On very small heel hooks, I find it better to have soft rubber that deforms to the shape of the hold and gives better sensitivity.

The heel hook crux of Full Nelson, 5.14d at Acephale which has thwarted me for years.

Another feature of the Skwama is a hole in the front sole rubber allowing the shoe to deform when smearing and allows this aggressive shoe to perform well in this regard. The Skwama uses Vibram XS Grip 2 rubber, which is softer than the XS Edge featured on other La Sportiva shoes such as the TC Pro. 

The Skwama has rubber on the toe cap which is a must for me - I tend to find crazy toe hooks and bicycles on most projects I try. Like all other La Sportiva downturned shoes, the Performance Power Platform (P3) allows the shoe to keep its shape over time as well.

I particularly liked how the Skwama performed on tiny smears, edges, and other downright terrible feet while climbing the steep walls of Santa Linya. After a solid month of brutal projecting, my Skwamas show little signs of wear and I expect them to last for quite a long time.

Executing the crux move of Seleccio Natural. While the hand holds are actually quite good, the feet are absolutely horrid making this move quite difficult. Photo Ruben Firnenburg.

I found the sizing slightly off from the Solution. I usually wear size 38.5 in La Sportiva shoes but I ended up going a half size down in the Skwama. They were a bit uncomfortable straight out of the box, but so are most shoes. After a few days out, they were broken in, slip on and off no problem, and were quite comfortable to wear on long projecting sessions.

Overall, I had a great trip to Santa Linya and ended up climbing far better than I anticipated. Did the new shoes have something to do with it? Maybe, but I certainly enjoyed climbing in Skwamas and will definitely use them in the future!

Shop Skwamas

Santa Linya!

Over the Christmas holidays, Sheena and I had the opportunity to climb in the massive and spectacular Cova Gran of Santa Linya.

Heading back to Santa Linya first day of the trip.

We had visited Santa Linya in 2013, but only for one day and I was psyched to spend an entire month there this time.  I hadn’t done much climbing preparation for the trip and I didn’t expect conditions to be great so I didn’t really know what to expect out of the trip.

When we arrived I was pleasantly surprised to see the entire cave was dry.  Not only was there dry rock, we enjoyed great weather with only a single day of rain out of 30.  We had our mix of cold foggy days, windy days, and scorching hot days, providing a good mix of vacation temps and sending temps.

So psyched for dry rock!!  Photo Sheena Stares.

I was also pleasantly surprised to climb really well right away.  Usually I have an adjustment period to get used to a new area, especially after flying overseas and coming straight out of the gym.  I was able to dispatch Rock Funk, 5.14a in the first week of the trip while checking out some of the harder lines.

The style of Santa Linya is steep steep STEEP!  A huge variety of holds are featured, from jugs to monos, slopers, crimps, and tufas which definitely keeps things interesting.  Overall, routes are more endurance oriented compared to Bow Valley routes which tend to have stopper cruxes.  

The steepness! I'm not even halfway to the top of the cave at this point.  Photo Sheena Stares.

I didn’t really have any particular goals entering this trip.  I spent most of 2015 climbing in the low 5.14s, many of which were new routes.  I really wanted to get back into the mode of projecting hard routes at the upper end of my limit.  Santa Linya certainly has no shortage of these, with the highest concentration of 9a and up routes in Catalunya.  Over the course of a month, I had the chance to try most of the routes in the Santa Linya cave; the line that ended up drawing my attention the most was Seleccio Natural, 5.14d.

Working the upper moves of Seleccio Natural, 9a. This is one of the best routes I have ever tried.

Alas, one month was not enough to put it down.  Photo Sheena Stares.

We ended up climbing for 30 days straight which was one day off my longest streak.  When climbing this many days in a row, I usually break it up with some easier days.  However, at Santa Linya, with the grades checking in at 12d (warm-up) and up, this wasn’t really an option.  I pretty much spent every day climbing 5.14 and was definitely exhausted by the end.

We stayed in Villanova de la Sal, a tiny village about 15 minutes drive from Santa Linya.  This combined with a 3 minute flat approach, we were able to get from our apartment to first burn warming up in under 25 minutes, definitely a pleasant change from climbing in the Bow Valley!  

We rented a 2 person apartment at Cal Ribero ( http://www.calribero.es ).  We had to deal with a few complications with the booking but that was cleared up, the hosts were great, and it was a great place to stay for the apartment itself, the village, and the proximity to Santa Linya.  We would definitely stay there again and would recommend it as a Santa Linya home base.

Our evening view from Villanova de la Sal.

We were also just over an hour away from Oliana where we spent 2 days climbing, 20 minutes from the nearest town and groceries in Balaguer, and half an hour from Terradets.  Climbing everyday doesn't leave a lot of time to see the sights, but I wouldn't have it any other way.  Overall, it was an amazing trip and I can not wait to go back!

Checking out La Lechion Ocho, 8c+ at Terradets on an "off" day.  Photo Joe Kinder.

Acephale Over the Years

No place feels more like going home to me than hiking up to Acephale.  I spent 7 seasons climbing almost exclusively there.  I learned and grew so much as a climber by projecting routes at Acephale.  It's where I sent my first 12c, 12d, 13a, 13b, 13c, 13d, 14a, 14b, 14c, and 14d.  Yes, that's every single grade from 12c to 14d.  The first route I ever bolted is also at Acephale.

People ask me all the time about my training regime.  In short, it involves projecting at Acephale through days that are too wet, too hot, too cold, too sore, too little skin, too tired, too whatever.  I definitely attribute most of my success to climbing there.  To show for it, of the 86 currently established routes, I've done 82 of them.

Right now, the Bow Valley is experiencing the driest rock climbing season I've ever seen.  I can't believe June Monsoon has come and gone with barely a couple days of rain.  Combined with the lack of snow melt this year, the crags have managed to avoid any seepage at all.  I haven't lived in Alberta super long but I imagine this has to be a season like no other.  Even the epically wet Kinder Surprise Project doesn't have a single wet hold right now.

After spending very little time at Acephale last year, I find myself drawn back to it's humbling walls yet again and I've realized how much I miss climbing there.  Acephale will always hold a special place in my heart and probably will always be my favorite place to climb.  This is a collection of photos taken over the years.

Pulling the upper crux of Existence Mundane. Photo Tim Mooney.

 This is what the walls typically look like at this time of year.  Not the case this year.

 Josh Muller and I plowing the approach trail in 2013.  No need to those shenanigans this year!

Sheena Stares cruising up a very wet Jingus Americanus, 5.12d in typical June Acephale conditions.

The 2013 floods put a damper on things, turning a once beautiful trail into this mess.  

A proud effort from a few motivated individuals turned this into the trail that is enjoyed today.

 Establishing the new parking lot and approach trail following the 2013 floods.

 

Working the crux of Leviathan, my very first 5.14.  Photo Nick Straub.

Video of one of my (failed) redpoint attempts of Bunda de Fora.

Leaving off with a photo addressing buckets as Acephale increases in popularity.

Sorry to throw you under the bus buddy.

Rethinking the Bucket System

Last year's stash at The Lookout, growing at an alarming pace.

Is this the image we want to portray?

It’s hard to believe amid today’s snowfall, but the Spring climbing season is slowly getting started in the Bow Valley. Climbers are venturing out to the crags and getting ready to move their climbing gear from their closet to storage in their crag buckets. Now is a good time to rethink the bucket system which has been standard operating procedure in the Bow Valley for as long as I've climbed here.

For those unfamiliar with Bow Valley climbing, our approaches are extreme. One to two hour hikes with 400 to 800 meters of elevation gain and sections of 4^th class climbing are standard. I've traveled to many places around the world to rock climb and I haven’t seen anywhere with approaches like the Bow Valley. Nothing even comes close. To increase the difficulty further, the trails tend to be buried in snow and ice in the spring and winter.

To help ease the suffering, climbers tend to stash gear at the crags, typically a rope and set of draws.  Most crags have rats that will eat climbing gear overnight so rat proof paint buckets are standard. Gear is also left hanging on the first bolt of some climbs. The unlucky routes that have their first bolt hijacked tend to fall into obscurity. In the past, only climbers who regularly visited a crag would leave gear, and usually only at a single crag. Climbing wasn't as mainstream and stashed gear stayed at an acceptable limit.

Getting ready for a burn on Leviathan 5.14a in 2009 with the rope nest in the background.

In recent years, climbing has had an enormous increase in popularity, more so indoors, but outdoor traffic has seen a noticeable increase as well. Seeing the standard practice from seasoned climbers, new climbers don’t think twice and promptly visit the hardware store to pick up a bucket of their own and hike it up the next day. 

We constructed a bucket shelter at Acephale in 2013 to remove buckets crowding the base of the wall as a temporary measure while hoping to phase out buckets completely. Instead, the number of buckets has only grown.

Recent attitudes towards stashed gear have changed as well. It is now common for those who don't climb regularly to stash gear, climbers stash gear at multiple crags throughout the Bow Valley to not commit to a certain place, and some will leave multiple ropes at the same crag or multiple ropes at different walls within the same area. Climbers no longer try to keep stashed gear at a minimum and instead take the opposite extreme, with the goal to hike in and out carrying nothing but food and water for the day.  

I admit I've been guilty of many of these offenses, most notably at Acephale. At the time, I was climbing there 6 or 7 days a week, but I've come to realize the excessive nature and the problems it leads to. The way things used to be just isn't going to work anymore.

Adding even more to gear stashes is the fact that people abandon their gear when they are done with it, and the piles of abandoned gear alone is getting excessive, effectively turning crags into a trash bin. Left unchecked the piles of ropes and buckets will only keep growing. 

The gear stash at Planet X. I spent the majority of last summer here and I saw one of these ropes used one time. The owner promptly declared he probably wouldn't be back again until next year and hung his rope back up for storage.

Storing gear at the crag has the sole advantage of rewarding lazy climbers. Cleaning up the crags increases the visual appeal, makes a more enjoyable experience for everyone, creates a better first impression for new climbers to the crag, prolongs the lifespan of gear, leads to more sustainable climbing in the future, and helps promote the Bow Valley as a world class climbing destination.

Ask yourself: Do you want to contribute to the mess or help clean it up? Does carrying a few extra pounds of gear in and out really affect how you ultimately enjoy your day? I for one spent all of last season hiking all my gear in and out of the crag every day, including a 100m rope in and out of Echo Canyon. I see no reason to leave gear at the crag anymore and I actually feel increased enjoyment out of climbing days now.

The Upper Wall at Acephale, devoid of the bucket stashes and rope nests of old.

Interview with Gripped Canada's Climbing Magazine

I had a chance to chat with Brandon Pullan with Gripped Magazine and discussed first ascents, projecting hard routes, and what drives me as a climber.  Check out the link for the full interview! http://gripped.com/news/evan-hau-top-canadian-sport-climber-aims-high-in-2015/