As far as the walls of the Stawamus Chief go, it鈥檚 the last great unclimbed swathe of stone on the Chief 鈥� the wall known as the Sheriff鈥檚 Badge, or the Dancing Bear, or the Witch On Her Broom.聽
The Badge, as climbers refer to her, is a five-pointed star shaped white rock scar on the northwest side of the second or middle summit of the Chief. An enormous roof, the largest on the entire Chief, bisects the huge star-shaped scar horizontally.聽
From the Smoke Bluffs, the top points of the Sheriff鈥檚 Badge star thrust up out of the distant forest like an immense whale鈥檚 pale dorsal fin; from the Stawamus school鈥檚 field, you think the students might feel sheltered by the Badge鈥檚 enormous roof, as it rises up above them in such a protective sort of way.聽
The first route on the Sheriff鈥檚 Badge proper came in 1976, with the aid climb of the same name. The legendary Sheriff鈥檚 Badge aid climb remains a test piece in Squamish aid climbing, an ascent requiring climbers to navigate the brittle and spooky white rock, tackle the enormous roof with its strange series of pink and white puzzle piece blocks defying gravity, and finally end on Sasquatch Ledge. The Sheriff鈥檚 Badge is proper aid climbing, as someone once instructed me.聽
In 1986, while I stared at Expo Ernie and rode the Scream Machine, local climber Perry Beckham solved the final problems up on the Badge to create the Daily Planet, the first free climb to explore terrain leading up to the Badge鈥檚 signature roof. The route, named after the newspaper where the fictional Clark Kent was employed in Superman, became a classic free climbing test piece and remains one of the most sought-after multipitch climbs on the Chief.聽
Climbing the Daily Planet feels truly like entering one of those glass space tubes that suction you instantaneously from deck to deck of a colossal space craft. The line slingshots you upward towards the roof, one of the most improbable features on the entire Chief. The exposed, sucking void at your heels nature of the Badge is what inspired the comic book superhero theme with the route name. In Superman, Clark Kent gets off work, ducks into a janitorial closet, changes his clothes from suit to cape and flies straight out of an air duct and onto the sheer face of the skyscraper.聽
On Aug. 21 this summer, a new route was established which threads its way up, around and through the Badge鈥檚 main roof. It鈥檚 a free climb that finally tackles the huge visor of The Sheriff鈥檚 Badge without resorting to direct aid. Tony McLane, son of local author and climber Kevin McLane, along with Argentinian guide and new local Jorge Ackermann, spent several weeks figuring out the complex line. Their effort is a big deal because it finally breaches the roof and traces a delicate line to Sasquatch Ledge without aid climbing 鈥� the last wall on the Chief that had not been free climbed.聽
The route has mandatory sections of difficult face climbing where a fall would put the leader so far out in space that they would need to ascent their own rope to reach the wall again and retreating from above the roof pitch is impossible without some inventive pre-rigging. Their route, dubbed The Daily Universe, fits perfectly with the exposed and serious nature of the aid routes, which climb terrain to the right. Ackermann and McLane have moved up from mere interns at The Daily Planet and are now the two news leaders, joining Clark Kent as employees with hidden powers. Great work, guys!
