The Title

University Wall (V, A2, 7-8 pitches).
So Cannabis didn't feel too bad in retrospect? University, or just plain U-Wall, is the next rung up Squamish's ladder. The good news is that it's less technical than Cannabis, but the approach is a little tougher, the feel is intimidating, and the strenuous and awkward first pitch frequently turns back the inexperienced. With many aid pitches, you'll either need to fix several; or spend a night on the route, and a lack of natural ledges means a portaledge is needed. If you are planning to blast it in a day, be warned that the penultimate belay is not obvious - it's not a shiny two-bolt anchor like all the others. In the dark it's easy to keep climbing and run into an epic of rope drag, shouted abuse, and down climbing. Certainly the party above us discovered this as darkness closed in, and vented their frustration by occasionally dropping small items of hardware at us…

Kicked back on the portaledge or slumped at the top on Dance Platform, soak up some of the history of this line. The first clean ascent was by 14-year old local Hamish Fraser, climbing solo. And the impossibly smooth overhanging corner on pitch 2? This is 'The Shadow' (5.12d, E6 6b), freed on-sight by an unstoppable Peter Croft. It has seen few, if any, repeats, throwing doubts on the apparently amenable grade.

From Dance Platform, the broad tree-covered terrace where the route finishes, descent is either by a lengthy abseil requiring 60m ropes, or across the ridiculous Bellygood ledge. This cuts across the whole of the Grand Wall, never much wider than a couple of feet, and sickeningly exposed, particularly with a haulbag gently tugging you back. Only the insane resist the temptation to rope up again here.

Uncle Ben's (V, 5.8 A2+, 10 pitches).
Combining the pleasant technicalities of Cannabis with U-Wall's strength of line and length, but in a better position than either of them, Uncle Ben's is the classic Squamish Wall. It strings together a series of flakes and corners on the left-hand side of Squamish's most impressive wall, the cruxes being the links between features.

Starting up the two-pitch classic run-out slab 'Merci Me' (5.8R, HVS 4c), it breaks left at the top across a wild undercling separating the slab from the gently overhanging wall above. Although graded 5.10c (E2 5c), this felt thoroughly desperate, and I resorted to hasty French-free to see me to the belay. The overhanging crack above, a 'forceful test of jamming skill', has been climbed free at 5.12b (E5 6b), but for mortals it succumbs quickly to nuts. The crack ends in an airy roof, and once over the lip, you feel exposed and committed. The lush forest lies far below, and new perspectives of the distant snow-covered peaks appear. The climbing is never desperate, but there's a string of about 4 hook placements, and further on, a seam of fixed copperheads provides a mild scare by continuing for longer than you wanted it to.

We hung the ledge, and got the flysheet ready despite the clear skies. And as the rain began to fall during the night, we realised that we had just learned portaledge lesson number one. We slept soundly as the clouds rolled all over us, and awoke to wet rock and grey skies. A quick attempt at the crux pitch above saw Neil retreating hurriedly from a skyhook as the rain began to pour down the slab in thick sheets, pounding against my leg. Several long abseils later we were drying off with junk food and coffee in front of us, laughing at Squamish's notoriously fickle weather. The day after, we were clipping bolts in hot sunshine…