The Local Gabe Lawson was able to climb „“The Megg“ in the Canadian climbing area of Squamish on January 23, the hardest boulder in Canada. Gabe achieved this only after 16 sessions spread over ten months.

Gabe is a bit cautious with the classification and compares the difficulty with „Livin‘ Large“ (8C/V16) in South Africa. Several climbers who have tried „The Megg“ mentioned that it felt harder than „The Big Island“ [8C] in Fontainbleau.

The boulder, in Squamish, which is not well known for bouldering, is easily accessible and is located in a popular bouldering area called The Farm, which features „The Reckoning, Sit-start“ [8B+/V14] among others. The crag is right next to a parking lot.

The longest project of my climbing career has come to an end. With 16 sessions over 10 months, this is the hardest boulder I’ve climbed and the hardest move I’ve done.

The process taught me a lot about movement, tactics, and ways to improve outside traditional training. A big part of what I like about climbing is hanging out with friends in beautiful places. I’ll be forever grateful for the opportunity Squamish has given me and the community support to establish this bloc.

I’m excited to move on to other projects, including a short film featuring The Megg, which will come out sometime this spring or summer.

You can read my further thoughts on UKC, Climbing Magazine, 8a, Wogu or Gripped.

I hope that in taking this step, I can open the door for other up and coming canadian climbers to push themselves to new levels. Even though this post probably comes off as a serious thing, I’d like to remind everyone it’s just climbing, you have one life and you should have as much fun as possible. Do what makes you happy, and chase lines, not grades.

Thanks for the good vibes and for coming to my Ted Talk.

PS: I’d like to thank Salvo for coming up with my favorite new hashtag: #wokeupwithvicegrips, and to my good friend @faisalrifai95 who was the only person that looked at this boulder initially and said „yeah, you can do this“

Photo: (c) Jacob Hoffman

Gabe Lawson (@allezgabe) • Instagram-Fotos und -Videos