Connor Herson's staggering Squamish sending spree

America's Connor Herson has spent a month across the border at Squamish in Canada where he has amassed a ticklist described by those in the know as "totally next level". Highlights include two of the area's hardest trad climbs, namely Crack of Destiny and Cobra Crack, as well as the 9a sport climb Spirit Quest.

Crack of Destiny was first ascended earlier this summer by visiting Swiss climber Didier Berthod who graded it 5.14b/8c. Although he had to battle against skin and poor conditions, Herson needed just 4 sessions for the coveted first repeat. A further 4 sessions were needed for Cobra Crack, and line linked closely to Berthod but eventually freed by Sonnie Trotter in 2006.

Commenting after his ascent of Crack of Destiny, the 20-year-old stated "In terms of style, difficulty, and quality, this thing is truly Cobra Crack 2.0. Speaking of which…" Cobra Crack had been one of Herson's dream lines and he explained "Psyched to send it pretty quickly, and even more psyched that I didn’t have to use the mono."

Other notable repeats include Hazel Findlay's masterpiece Tainted Love (5.13d R/8b), the 9a sport climb Spirit Quest bolted by Tom Wright and freed by Mike Foley, and the 5-pitch outing Stélmexw (5.13c/8a+) put up by Jesse Huey.

Herson concluded "I wasn’t sure what to expect from my first international climbing trip, but I’ve been absolutely loving my time in Squamish so far! It has a bit of everything– beautiful scenery, incredible rock quality, and all styles of climbing. Ticking off this list over the last month has been all time."

In 2018 Herson made headline news with his free ascent of The Nose aged a mere 15, Equally at home on sport as on trad, in 2022 he astounded the American climbing scene with his trad ascent of the 9a sport climb Empath.