Climbing The Goat Multipitch - Billy Goat Gruff

Greg Luesink
Jul 16, 2022
4 min read

Updated: Nov 28, 2024

TLDR: Ben and I geared up for our first real "multipitch" climb - 19 pitches of limestone in Marble Canyon. Overall, it went very smoothly and we were rewarded with clear skies and great views amidst a smokey summer.

This photo was taken atop The Goat - 600m+ wall! Each of the 19 pitches varied from 20-35m (some were 60m but considered "scrambling" pitches).

After a solid spring of sport climbing, Ben and I shifted our focus to other objectives. Combing off of climbing my first 5.12a at the local Slesse Creek crag, I was feeling strong, and wanted to try a new challenge. Neither of us had done anything as big as "The Goat," so it seemed like a good goal.

With a good weather window and some time off work, we drove the four hours up Highway 1 towards Lillooet. We passed through a recently-burned Litton: a totally charred mess, with only chimneys remaining of people's homes. A sombre sight to be sure.

We arrived with plenty of daylight, and decided to check out the approach so that we would for sure know where we were going in the pre-dawn darkness the following morning.

The first pitch was more like an easy scramble, and we climbed ropeless up to the top of it. Ben joked "well, we might as well just keep on scrambling if its gonna be this easy!"

That evening, we cooked up some grub, and waited for the sun to get low enough to fall asleep. Alarm set for 4 am, I struggled to drift off, nervous for the next day. I was very excited to try out my new climbing shoes, the La Sportiva Finale. This trip was going to be the break-in day... which was certainly a risk considering I'd be in them for several hours.

The Climb

ree — South facing means avoiding the sun!

Since we had soloed up the first pitch the evening prior, we decided to do so again to save some time. As we were nearing the top, I grabbed a handhold, but it ripped off the wall when I pulled on it. Thankfully, my feet were solid and I didn't waiver much from it, other than my heart rate spiking momentarily! Pitches 2-6 went quite smoothly, with nothing exceeding 5.8 in difficulty. A full pitch breakdown can be found on Mountain Project: The Goat 5.9 YDS

Pitch 7 offers either a 5.11a pitch, or a 5.8 bypass. Wanting to test myself on the 5.11 "onsight" (no beta, first attempt), I decided to leave my backpack with Ben and haul it up after. The pitch was slabby, with small hand and footholds to balance on. Unlike sport climbing crags, this climb didn't have any chalk on it, so I had a hard time finding good crimps. Quickly, I encountered the first crux. After trying out a sequence, getting pumped, downclimbing to rest on better footholds, and repeating a few times, I committed to a sequence that could work.

Forearms pumped and calves fatigued, I pulled on a small crimp as hard as I could. Before I could reach the next hold, my foot popped off and I fell backwards, getting caught by the rope connecting Ben and me. Dangling from the taut cord, I took a moment to rest my tired forearms and re-chalk my hands. I was a little bummed that I fell, but I was proud with the effort. The pressure now dissipated, I enjoyed solving the riddle of the following cruxes. I was able to do all of the moves, which was encouraging, but in the end I had to rest on the rope three more times before topping out the pitch. I clipped my personal tether into the bolted anchor and started pulling up the rope to get rid of the slack between Ben and me before belaying him up.

This next part is embarrassing to write about, but necessary for the tale.

I called down to Ben, asking if he wanted me to haul his bag up along with mine so he could climb unencumbered. He agreed, so I tossed down a loop of rope for him to clip our bags to. I proceeded to hoist the two running vests (Black Diamond Distance 15's) up the jagged slab of rock.

As you may have already guessed, by the time the bags reached me, they were riddled with small holes and tears in the ultra-light fabric. NOOOOOO!! What a terrible mistake...

The bags were basically brand new to both of us, so it was pretty sad to damage them in such an avoidable way. Oh well, lesson learned... they are, as advertised, not haul bags.

The remaining 12 pitches took us about four hours to complete. Some were more interesting than others, with intermittent exposure as we climbed higher and higher. I recall one nearly vertical section in particular that was Ben's lead, which involved some creative beta to get through.

After just under 7 hours after leaving the car, we reached the top of the multipitch. Only one 20m rappell was required on the descent, to lower into a long gully, which takes an indirect way down.

At the bottom of the descent, we were rewarded with a refreshing dip in Pavilion Lake.

Satisfied with our accomplishment, we packed our climbing gear into the car, and set off for home. It felt great to get this climbing goal under our belts, setting us up for more adventures in the summer. Subscribe if you want to read about more adventures like this!