Sorry, not newly scrubbed problems waiting for second ascents. I’m talking about new problems for me! This weekend I climbed 7 problems that I’ve never done before. This might not seem like a big deal, but for me it’s exciting. Lately I’ve been struggling with motivation to boulder in Squamish. I’m sick of doing the same old circuits and trying my same old projects. Show me something new! So here’s the list of problems I did this weekend.

• Mr. Bigglesworth Low, V9/10
• Immunity Challenge, V7
• Stalling Tim, V10
• Phantom Power, V8
• Missing in Action, V7
• Missing Reaction, V7
• Prime Time Sit, V5

I’m also a proud owner of the new Squamish Bouldering Guidebook, written by Marc Bourdon. In it are tons of new problems that I’m super psyched to try. Even though I consider myself a Squamish local, there’s no way I can keep up with the latest and greatest. I can’t count the times I’ve had people tell me about newly sent test pieces only to forget their names and where they are 20 minutes later. Thanks Marc, for a fantastic guide!

Picture time!

Ryan Olson on Mr. Bigglesworth Low, V10

Yeah, What?

Vikki Weldon, Monkey Brushing

Vikki Weldon, Killing Me Softly, V6

It was only 4 or 5 blog posts ago when I wrote about my trip to Europe. A lot of great things happened. I saw France, Italy and Spain. Great memories with people I love. However, some really shitty things happened too. Well really just one bad thing – our car got broken into and a bunch of my stuff was stolen. Taken from me was my Macbook Pro. I had bought it used just a few months previous. It was my first Apple computer and I loved it. With it I felt inspired to write, to edit photos and make movies. But after it was gone I kind of lost the feeling of freedom to contribute to my blog. But things have hopefully changed because this post is being written using a new purchase. It was expensive, it was a tough decision, it was a long wait, but now it’s my new Macbook Pro.

So with this announcement I present a few photos I took in Squamish a few weeks ago. May was a good month. I got in two easy multi-pitches on the Apron, sport climbed in Chek, and bouldered at the North Walls. I climbed at least 5 problems I had never done before. Overall a great introduction to Squamish’s climbing season.

Vikki Weldon

Ryan Olson

Sarah Austin

Rich Kupskay

Yeah yeah… I know there are only two problems with people doing the exact same move! They just turned out to be the best photos of the day!

Today is our 6th day in Bishop. It will also be our 6th climbing day. We’ve spent the last five days climbing at the Buttermilks. I’ve mainly been taking it easy – climbing nothing harder than V9. A few classics have been sent by our crew. Yesterday we sessioned Checkerboard, which is the Buttermilks only 4 star problem. There were flash sends of Jedi Mind Tricks and some promising attempts on the Buttermilker and Spectre. We did the hike to the Druid stones a few days ago and we’ve yet to go to the Happy Boulders, but that’ll probably happen tomorrow. Sean and I tried The Swarm, which looks so doable, but is crazy hard. I’ll post a few unedited pics here just to show y’all how much fun we’re having!

I’m actually getting excited for this upcoming trip to Bishop. It’s been a long time since I’ve been on a roadtrip. I usually fly to Hueco this time of year and rent a car, but there’s something special about driving for thousands of kilometers to climb. I’ve done the drive to Bishop 4 other times. Normally we go down the I-5 to Sacramento, then bust east towards Lake Tahoe. But a friend suggested we cut east earlier at Mt. Shasta. The route through Susanville is less kilometers, but also less time on the speedy interstate. What do you guys think?

Google Maps says: 1764km, 20 hours 26 minutes

white-space

Google Maps says: 1889 km, 20 hours 6 minutes

During my 20 minute journey to work this morning I noticed Olympic Volunteers in blue jackets loitering around key public transit areas. I suppose the tourists are starting to arrive in our city eager to take in the many attractions. I just hope they leave with a positive impression – I want them telling their friends and family back home how awesome Vancouver, Squamish and Whistler are!

Speaking of the Olympics, I figure I should put a plug in for a small website I built back in November. It’s a map of Olympic venues – venues2010.com. Do me a favour, click some of the ads! I didn’t put a lot of effort into the site, but it helps earn a little bit of spending money.

There’s just over a week until opening ceremonies here in Vancouver, but even though I really want to join the party, I’m getting the hell out! After some arm-twisting, I’ve decided to join a huge crew of friends for a trip to Bishop – a mecca for huge granite boulders. Sean McColl and myself are driving down together and I think pro-climber Will Stanhope is joining us on the way home. There are a number of other Canadians meeting us in Bishop including the cute couple Vikki Weldon and Ryan Olson. So many good friends and talented climbers. I’m actually more excited to just be roadtripping with these peeps than sending projects. I’m also looking forward to snapping lots of pics. It should be easy to get some mag-worthy photos!

Spring and Summer are just around the corner. I’m excited for a few Leavenworth adventures and definitely multiple trips to Squamish. In September I’ll be going to Edinburgh, Scotland – the host of the 2010 Youth World Championships. I was recently selected to be a coach for the Canadian youth climbing team. It’ll be the 4th World Championships I’ve coached so I hope my past experience will help our young athletes do well. There are lots of changes to the team structure this year. In 3 words: no parents allowed. I’m looking forward to the challenge of supervising 24 kids!