The morning after the SuperKrank competition looks to be promising for Squamish climbing. There will be a crew of us hunting for dry rock sometime after 2:00. Expect a photo post later tonight!

The last two Thursdays have been spent in Squamish. I totally called it wrong in my last post – spring showers have yet to come. Lately we’ve endured a time change, arctic weather, and a few days of snow, but alas, the sun still shines. A few weeks ago I was shown a problem I had never done before called Pool, which is in the Easy Chair area. It’s quite tricky and I couldn’t finish it off before the sun went down, but I was so close I couldn’t stop thinking about it. So last Thursday, on an impulse, I skipped work to climb in Squamish. I did make it back to the office by 4:00 only to work quite late, but it was well worth it because I sent my project first try. It’s a hard problem to grade, but I figure it’s close to V10, maybe easier.

There’s nothing like a Pool Party!

Yesterday was another stellar day. I drove up with Vikki Weldon with the intent to try something hard. We didn’t know what or how hard, but we were in the mood to crush stone. After warming up at Black Dyke, Ryan Olsen mentioned he was going to try an old Sharma campus problem on the Octagon boulder. I had tried it years ago, but never had success even after a few close attempts. To the left of this problem is Rookie, a pretty classic V7/8. And to the left of that is Rookie Low, V9. If it wasn’t for that damn Vince Chung who stole it from me two days before my redpoint, I would have had the FA. I would have at least given it a creative name! Anyways, Rookie proper attracted interest from Vikki so we laid the pads out and proceeded to dominate.

Sharma redpointed his problem in the dark during the shooting of Rampage. He somehow managed to use his feet, but really the wall is nothing more than smooth, slightly overhung granite with a few holds 8 feet above the deck.  So his beta was to start with his left hand on the first hold and jump from the ground (stacked pads) to the next. Then use a bad left hand to paste his feet onto… who knows! It was dark, he couldn’t see his feet, but he swears he got it on something to kick him to the next hold. At least that’s how the story goes… New school beta doesn’t involve feet. Instead, start with the right and jump the left hand up to the 11ft edge, campus match (or not if you’re Vince Chung), then campus the right hand to the 3rd hold, campus one more move, get a foot on, and finally mantel the lip. Getting the 3rd hold is the crux and I came close a few times by putting a foot on the first hold while matched on the second. Once I decided to give up on feet altogether, I sent first try.

Ryan Olson trying to use his feet on Sharma’s campus problem, V11.

Vikki Weldon is super fun to climb with. For those of you that don’t know her, you’re missing out.  Strong climber chicks kick ass. She had no problem redpointing Rookie, even with an intimidating mantel top-out. Confidence, strong will and an infinitely positive attitude go a long way!

Veteran climber Vikki Weldon slapping the Rookie around.

I finished the day off on another Vince Chung problem a Terry Paholek problem called Send the Pain Below, V10. To get to it follow the trail past Worm World Cave that runs parallel to the highway. No pics of this sweet problem, but it’s definitely above average. Go check it out.

The grand finale of our incredible climbing day included great music by Brett Dennen who played at Richards on Richards last night. We were all highly entertained. If you were to see this guy walking down the street you’d never… ever imagine him having the voice that he does. He’s an amazing singer and artist. Check out his site and buy his CD, especially his older albums.

Every year the climbers of Squamish are given a great gift – perfect weather! This short period of time lasts for only a few weeks, usually in February. I imagine it marks the transition where Winter ends and Spring begins. Crisp, dry, cold air is confronted with percipitation; lots of it. The rains of November, March, April and even May are what give Vancouver it’s negative stereotype. People complain about the rain when it rains, the snow when it snows and even the heat on those one or two hot days we get in July. At least we’re not driving our trucks around spraying chemicals into the air to fight mosquitoes. Environment Canada says that Vancouver is among the cities with the most comfortable weather to live in. And to ice the cake, Vancouver is the 4th best city to live in compared to all the other cities in the whole entire World. In Canada, we’re the best.

During this Winter’s two week weather oasis, I got to climb for only 3 days. Sometimes quality trumps quantity. Last Saturday’s session was especially the case. I toured the forest with some great friends; all who had great times. I suppose the highlight of the day was my ticks of Matt Lucas’ increasingly famous Seven Terrors. I had not climbed most of these problems before, so new terrain was refreshing and a lot of fun. Sometime last year an alternate exit to Mosquito Incubater was established. It involves technical climbing up a relatively high face. It’s been named Mosquito Masterbater and I pulled it off. It probably goes at V9 or so. Tim’s blog photo-journals this awesome day. It’s too bad it was probably the last one for a long while.

Today was another great day of bouldering with Sarah Austin, Jeremy Blumel, Vikki Weldon and Simon Parton. This is a crew that truly loves to climb. Seriously, check out Simon’s 8a scorecard, this kid has climbed everything this season! We started off by warming up on the classic Easy in an Easy Chair then we all played around on the Practical Horseman. After a conversation about Jeremy doing his elementary school teaching practicum, he suggested that we hike up the Chief trail and try a problem called Child Abuse. Everyone topped out, some of us smoother than others… Further up the trail lies Undertow. Even with the perfectly cold temps, the holds still felt a little slippery.

Higher up the hill is No Honor Among Thieves, a new highball V10 put up earlier this year. The jugs at the top looked wet so I hiked to the top of the boulder to inspect the exit. Man, I didn’t realize there was a freaky looking mantel onto a slab 25 feet off the deck. SCARY! Luckily for me I didn’t do the crux move and get committed to a cautious top-out. Phew.

We heard there was a crew down in the room trying Dreamcatcher, so we made our way there to spectate. I was shocked to see Thomasina Pidgeon working the bouldery moves. I’ve only ever seen her in a harness once and that was in a photograph! She was climbing with Sonnie Trotter and Ben Harnden, two guys connected by first ascents of Silent Menace.

The day was nearing an end so we decided to throw down on No Troublems because it was nearby. Sarah and Vikki were both awfully close to the cruxy first move. I managed to do the alternative Loh Troublems put up by the Bay Area resident Greg Loh many many years ago. Thomasina made a guest appearance and we all got to witness her crazy beta for the first move.

With darkness consuming us we gathered our things and made our way home, psyched to have climbed on what could possibly be the last dry weekend of the year.

Way back in the good ol’ days, I used to be strong. I didn’t have a full time job so I was out in the forest 3 days a week every week for the whole season. I always say that 2002 was my best year of bouldering. The most memorable achievement of that year was redpointing The Proposal. Some say it’s V13, others say it’s V12. I’d probably say a really hard fucking 12! It took me close to 2 months to redpoint this thing! I made quick progress early on, but got royally shut down on the 2nd to last move -- bumping the right hand up 3 inches off a shitty heel hook that kept popping off.

I remember giving it over 30 redpoint burns in one day then climbing the Black Dyke after. I was sooo close to sending it for such a long time. Then finally one day the heel stuck and I sent. The truth is that it was all to do with my shoes. I was climbing in Anasazi Velcros, but the the rubber or the heel shape wasn’t good enough for me. At some point during my quest Jim Sandford, the Canadian La Sportiva rep, offered me a pair of Sportiva Katanas. The idea was that I’d try them out and if I liked them he’d hook me up with a sponsorship! I sent The Proposal shortly after. From then on, it’s been a loving relationship between La Sportiva and I.

So all these memories were sparked by a recent You Tube posting that Sonnie Trotter put up. Shortly after my redpoint he filmed me on the problem. I never did get a clean send for him to record, but he pieced together a pretty sweet video. I’ll leave you with that.