Saturday, June 26, 2010
We were originally going to drive to Squamish on this day. However, as I had spent the entire day previous bed-ridden due to food poisoning, I wasn't really ready. I hadn't packed anything other than my climbing gear (more on that later), and wasn't really feeling up to driving for 12 hours, so we decided to delay the start of the trip by one day. As the forecast in Squamish was questionable for Sunday anyways, we decided pushing back the start was a good idea.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
And we're off! I love the drive to the coast. We took Highway 1 to Kamloops, then Highway 5 to Hope, back onto Highway 1 into Vancouver, then Highway 99 up to Squamish. Took a shade under 12 hours (11 hours 54 minutes).
Just outside of Surrey, we saw a family of 4 who had turned their trailer over in the ditch. They were retrieving their personal effects from the wreckage. I felt sorry for the two young daughters who were probably traumatized by the entire incident.
The access road into the Stawamus Chief campground is significantly different now, but probably in a good way. You no longer have to make a dangerous left turn in order to enter from the southbound lanes. The parking situation has also been cleaned up significantly.
Campsite fees are higher than before, but still incredibly cheap. $5 per person per night, and you get to sleep at the base of the Chief. It's an awesome setting.
Monday, June 28, 2010
And so the rains began. It was raining pretty hard in the morning, but started clearing up a bit as we got up for breakfast at Tim Horton's. We decided to spend the morning in Vancouver to pick up some emergency gear, as we had forgotten many many things (due to me being sick and Akemi starting to feel the same symptoms), and that hopefully the rock would dry out by the afternoon.
We dropped by the MEC in North Vancouver, had some Japanese food, and got back into Squamish to check out the Burgers and Fries area of the Smoke Bluffs. The Marc Bourdon guidebook describes this as the most popular crag in Canada, and it was basically empty except for one other couple! We took this opportunity to do a whole bunch of lines which would otherwise have line-ups:
Burgers and Fries (5.7 trad)
Peaches and Cream (5.10b toprope)
Dusty Eyes (5.4 toprope)
Frying Brownies (5.10a toprope)
Wisecrack (5.7 toprope)
Catch Me (5.10a toprope)
Catch Me Quicker (5.10b toprope)
Over Forty (5.11a toprope)
It was great to have unlimited access to these climbs. The top of Burgers and Fries, a run out slab, was a little scarier than I remembered, but perhaps that was because I hadn't climbed granite slab in so long. By the time I was on Over Forty, things were going a lot better on that front.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
The plan was to visit Seal Cove on this day, as Akemi had never been there before. But by the time we got there, we were both doubling over in cramps and spent much of the time looking for places to go to the washroom. We did manage to do Lost Horizon (5.10b trad), which was an awesome awesome route, but we were both feeling quite weak and decided to head back into town.
We spent the rest of the day at Starbucks, close to a washroom, nursing our coffee.
At one point, I dropped by the climbing shop (Climb On) to get some beta on Europa, the new route going all the way up to the first peak. Turns out that it was closed due to nesting falcons, so we'll have to check it out the next time.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
We had originally planned on doing some multipitch on this trip, but neither of us were ready to commit to multiple hours on the wall without easy washroom access, so instead we decided to do the hike / scramble up the three summits of the Stawamus Chief. The first and second peaks are very nice, and I have decided that I want to climb at Raven's Castle on our next visit. The third peak, while the highest, is the least scenic and was disappointing.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Happy Canada Day!
As we were sitting in Tim Horton's having breakfast, the skies opened up. Knowing that the forecast called for continued rain for the rest of the day, we decided to call the trip early (we were originally going to come home on Saturday, but Friday's forecast was mediocre as well) and head home.
We took Highway 99 up to Pemberton, then went through Cache Creek back to Kamloops. It was a much nicer drive than going through Vancouver, and in the end was about 15 minutes faster (although that could have been due to other factors).
Epilogue
The next time I am in Squamish, I want to climb at these areas / routes:
Upper Malamute
Raven's Castle
Europa
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