The Unbearable Camping Situation

Let me start by saying there is something very creepy about most of the free camping in Squamish. Usually, you have to drive down some random dirt road for a quarter of a mile until you reach an extremely dark and heavily wooded clearing. As if seclusion and darkness aren't scary enough, most of the time there's an industrial scrap pile, a shack with shattered windows, a broken down bull dozer, or maybe an abandoned car lurking in the corner. Then you start thinking about the rumors of crazy drug addicts trolling Squamish in search of people to rob. And if your imagination or the druggies don't get you, there's always the bears.

So after looking at horror movie sets for half an hour, we finally found a quiet parking lot on the edge of town near a community of condos. Once I convinced Lee(and myself) that the place was perfectly safe, we went to sleep. Since we survived the first night, we decided to stay there again.

WHAM!!!

On our second morning at the parking lot we got woken up at 5:30am by a very loud noise. At first we thought somebody was harassing us, but after looking around, we found nobody. Then I started to look at what I assumed was a gas tank sitting about 30 feet from our car.


Straining to see in the dusk light, I sensed some movement coming from this object. Upon closer investigation I found that the gas tank was really a...
BEAR TRAP containing a newly captured BEAR!!! The loud noise was the trap door slamming shut.

If you look closely, you can see it's claws sticking out of the cage. They are just right of the yellow sign.

The look of a very unhappy Lee.

On a side note, that week three bears had been captured and killed because a person had been attacked by a bear. Hopefully this bear was simply transported further from civilization. Good luck buddy.

Tatonka

Throughout the trip, I struggled to get and stay psyched, so Lee and I went online and looked for Squamish bouldering videos. Tatonka, was one of the first videos we found, and after watching it, my excitement was renewed- for a while. The problem is all about trusting your feet on horrible smears, wrestling with an awkward pinch/undercling and then making a strange cross over move to a large flake. From here the problem eases off but it's not over until you rock over the arete.

Below is video of me on Tatonka.


Tatonka V8

Wafer Thin

Here is a video of Lee doing Wafer Thin V5, in the rain. For those of you who haven't seen this problem, it's a convex belly that slabs out near the top, with big feet and really small crimps. To finish you have to paw over the top using small patches of clean rock that are surrounded by thick mats of moss. Not an ideal problem to try in the rain. Anyways, undaunted and determined, she put this thing together in a couple of tries and scrapped her way to the top. Check out her left hand popping when she hit the finishing hold. Way to go Lee!!! You are my hero.


Wafer Thin V5

This Monkey's Gone To Heaven

This Monkey's Gone To Heaven V7, is one of the proudest lines I did on the trip. It is unique because it doesn't feature a lip traverse, slopers, heel hooks, or a heinous top out. However, it does have one huge campus move to a semi decent edge, and then an airy finish over a funky landing.

Although you can't tell by watching the video, I barely did the campus move, and I somehow held on to finish it just before it rained for two days. What an amazing line!!!


This Monkey's Gone To Heaven V7

The Weasel

The Weasel V8, is the pride and joy of my Squamish trip. This thing is HARD! It features shitty slopers, non-holds, fussy heel hooks, improbable arete holds, and a really frustrating finishing move. So classic!!!

I remember looking at this boulder problem 8 years ago and not even being able to comprehend how to do it. Now, thanks to the internet, I was able to figure it out. It's always cool to see some improvement- even if I owe it to technology.

I barely sent it- pay attention to my right hand slipping on the arete.


The Weasel V8.

Ahhh, Squamish.

Ahhhh, Squamish. The land of impeccable granite, lush forests, amazing ocean views, and crackling, high voltage, cancerous powerlines. As far as bouldering, Squamish is the land of the lip traverse, the heinous topout, the heel hook, and the sloper. I hate crimps, but by the end to the trip I was fiending for some grips. I had a great time but a week was all my hamstrings, and psyche for lip traverses could handle.

The Cheif.

So before we got to Squamish, Lee hadn't climbed in 2 months, and I have to admit that once again, she impressed me with her natural strength...


and raw bouldering abilities.


Lee on Titanic V3.(sorry I can't flip it)

Actually, Lee climbed extremely well- finishing a handful of V3's, a couple of V4's and 2 V5's, which is better than I would have climbed if I hadn't touched rock or hung from my fingers for over 60 days. She definitely deserves the MVP award for this trip!

I on the other hand, have been bouldering all Summer. So I showed up with lofty goals, but got totally stomped. Instead of sending super hard, I projected what was super hard for me(read anything between V5 and V8). Here's a picture of me maxing out on the Hoop Wrangler V5. I never finished this one... can you say humbling?

A huge thanks to my parents for letting us borrow their car for the week. I also want to thank Ryan, Sam and Shannon for letting us borrow their pads for the week. Our trip wouldn't have been possible without their generosity.