Good Company

The calm before the storm. Dom and Laura.

It was nice to finally pull into the parking lot of the campground of the Stawamish Chief after 7 grueling hours of drive time. Traffic had been a bitch right up until the very last half of a mile where we sat staring painfully at the chief as cars crawled along the Sea to Sky highway at an agonizingly slow pace. Still we(my friend Nick and I) were overjoyed to be here and were greeted by the sight of our friends Daniel and his brother Jacob slacklining on the newly erected pillars of balance in the parking lot. We got out, strectched our cramped muscles and to our dismay were informed that there were no camp sites open. Luckily Daniel and Jacob had procured a camp site at the nearby Klahanie Fall’s campground that was beautiful yet high priced and only a few kilometers away(that’s right I said kilometers, not miles). We decided to set up camp later and hit the boulders. Daniel and Jacob had been here all week trad climbing and literally devouring all of the classic multi pitch crack climbs Squamish has to offer at the 5.6 to 5.10 level, and they eagerly followed us into the woods to watch us boulder for a change of pace. We headed straight to the Titanic boulder to warm up and after getting our skin re-acquainted with the rough texture of the granite we made a beeline for Sesame Street. I was psyched to try this classic hard line after seeing footage of it on many a climbing video. It involves some serious crimping activity as well as a strong commitment to your heel. I managed to do work quickly and made some good links. I hadn’t quite figured out how to finish the beast when disaster struck. Nick, who was also working the problem and had just finished off Tim’s Sloper problem, landed awkwardly cutting a deep gash into his shin. I, needless to say, was a little freaked out and started running around like a chicken with it’s head cut off. Luckily our friend Daniel was in a calm state of mind and took over the situation with much poise. We taped up Nick and hobbled out of the forest. We got to the Hospital, located only a few km’s down the road, and were lucky enough to get in and out in less than an hour. The result was 16 stitches and a hefty bill, but the doctor told Nick he could go back out and start climbing. With much humor and a fresh perspective on bouldering we hit the boulders once again. We made it to a problem called ATD and after a little while I found myself face to face with the top out. Sooooo close yet soooo far doesn’t begin to sum up how close I got to sending, but it was a great problem and I’ll have to come back if I want the official send. Nick with his bandaged leg did a good job of getting to the pointy crimp at the end but couldn’t send either. It was impressive nonetheless considering what he had just been through. A lesser man, namely me, would have cried like a girl and demanded to be taken back to the states so I could wallow in my depression. We showed Jacob and Daniel the Kakedemon boulder, Dream Catcher, and a few other problems before heading back to the campsite and hitting the hey.

Working Gull Skull(V.6), last summer's project.

The next day we parted ways, Daniel and Jacob headed to the Bullet Heads to do another classic multi pitch while Nick and I made our way back into the forest. After our normal warm up we decided to give Mantra a try. My first go I utilized some good toe hook beta to set me up for the throw to the lip but got spat off and hit the gap in the pads and landed full force on a tree root leaving me with a painful golf ball sized bruise on my fore foot. The result was me limping my way to every problem we went to for the rest of the trip. Ouch! After being denied access to the lip of Mantra we hit up Sesame Street again and made little progress. I gave up after trying to create excuse after excuse and so far was zero for zero for sends on the trip. Nick really wanted to try Worm World Cave so we set up camp over there. He made excellent progress since the last time and came really close to sending it this time. A few good goes but still no send. We were about to pack up when our long lost friends Dom and Laura showed up!! They had returned from their four month long Europe trip and decided to meet us in Squamish. We were psyched and glad to see them again. We gave up on Worm World and went to the corrupted boulder directly behind it. There was a cool V.4 that we all flashed and the boulder’s namesake Corrupted, a crimpy V.7 that I had got shut down on last summer. Dom had some excellent beta from his send and on my second attempt I campused through the crux and ended up sending. I was very pleased. Nick managed to polish off an incredible dyno that was extremely intimidating but really cool. We were all feeling a good vibe. Dom wanted to get back on his project Immunity Challenge which he had almost sent last summer. We finally found the boulder tucked away above the black dyke boulder which had a cool secluded feel to it. The problem climbs a curvy dyke up and left and then right again along the boulders lip. Crimpy and long the problem is an absolute classic and a gem of the area. Dom remembered his beta quickly and on his second attempt sent it! It was very impressive, and turned out to be the most impressive send of the trip. It was at this point that somehow, all the pictures and video I had taken on my camera had mysteriously erased itself. Oh well, there will be more trips to Squamish.

I tried very hard to send Immunity Challenge and came close but pumped out after making so many moves. I left this send up to the Dominator. After that we met up with Daniel and Jacob once again at the Supa’ Fly boulder and repeated Super Fly and gave some good attempts on Baba Hari Das. Jacob and Daniel had lunch and then split to the camp ground while we headed to a problem I had never been to before called the Fuzz. It required walking up into and past the camp ground and up the approach trail to the Chief for a short distance before cutting off into the woods and over a stream. The Fuzz was located on a boulder perched on another boulder that was right next to a stream. It was a nice setting and the rock quality was very different from the usual glassy granite feel of the Grand Wall boulders. The Fuzz started on a crimp and an undercling and then slaps it's way into a good crimp rail. From there you lock off and hit a sloper, a good crimp, a good pinch and then a high step and boom you are done. I managed to send it in four tries and was very pleased but I climbed to the very top of the boulder and ended up having to walk way around, down, and eventually up a ravine to get back to my friends. Dom and Nick worked it for a while until we tried another line just to the left. It was a weird dyno/lunge that started on two crimps. You could either hit a crimp out right, or dyno straight to a flat jug up above. I opted to head out right to the crimp while Nick just dynoed to the flat jug. Neither of us sent it but we both made it look as if we could have. The light was fading, the mosquitoes had a feast on my body/blood, and we all headed back to the campsite before it got really dark. After an excellent meal at the Howe Sound brewery and pub we were all in bed by midnight.

Dom crimps hard on Fun Factory(V.5/6)

It had rained over night and we awoke to a light drizzle as Daniel and Jacob headed back home. Fearing the clouds might never break we went in to town to get a bite to eat and check on some movie times. The earliest movie started at 4:15 and the weather had actually dried up a bit so we decided to go bouldering. We headed straight to the Apron boulders, since they would most likely be the driest and did a problem called Fun Factory. We all played on a problem Nick and I had done last time called Tatonka and as I tried to repeat it started to rain lightly. It didn’t last long so we kept at it making our way to a problem we all thought had been blown up as a result of the ever encroaching road construction, Shots Fired. We found the problem as well as a few other boulders that had most likely been uncovered by the construction and just had a great time monkeying around.

Nick and his 'too cool for school' look on Shots Fired(V.4)

Laura displays her highstep ability on an unknown problem(V.2) near Shots Fired.

Hey Dom, do you need a cam for that top out?

Laura on a nice unknown problem(V.0+).

We ended up making the later showing of Pineapple Express, which was freaking hilarious, and had a good meal around the camp fire. So far it hadn’t rained at all and we made plans for what we wanted to get on tomorrow. That night I became aware of the torrential down pour that was taking place as my tent slowly but surely started to leak in certain places. I lay awake for a couple of hours hoping the rain would stop but eventually came to grips with reality and fell back asleep. I woke up on our last morning in Squamish and realized everything in the forest would be soaked, which it was. We did manage to have a cool mini session at the Cutting Edge boulders and I sent my long term project Gull Skull. It was a problem that I had worked on feverishly last summer putting in much skin and probably about 30 attempts. This time I sent it first go and then repeated it for the camera, I was very pleased to have this under the belt as we headed back to Olympia.

Nick on his last send of the trip Cutting Edge(V.4).

Overall, the weather was 50% sucky, the injuries were 100% craptastic, the camping was 90% costly; on the other hand the company was 1,000,000% kick ass and I couldn’t have asked for a better group of friends and climbing partners. My expectations for the trip were high in regards to the problems I wanted to send but the real success was coming away with all of our limbs intact, and a deeper respect for pad placement. In the end Dom and Laura have returned and I look forward to climbing with them again as much as possible. On a sad note, this Thursday marks Nick's last day in Olympia before he heads off to do better things like become a nurse and help save lives. I wish him all the luck in the world and cannot wait to climb with him again very soon.

Dom, Laura, and Nick at our campsite.