Squamish, BC: Climbing and weather paradise!

Well, having been in Squamish for just over 2 weeks now I can definitely recommend coming in July! We’ve had only one rainy day the entire time, and considering the lushness of the vegetation it must rain the other 11 months of the year! We’re about an hour north of Vancouver, camped in a beautiful little campground just at the base of the Chief—the 2300 foot tall granite cliff that looms up from the waters of Howe Sound. Climbing is one of the main draws to the area, and there are climbers here from all over the world. We’ve seen people from almost every state and province (though no one else from northern New England), as well as folks from England, Sweden, Mexico, Japan, New Zealand and I’m sure many other countries. It really is a climbing paradise! There’s enough rock within a 30 mile radius to keep you busy for several lifetimes. The one drawback is the construction going on right now. The main North-South highway is being widened in preparation for the 2010 Olympics here, and since the road is squashed in between the Chief and the water that means a lot of construction noise just 50 yards or so from where we’re camped. It’s not so bad, just somewhat annoying when they’re working overnight and backing up the trucks a lot….beep, beep, beep at 3 a.m.!

Our friends Jamie and Ellen were here for two weeks, we had a blast climbing and hanging out with them. We’ve done some hard sport climbing, some one-pitch trad climbing, some bouldering and several multi-pitch routes up part or all of the Chief. Really, we’re spoiled for choice here! Mike had an opportunity to climb the Grand Wall with a friend we met here; it was a long-term dream of his to do that route so I was thrilled he got the chance. We may try to climb it together before we leave, but we have so many things on the to-do list who knows how much we’ll actually get done! Although we’ve been having an amazing time it’s almost time for us to leave and head back home for a little bit…some family events and a friend’s wedding are calling us home for August. We’ve got a lot of climbing to pack in to the next 10 days, so wish us luck and hopefully we’ll get a chance to catch up with NH/Maine based folks soon!

Squamish 1

On the road again: Colorado to British Columbia

We left Colorado on June 17^th and traveled north and west to eventually land over the border in British Columbia. On our way we made a few stops to climb: at Vedauwoo in Wyoming (just to see, no climbing there), at Maple Canyon south of Salt Lake City in Utah, and at City of Rocks in southern Idaho. We also spent a day at Mt Rainier National Park in Washington. It was an amazing 10 days, we traveled through some gorgeous areas (and some flattish, boring areas too!), enjoyed some new climbing spots and I went through 3 states I’d never been in before!

Maple Canyon was just okay, the rock was very interesting, it’s called cobble and it’s made up of smooth river stones embedded in a natural concrete. Cool in theory, but not all that pretty to look at and just mediocre to climb on. Oh well, now we know what it’s like at least!

City of Rocks was phenomenal, so it more than made up for Maple! The formations there were great, a lot like what we saw in Joshua Tree but in high desert, so there were a lot more trees and shrubs. But it was still hot!! We really enjoyed the climbing there, and there’s an almost infinite amount of it, so we’ll definitely have to go back someday and spend some more time there.

After our 3 days we packed up again and moved on, this time through Oregon and into Washington to stop at Mt. Rainier. There was still an unbelievable amount of snow there! Banks over 8 feet high on the side of the road! We did a little walking around (the forest is just incredible! I’ve never seen trees so big!), Mike hiked a little ways up onto the mountain (in the snow, in his sneakers!) and then we headed out to make our way towards the border. We were planning to meet up with our friends Jamie and Ellen once we got up there, but oddly enough we just happened to be driving through Seattle at exactly the same time! We stopped to say hi and catch up a bit, then they continued driving up to Squamish (about 3 more hours) while we decided to stop for the night and take a break since it was after 8:00. The next day we got back in the car for the last leg of this particular journey, crossed the border into Canada and made our way slooowly up to Squamish (delayed several hours by an accident on the highway). And now we’re happily esconced in a campground at the base of a 2000 foot granite cliff with more rock in a 30 mile radius than can be climbed in a lifetime! But, more about that next time!

Northwest jaunt

Colorado: the grand tour

We’ve been in Colorado for the last three weeks and loved (almost) every minute of it! We stayed with our friend Colin in Boulder for two weeks and spent the middle week touring around the state. Except for the 2 ½ days of rain in Rifle (aaaugh!!) we had perfect weather….blue skies, warm and sunny. We managed to get a taste of 10 different climbing areas! Boulder Canyon, Flagstaff, Clear Creek Canyon, Rifle, Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Shelf Road, Eldorado Canyon, Lumpy Ridge, N. Table Mountain, and the Flatirons. There’s an unbelievable amount of stuff just around Boulder, 6 of those spots are within half an hour of where we’ve been staying. Climbing paradise! We did several days of long multi-pitch routes, a good amount of sport climbing and a little bouldering as well….pretty well rounded jaunt overall! Boulder is a fantastic place; very easy to walk or bike just about anywhere you want to go, lots of parks and open spaces, good food, great farmer’s market, and the scenery is pretty darn fabulous! I love it here! Staying with Colin was a lot of fun; his friend Rudy was here for a week so that was great, we also got to hang out with Cristin (who we met in Kentucky and was on her way to California), my friend Becky (another interpreter), and visited my brother Roddy and Mike’s aunt, uncle and cousins from Denver. We also visited Great Sand Dunes National Park, and Rocky Mountain National Park and managed to throw in some hiking and exploring while we were at it. Kind of a whirlwind!

This morning we’re back on the road, our eventual destination is Squamish, in British Columbia, but we’ll be stopping along the way to do a little climbing in Utah, and Idaho and maybe Washington. July 1^st should see us camped out at the next great climbing mecca and ready for more exploring and adventuring!

I hope this finds everyone enjoying the beginnings of summer!

Colorado