Squamish, BC - "Outdoor Capital of Canada"

Well, I have been in Squamish, British Columbia for 3 weeks now and I have had some great climbing with great new friends and plenty of rainy rest days. Squamish is called the outdoor capital of Canada because it has everything you need from kite and wind surfing to mountain biking and trail running to world class rock climbing on perfect granite. Situated 40 miles north of Vancouver and 25 miles south of Whistler, there is always something to do no matter what the season or weather.

Of course I am here for the climbing and I have gotten to a lot of it in the past 3 weeks. I have also made some great friends along the way. This is my buddy Ryan from TX on top of the first and probably one of the best climbs we did at it's grade in Squamish. The mega classic Deidre 5.8 on the Apron. The fine city of Squamish is in the background and if it were Tuesday, you'd soon find us at the Pub for 1/2 price pizza.

From here we moved onward and upward. This is me on Memorial Crack 5.9 which we did as an add on to Vector and Memorial Flake.

In the three weeks I have been here a little (a lot) of rain has fallen but, we don't let that stop us. This is Mathew (climbing), David, Rico and I cragging on some hard cracks at the Smoke Bluffs.

While in Squamish, I have may have also witnessed a bit of climbing history. This is Sonnie Trotter sending Cobra Crack 5.14b/c, possibly the hardest crack climb in North America. It's much steeper than it looks.
We were fortunate to be up at the Cirgue of the Uncrackables have an off-width Friday session.

Of course Squamish wouldn't be Squamish without the bouldering. This is Ryan on the Easy in the Easy Chair a classic V4.

Multi-person, multi-pitch. With so much stuff to climb, time to climb it and friends to climb with; you can end up with a big crew on big rock for some big fun. This is Bret and Kristy on Birds of Prey 5.10a. They were going up beside Jackie, Logan and I on the Squaw. Our team was doing Godforsaken Land 5.10d. Both of which are great routes. This is crew on the summit, minus the photographer (me).


Last but not least, the Swiss-Germans. This is Stephan, Rico and Marco (from l to r) on the summit of the Chief. Rico, my neighbor for the last 2 weeks came to the Canada for a 3 month trip. At that time Rico could not speak English and only had "his teacher", a small translation dictionary, to aid him. He also was not a climber, "Clamper". None of this stopped Rico from backpacking, snowboarding and eventually rock climbing. In this shot he is wearing a harness I loaned him and pair of shoes he found on sale in town. Rico left this last Friday to return home as is back at work today. After a going away Swiss Fondue party we all presented Rico with his own, new climbing harness. I think most of us would say that they have never gotten so much from giving someone something as we did with our gift to Rico. Prost!!

You can follow Rico's trip @ http://www.hintis.ch/
And Ryan's trip @ http://www.wild-roads.blogspot.com/

Both are linked to my blog.

Good times in Canada!!

Mt. Rainier via Russell Cliffs …. Denied!!

This is the route and highpoint that we made it to on Mt Rainier this past week. Our team, Jamie, Jeff (Willie) and I wanted to challenge ourselves with a less traveled more difficult route and settled on Russell Cliffs.

The approach to Russell Cliffs takes you from the White River Ranger Station @ 4000’ to Glacier Basin @ ~ 6000’ for Camp 1. From Glacier Basin you travel up around the lower end of the Emmons Glacier and a great view of Little Tahoma Peak on to Camp Schurman (high camp) @ ~ 9000’. This is the toughest day since you are carrying all of your gear and gaining close to 3000’ vertical over no more 2 miles.

Camp Schurman is high camp and provides access to multiple climbing routes while hosting up to 35 climbers. We were joined by 4 other teams, all of which were taking the most popular route, the Emmons Glacier Route. One team had plans to do a ski/snow board descent. We of course were headed for the rock banded ridge to the right, across the Winthrop Glacier.

Both approach days were cloudless and calm. Midnight on summit day proved a little different. We woke to a sliver moon and the lights of Seattle and Puget Sound. However a strong wind accompanied the clear skies and we all felt like conditions were changing. We made it onto the Winthrop Glacier a little after 2AM and planned to cross it before sunrise, 5AM. By about 2:30AM my right leg had found our first of 3 crevasses. I was awake before but really awake now. Jamie and I were on the ends of the rope with Willie in the middle, so we reversed and Jamie took the lead crossing a gorgeous ice bridge over a crevasse, around and through huge seracs.

We continued to swing leads and zigzag away around the glacier and up a dramatic 60 degree ice wall. Eventually, as the sun rose, Jamie fell with both feet, into a crevasse as well. We kidded about other teams watching our head lamps go, drop, retreat and go another direction only to drop and try again, all the while watching the summit disappear behind a cloud of snow that was coming our way. The morning continued on like this until we finally decided that the weak snow (we had been post holing in 10” snow), crevasse ridden Winthrop and the deteriorating weather was too much to surmount.

So after 6 hours of effort we turned around and started backtracking steps that were already being erased by the wind and new snow. I had learned a lot about glacier travel by this point but I got one more lesson before we exited the glacier. The lesson is, walking down hill applies a lot more pressure to the surface that walking up; puff, another punch through. This one, while still with only one leg, was completely unexpected and a real hair raiser. So in the end Jamie and I had tied one another; Jamie with 1 fall/ 2 legs, me with 2 falls/ 1 leg each totally 2 legs a piece.

While I am let down that we did not reach the summit, I am glad that we chose a route that engaged us as a team. Both rangers and the guide book noted that our route required route finding and an awareness of objective hazards. That our route was a quality route that didn’t see much traffic except by those that who wanted to avoid the crowds and go it alone. So we didn’t summit, we still had fine time trying and a good challenge in making our 11,000’ high point.

Indecently all of the teams from Camp Shurman were turned back that morning by bad weather, before reaching the summit. We were, upon returning to camp, greeted with hot tea from a climber that watched our efforts as we were the last to return. Good Tea!

Goodbye to Smith Rock Oregon but not to friends made …. And a little rant on US Customs.

So I am headed out of Smith Rock and up to Mt Rainier to make reservations for our high camp and get climbing permits for our team.

Smith Rock has been great not so much for the climbing, which is stiff, but for the friends I made. I met up with a great crew that ranges from James (Calgary, AB), Julia (Vancouver, BC) and Joleen (Vancouver, BC) to Ryan (Waco, TX). James, Ryan and I are all on extended road trips while Julia and Joleen are long weekend warriors.

I had to put in this parting shot of the crew after our departure dinner, courtesy f Julia. Luckily we all have plans to hook up in Squamish in June. Good Times!!

A brief rant – Legally you only need a valid photo ID to drive or walk across the US/Canadian border until 2007. I know this because I mistakenly left my passport at home. Armed with only my driver’s license, I have crossed the border twice now. Both sides get frustrated with me for not having my passport but I explain and remain patient while I go through the process. My observation is this; the Canadian officials are thorough and concerned but polite and consistent vs. the US officials who are not as thorough or concerned and very arrogant and rude.

I do not like that visitors to my country are belittled upon entry. We can maintain safe borders and still be polite and welcoming. After all we are a country of visitors just ask the reservations full of natives that I passed in Utah and Arizona.

These are my own personal observations and some comments from others.

June Address - Squamish Canada

I have a lot of posting to catch up on; some more Smith Rock Oregon pics and Mount Rainier Washington, so please be patient. They are coming soon.

My June address is:

Warren Harden
General Delivery
Squamish, BC V8B02

Hope everyone is well. The weather up here was gorgeous today.