tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59103092158920455512024-02-06T23:11:12.510-05:00RopelessThe adventures of Yason Touthomme and The Pinnacle GnomeJasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12451013451537348947noreply@blogger.comBlogger175125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5910309215892045551.post-44632018944463705102017-08-15T15:59:00.002-04:002017-08-15T15:59:43.705-04:00The Sawtooth Range<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
On the drive out west we spent a couple of days in South Dakota doing some sport climbing to break up the drive. We popped into a gear store, as we often do, to see what guidebooks they had and stumbled on <i>Idaho: A Climbing Guide</i>. It didn't take long for Kristal to decide we had to go check out the Sawtooth Range, and a month later we spent 6 days backpacking, scrambling and climbing in the area.</div>
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It's a beautiful range of mountains in central Idaho chock full of amazing peaks and alpine lakes.<br />
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We spent 2 nights camping beside the Saddleback Lakes and climbed 'Idaho's most famous rock climb', the Mountaneer's route up Elephant Perch.<br />
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We then moved camp up to Alpine Lake, where we spent a few more nights.<br />
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We spent a day scrambling along an awesome ridge, even bringing the stove to cook up some Mr. Noodles for lunch.<br />
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And enjoying some more great descending on steep snow slopes.<br />
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We saved the best for last, climbing Warbonnet Peak before heading out. Here is Kristal on the summit.</div>
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And some more great views from the top.</div>
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It's a beautiful area, and was well worth the effort of hauling all our stuff in, though my knees might disagree.</div>
<br />Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12451013451537348947noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5910309215892045551.post-24645695508893075822017-07-24T15:35:00.004-04:002017-07-24T15:35:34.156-04:00Rogers PassIt's been a few years since we wrote a blog post, but we've continued to do a lot of traveling and climbing over the summer months. This year is no exception, and we once again loaded the car to head out west in search of mountains.<br />
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Like most of our trips, we don't really have a concrete plan or schedule, which allows us to be very flexible deciding where exactly to go and how long to stay. After visiting family in Alberta, we had a vague idea that we would make our way back to the Boulderfields in Kelowna, maybe spending a few days around Revelstoke along the way.<br />
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With the forecast calling for HOT weather throughout the Okanagan valley (up to 37 degrees C!), we decided to spend quite a bit more time camping and scrambling around Rogers Pass, escaping the heat by heading up into the mountains. Playing in the snow in July is always fun!<br />
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We spent a couple of nights camping in Hermit Meadows, which has a great alpine setting and a resident mountain goat that would hang around camp with us.<br />
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We scrambled up to Mount Rogers during our stay, which gave us some fantastic views.<br />
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After heading back down to Revelstoke, with no end to the heat in sight, we decided to head back up to the pass for another couple of days. We did a long scramble one day, linking up Mount Afton, Mount Abbott and The Rampart. It was quite the contrast from the clear blue skies of a few days earlier. The air was thick with the haze from forest fires that were burning further west.<br />
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Here is Kristal early in the day, during our approach along Afton ridge, with Mount Afton, Mount and Abbott and The Rampart in the distance.<br />
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And here she is scrambling up Mount Abbott, with Afton behind, and the base of Sir Donald just barely visible in the distance.</div>
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And here is the super cool and exposed ridge leading up to The Rampart.<br />
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You can actually continue the scramble we did to make a cool traverse of several more peaks with an overnight stay in an alpine hut. We've definitely added it to our list of things to come back to!</div>
<br />Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12451013451537348947noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5910309215892045551.post-85401319206904028132014-08-31T21:06:00.002-04:002014-08-31T21:06:59.665-04:00Wrapping Up<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
While talking with locals at The Boulderfields we learned of a small crag of basalt columns east of Vernon called the Aberdeen Columns. I'm sure our ears must have visibly perked up whenever anyone mentioned them. We always get excited when we find some columns to test our crack climbing skills on. We only spent one morning there before getting rained out, but we managed to get several awesome pitches of crack climbing in.</div>
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Here is Kristal leading the awesome line ...And Here Was Beauty 5.10a</div>
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and topropping The Philosopher's Stone 5.9.<br />
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From the Okanagan area, with only a couple of weeks left in the summer, it was, unfortunately, time to start thinking about heading back home. Between visiting family and the long drive, we only had time to get a couple of more climbing days in. First up was a nice chill multi-pitch day in Castlegar, climbing Megawatts 5.8, an 8 pitch bolted route up Brilliant Mountain.<br />
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Here I am on the 6th pitch, with the town of Castlegar in the background.<br />
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And Kristal coming up the 7th pitch.<br />
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We finished off our climbing with another fun day at Frank slide with Kristal's brother Mark. Here he is climbing some unknown V4ish problem.<br />
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It was a great way to end another awesome summer of climbing!<br />
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Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12451013451537348947noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5910309215892045551.post-90870875496077034242014-08-25T23:02:00.001-04:002014-08-25T23:08:14.198-04:00The BoulderfieldsWe had been biding our time in the mountains waiting for the heat wave to ease, but it seemed to be a lost cause. It was with some reservation that we finally decided to suck it up and head to our next planned destination - the Okanagan Valley. With forecast temperatures in the upper 30's we didn't think we'd be staying very long.<br />
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We were pleasantly surprised to find that bouldering in The Boulderfields was quite manageable in the heat and, despite planning several times to move on, we ended up spending almost two weeks in the area. With free camping right around the main parking area we also got to see a lot of the enthusiastic, and seemingly ever present, local climbers. A big thanks to Andy, Jason and Ryan for showing us around and pointing us to amazing new problems and areas. The hospitality of the local boulderers was one of the big reasons we stayed so long.<br />
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Other big reasons we stayed so long include:<br />
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1 - Awesome problems.<br />
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We didn't really take many pictures, because there were too many other things to do, but here are a couple.<br />
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Kristal on the Peanut boulder.<br />
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Me trying out beta on Dangleberries.<br />
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2. Establishing new problems.<br />
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The Boulderfields are now in the middle of a golden age of new development. Thanks to the awesome locals, stashed cleaning supplies and a tonne of rock we were able to put up some of our own problems. During our stay we established 8 new problems. Here is Kristal cleaning the top of the awesome Cave Dweller slab we named Sriracha Slab.<br />
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3. Raspberries.<br />
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There were raspberry bushes everywhere, and they were delicious. Here I am taking a break from bouldering for an awesome snack.<br />
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Kristal even collected some to put in the chocolate cake she backed back at camp.<br />
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4. Making new friends.<br />
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Both human and animal. Here are Sasha and Kristal taking a break from cleaning yet another new 3 star problem with local hardman Jason.<br />
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By the end of our stay some of the locals were joking about finding property for us in Kelowna, but with the end of the summer fast approaching we had to start thinking about making our way back east.</div>
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The Boulderfields is an awesome destination, in no small part due to the amount of work the handful of dedicated locals have and continue to put into developing the area. Hopefully we can make it back there again next year!</div>
Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12451013451537348947noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5910309215892045551.post-20787001307322358152014-08-13T22:41:00.000-04:002014-08-13T22:44:33.485-04:00Yoho National ParkAfter hiding out from the heat on the Icefields Parkway for as long as we could, we decided it was time to head west. Our first stop was the Cathedral Forest boulders, in Yoho National Park. There are actually a lot of documented problems there, on really solid quartzite, but as they're jammed between the number 1 highway and a major rail line, they're not exactly a relaxing, wilderness destination. (If, however, you're travelling between Alberta and B.C., they're a great place to stretch your legs. Park at the spiral tunnels turnout and cross the highway. (The first boulder is about a twenty second walk in.) Here I am on Seams Improbable, a cool, sequency V4.<br />
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Yoho National Park is also home to the Burgess Shale Formation, famous for its fossil beds. The fossils are guarded like the crown jewels and, while we were curious, we weren't really keen on going on a guided tour. However, some research showed that if we got a permit to climb Mt. Stephen, we'd actually get to hike around them. So after facing the Parks Canada grand inquisition we were granted our permit and headed out early in the morning. We found the fossil beds after about an hour of steep hiking. The ground was seriously littered with triolbite fossils.<br />
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After passing the fossil beds, our nice hiking trail turned into a long slog up scree slopes before hitting a chossy limestone headwall, and a seriously exposed traverse. Five hours and 2000 m of elevation gain later (that's 6600 ft!) we finally made it to the top. The views were well worth it.<br />
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Endless Scree...<br />
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A beautiful clear blue sky in the morning.<br />
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Stunning views from the summit...<br />
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A conveniently located helicopter pad and weather station. Too bad we couldn't call the chopper to take us down. Descending 2 vertical kilometers is not our idea of fun.<br />
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Filling out the log book in the summit hut.<br />
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The most entertaining part of the weather station was that it was stock full of emergency gear, including these sealed tool boxes of rations, best used on or before March 26, 1988. Awesome.<br />
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Going back across the (very) exposed ridge during the descent.<br />
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Kristalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05479293327702422933noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5910309215892045551.post-71289981065682212492014-08-11T16:30:00.000-04:002014-08-11T16:35:17.176-04:00The Icefields ParkwayWith a lot of hot weather in the forecast for the Banff area it was clear we needed to gain some elevation to beat the heat. We decided to spend a few days along the Icefields Parkway, to do some things we had scoped out last year during our short drive up to Jasper.<br />
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First up was this impressive slabs right beside the highway, just south of the Parker Ridge trailhead. Last year we hiked up to the base of it and were surprised to discover several bolted lines. We still didn't have any information about the routes, but decided to give them a go.<br />
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We were stoked to discover that one of the lines was bolted all the way to the top. Below you can barely see Kristal at the end of the last full-length pitch, almost 200 feet above. The climbing was super fun, with many fun water runnels to climb through.<br />
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For those looking for beta, the route is mostly easy 5th class, with maybe a 5.8ish move or two on the first pitch. It's 4 pitches, about 600 feet long, with an easy walk off down the gully to climber's right. The anchors are equipped with rap rings, but you would need double ropes to rap the route.<br />
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Next up we decided to attempt the South East Ridge of Mount Edith Cavell, an impressive Conrad Cain route with a little bit of everything on it.<br />
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The morning views down the parkway were quite impressive.<br />
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Here I am channeling Conrad Cain while crossing the snow slope onto the main shoulder of the mountain.<br />
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Kristal striking a pose with the glacier in the background.<br />
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Sadly, we didn't start out early enough in the morning. With the upper ridge still ahead of us we decided to turn around. Neither of us wanted to walk out in the dark.<br />
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Next up we decided to check out an obscure bouldering area called the Kingston Slide, consisting of limestone blocks left over from a landslide on Mount Kingston. One of the few reasons it doesn't see much traffic is that you have to cross the freezing waters of the Sunwapta river only a few kilometers from where it begins at the base of the glacier.<br />
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Despite the committing approach, the bouldering area is top notch, and we found many problems that would easily be 3 star problems in any bouldering destination we've been to.<br />
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And you just can't beat the setting, with Mount Athabasca and it's glacier looming in the distance.<br />
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We found plenty to keep us busy, from burly campus problems...<br />
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... to some awesome slabs, and everything in between.<br />
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Definitely worth checking out for any boulderers looking for adventure!Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12451013451537348947noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5910309215892045551.post-86782357275165060442014-07-30T17:36:00.001-04:002014-07-30T17:36:39.060-04:00The Promised LandLast week we decided to put the climbing gear away for a few days and head on a little backpacking adventure. We happened to be camping near the Alberta visitor center in Crowsnest Pass, and stopped in most days to enjoy their running water and free wifi. While flipping through some of the brochures we came across some information for these epic cave systems high in the mountains, and after further investigation decided they were worth checking out.<br />
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On day 1 we hiked in about 11 km to where we set up camp. If you happen to own and ATV you can actually cut that down to only 2 km of steep hiking. Sadly we don't own and ATV, so yeah, we got an extra 9 km of hiking.<br />
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It's was a bit demoralizing when we were passed by multiple groups of people on ATVs. It was also pretty slow going, as the trail crossed Ptolemy creek 7 times. In good weather all of the crossing can be pretty easily done on logs, but due to a steady drizzle some of these crossings were too slick to be safely done. On several occasions we had to de-shoe, wade through the chilly waters, and re-shoe on the other side.<br />
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We set up camp on the cool alpine terrain of the Ptolemy plateau.<br />
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On Day 2 we made our day trip to the caves. Here is Kristal high on the scree on the way to the Cleft cave. The previous day's hike started all the way past the mouth of the valley in the distance.<br />
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Here is the view looking back out the entrance of Cleft cave, with Kristal silhouetted at the bottom.<br />
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It was a really cool cave, quite literally, with a lot of frost clinging to the walls. Also a lot of interesting cave features. Being relatively novice cavers we spent a lot of time exploring many of the nooks and crannies.<br />
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After a couple of hundred meters of weaving our way through the mountain, with a short committing squeeze section, the cave abruptly opened up high on the other side of the mountain.<br />
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Next up was a short hike over the col to the Andy Good plateau, where we were treated to this crazy landscape of limestone and snow.<br />
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We then went to check out Gargantua cave, which boasts 6 km of passages and the largest natural cavern in Canada (290 m long, 30 m wide and 25 m high). The thing is absolutely huge. But for all its size, we actually didn't find it as interesting as the Cleft cave. Of course we only explored the large upper section, unwilling to commit to the long trek through the entire cave system.<br />
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Here is Kristal on the phone. She managed to get some reception within a few meters of this one spot.<br />
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On the way back to camp we discovered our new favourite method of descent - the glissade! Basically skiing down a snow slope on your feet. Sadly it only works when there are snow slopes around.<br />
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That night we got to experience perhaps one of the of the scariest events of our lives. Let's just say it is not very comfortable being stuck in the middle of an exposed alpine meadow in a crappy little backpacking tent while a storm of epic proportions rages around you.<br />
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On the hike out the next day we encountered more than one tree like this lying across the approach trail that was not present on the hike in.<br />
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<br />Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12451013451537348947noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5910309215892045551.post-42157519436250985642014-07-28T22:21:00.000-04:002014-07-28T22:26:25.631-04:00Frank SlidingWe've spent a lot of time in the last few weeks bouldering at Frank Slide. I was starting to think we had begun to get the lay of the land until last weekend when we met up with locals Trent, Kyle and Morgan who gave us the inside tour. It was pretty baffling to see how many new problems they've established, how well they manage the questionable landings and just how much potential Frank Slide has.<br />
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We kinna sucked at taking photos but here's a few shots. <br />
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<br />Kristalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05479293327702422933noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5910309215892045551.post-86572448610447902512014-07-19T01:41:00.000-04:002014-07-19T01:42:10.032-04:00Waterton LakesSo the most exciting thing that's happened in the last week has definitely been the arrival of my new nephew. Congratulations to Mark and Beth!<br />
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In between some fantastic baby snuggling we made it down to Waterton Lakes National Park. We arrived late in the evening without much of a plan. When we crawled out of the tent the next morning, Jason pointed at a random mountain and suggested we climb it.<br />
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I was a bit skeptical, but it turned out to be a pretty easy scramble with awesome views, a cool window to the prairies, and a lovely seat for two on the top.<br />
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After flipping through a tourist info guide, we decided Red Rock Canyon was also a must see. It was well worth the visit with some cool hiking, natural waterslides that almost worked, and one pretty sweet bouldering problem.<br />
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Due to the abundance of chossy rock, the Waterton Area doesn't have a lot of established long rock climbs, but I did manage to find some info on a six pitch route up the southeast ridge of something called Yarrow peak. It sounded interesting, so we followed the vague directions and set out. After nearly three hours of epic hiking we finally found possibly the most horrendous rock on the planet. Our six pitch ridge climb, while only 5.6 (if that) was absolutely terrifying. It was steep, exposed, and about eighty percent of the holds would shatter into a million pieces if you breathed on them the wrong way. After several anxious hours we hit the top of the ridgeline and managed to breath a sigh of relief before having to navigate the scree filled descent.<br />
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The six pitch climb ended up being a 9 hour, 12.5 km, 3000ft round trip. (And my route selection privileges have been revoked for the rest of the summer).Kristalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05479293327702422933noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5910309215892045551.post-91266248113066027902014-07-13T17:14:00.000-04:002014-07-13T17:15:48.818-04:00Crowsnest PassSome pics from the last week spent in Crowsnest Pass, doing some scrambling and bouldering at Frank Slide.<br />
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Scrambling up Mount Ward involved a lot of scree...<br />
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Some snow...<br />
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And some pretty alpine terrain...<br />
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The summit wasn't enough so we decided to scramble some of the ridge lines. Here is Kristal on the way to Mount Alison.<br />
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Here is another party on the summit of Mount Ward.<br />
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We scrambled the ridge line all the way to the other side of Window Mountain Lake before coming back down. Here's a view of Mount Ward from our descent. It was a lot further than we thought it was. :)<br />
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A much needed dip in the lake after 7 hours of scrambling.<br />
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After all the hiking on the previous day it was a welcome break to just go bouldering for a couple of days.<br />
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<br />Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12451013451537348947noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5910309215892045551.post-54322285715286874342014-07-06T17:46:00.000-04:002014-07-06T17:46:58.184-04:00Beartooth Mountains<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
We spent our last day at Vedauwoo being chewed up and spit out by some good old off-width cracks, but Kristal still had enough energy at the end of the day to dance up a nice unnamed V6 slab problem.</div>
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After that we made a much needed stop at one of our favourite small towns in the middle of Wyoming, Thermopolis, to enjoy a soak in the free hot springs. While there, a fellow traveler told us about some Native American petroglyphs just up the road at a place called Legend Rock.<br />
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Next up we decided to check out the Beartooth Mountains in southern Montana.<br />
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We spent a couple of days hiking and climbing in the beautiful East Rosebud Lake area.<br />
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We climbed the popular moderate route The Ramp, which climbs the left side of the 800 foot buttress in the photo below. It's mostly low angle 5.6ish climbing with a few great 5.8 and 5.9 sections.<br />
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On our way north from there we happened to be driving on July 4th, and as we were coming into the small town of Roundup, Montana we found that our route was blocked by their Independence Day parade! We eventually ran out of side roads to drive around and ended up having to watch the parade. It actually turned out to be pretty entertaining, especially when they started throwing candy and Mr. Freeze's at us (a welcome relief from the 34 degree Celsius temps).<br />
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After the parade was over we had enough candy to last us through the endless prairie.<br />
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Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12451013451537348947noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5910309215892045551.post-15808540762431308542014-06-29T16:58:00.001-04:002014-06-29T16:59:13.586-04:00The VooJust some random pictures from the last week. Despite almost daily afternoon thunderstorms, hail, and wind gusts of up to 80 km/h we have been able to climb almost every day.<br />
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Our campsite.<br />
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Campfire roasted peppers stuffed with couscous and sweet potato. Delicious!<br />
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Mmm, marshmallows.<br />
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The formations around Vedauwoo provide ample opportunity for fun scrambling.<br />
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But of course the crack climbing is why we are here.<br />
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Inclement weather...<br />
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... and the aftermath.<br />
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<br />Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12451013451537348947noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5910309215892045551.post-29873512013043628022014-06-22T17:37:00.000-04:002014-06-22T17:37:30.196-04:00Another Summer, Another Road TripAs the long winter ended and the weather began to improve, it was time once again to think about what is becoming our annual summer road trip. We didn't really have a plan this year, other than to 'head out west'. We still don't have much of a plan. We're aiming to make it to Lethbridge in early July to visit family.<br />
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We decided that the weather in Wyoming looked good, so our first stop is Vedauwoo, home of burly off width climbing and painful granite. We've only been here for a couple of days so we're just getting into the swing of things (not to mention acclimatizing to the altitude). We also seem to have lost our small camera, so haven't got any pictures of any roped climbing yet. The crack climbing is pretty awesome though!<br />
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In the meantime, here are some bouldering pics. Some of the boulders are covered in cool inclusions that make for some super fun climbing.<br />
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Kristal contemplating the next moves on The Generic Scoop V3.<br />
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Getting ready for some easy (and not so easy) warm ups.<br />
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Me taking the inclusions for a ride on an unnamed V0.<br />
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Despite reasonable temps the sun is blazing hot, so finding shade is a must.<br />
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<br />Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12451013451537348947noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5910309215892045551.post-39147347734708693732013-08-31T17:46:00.000-04:002013-08-31T17:51:09.285-04:00End of DaysWith the end of summer fast approaching we continued our assault on the Canadian rockies. Although we had a number of big routes left on our tick list, our bodies were starting to feel the fatigue of long days and we decided they would have to wait until next summer. We spent the last couple of weeks mixing it up quite a bit, doing everything from chill bouldering to single pitch sport climbing to long moderate trad routes to playing tourist along the Icefields Parkway up to Jasper.<br />
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We had a blast taking Kristal's cousins out for some easy climbing at Grassi Lakes.<br />
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We had a longer than expected day climbing the classic moderate Escargot Corner, which climbs the upper Norquay Slabs. Eyeing up the guidebook, Kristal was intrigued by the Lower Norquay Slabs, and figured we could add some more easy climbing to the day by tacking on a few pitches of 5.9 to the beginning of the route. It turned into a bit of an adventure, with marginally terrifying runnout slab, exceptional dirty crack climbing and much chossy goodness. Here is Kristal getting gripped at the top of the long first pitch of Inclination.<br />
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In the end it worked out for the best, as there was a pretty slow party on Escargot Corner. The 2 1/2 hours it took us to climb Inclination meant that we didn't catch up to the them until we began the descent. They were locals, and upon hearing about our lower slab adventures responded with: "Wow, you're the first people we've ever heard of climbing down there." Yeah, we noticed.<br />
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Escargot Corner itself was much more pleasant, although also suffered from some rock quality issues. The main attraction are these cool fossils that you climb past on the last pitch.<br />
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The views of Banff from the top were also quite exceptional.<br />
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We were joined by Kristal's parents and brother for some fun sport climbing last weekend. Here is Mark on Union Maid 5.10a at the Spray Slabs, with the Banff Springs Hotel in the background.<br />
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At some point we took a couple of days off to wait out some inclement weather, and drove up to Jasper to enjoy some hiking, touring and soaking at the Miette Hot Springs. Here I am doing what tourists do at the Icefield Centre.<br />
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We spent much of the drive scoping out potential climbing for next summer. In addition to any number of good looking mountains we also came across this really cool featured slab. We'll be back.<br />
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Of course there were plenty of other things to see during the drive, including a seemingly endless number of glaciers...<br />
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These cool bubbling springs...<br />
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And excessive amounts of beautiful vistas...<br />
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On our last of day of climbing we decided to take a chill day and hike up to Chester Lake in Kananaskis country and the nearby Elephant Rocks. We had a blast doing some easy highball bouldering/soloing.<br />
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Here is Kristal on the most precarious looking summit in the boulder field. She was unwilling to stand there for very long.<br />
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It was a fantastic way to finish off the trip, with super fun easy climbing on solid well featured rock. The views were also spectacular.<br />
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<br />Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12451013451537348947noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5910309215892045551.post-76074786781966816692013-08-19T23:34:00.003-04:002013-08-20T00:12:03.056-04:00Rocky Mountain Highs<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
We decided to close out the rest of the summer climbing in the front range of the Canadian Rockies. Despite the sometimes questionable rock quality, anyone who has driven along the Trans Canada Highway cannot deny the sheer amount of rock available to climb on. With route recommendations from fellow climbers and the new Banff Rock guidebook in hand, we had a large list of routes to climb. For the last week we have jumped between Banff, Lake Louise, Yoho and Canmore getting on some awesome long moderates and enjoying the amazing views.</div>
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Here is Kristal coming up the 4th pitch of Aftenroe, on Guides Rock outside of Banff.</div>
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And on the summit of the Tower of Babel in Lake Louise.<br />
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The view of Moraine Lake from the top was beautiful.<br />
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We had read of a cool route in Yoho National Park that climbed beside Takakkaw Falls and included a 75 meter cave traverse as the second last pitch. Of course we couldn't resist, and the route did not disappoint. The top of the 6th pitch puts you right beside the thundering falls.<br />
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Kristal was super excited by the time we got to the top of the 9th pitch to start the cave traverse. How excited? This excited.<br />
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Here I am just about to enter the cave, which was ridiculously cool.</div>
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It is a remarkably straight and uniform cave, averaging about a meter across and high, although there was a section in the middle where I had to shimmy on my belly to get through. Just don't forget your headlight, as it is pitch black in the middle.</div>
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Of course climbing in the Rockies in August means you have to be leery of late day thunderstorms. We definitely had a few close calls, and had to wait out passing showers on more than one occasion. Thankfully we never got caught on route during the worst storms. After topping out Gooseberry on Tunnel Mountain in Banff, we were welcomed with this view of an approaching storm.</div>
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10 minutes later we were being dumped on during the hike back to the car, thankful that we hadn't climbed the route any slower!</div>
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Yesterday we climbed Generosity on the East end of Mount Rundle, just outside of Canmore. Here is Kristal at the top of the 10th pitch.<br />
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It had some truly memorable pitches of climbing. Here I climbing the cool water runnels on the 10th pitch.<br />
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And the views from the top were spectacular. Here is Ha Ling Peak on the other side of the valley, which we had climbed last year.<br />
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And Kristal starting the descent, with spray lakes in the background.<br />
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Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12451013451537348947noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5910309215892045551.post-20763039116837238212013-08-12T00:48:00.000-04:002013-08-12T00:48:00.330-04:00Back in the Bugaboos<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
We spent the past week in one of our favorite destinations - the alpine playground of Bugaboo Provincial Park in British Columbia. Despite the heavy packs and long hike in Kristal was all smiles.</div>
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How can you not be excited to climb awesome rock with this as your backdrop.<br />
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We were joined for a couple of days by Kristal's parents, and we had a great time taking them up the West Ridge of Pigeon Spire.<br />
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Despite some heavy fog and threat of bad weather we managed to make it up and down the climb before any real rain started to fall. Here are Kristal's parents on the summit.<br />
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And here we are coming down the glacier in the fog after the climb.<br />
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Kristal and I also ticked off another long climb during our stay. Here she is standing on top of Snowpatch Spire, after climbing the classic South East Corner (aka Wiessner's Route, aka the Snowpatch Route).<br />
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Unfortunately the weather wasn't all that cooperative during this trip. Here is mist surrounding East Post Spire, as we were making our way back to the hut after being rained off of McTech Arete.<br />
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Of course even when the storms are rolling through, the Bugaboos is still a surreal and beautiful place.</div>
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And having unfinished routes on the tick list isn't necessarily a bad thing. It just gives us an excuse to come back again next year.<br />
<br />Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12451013451537348947noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5910309215892045551.post-1861121389901853272013-08-01T19:26:00.001-04:002013-08-01T19:26:16.859-04:00Rest Days<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
After Darrington we realized we had climbed 19 of the previous 23 days, and figured a few days off would be nice. On previous trips through Washington we had always looked at Olympic National Park on the map, but being on a peninsula it's kind of not on the way to anywhere. We finally decided to check it out and spent a couple of days hiking through rain forests and along coastal beaches.</div>
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Of course we see a lot of forests and mountains through climbing, so we spent most of our time enjoying the beaches.<br />
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Knowing there were sea stacks along the shore, we even packed some climbing shoes and found some cool formations that actually provided some reasonable easy climbing (these were supposed to be rest days after all).<br />
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The beaches were littered with enormous dead trees, which provided some awesome root climbing and fun scrambling.<br />
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The tide pools were teeming with life, including anemones, crabs, starfish and mussels.<br />
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Kristal told me to go stand near the water for a picture and I just happened to be attached by this rogue wave when she took the picture.<br />
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I am always amazed at the beauty of the ocean and we had a fantastic couple of days sightseeing. We capped it off with a trip (only a little out of the way) to the Mount Baker Hot Spring. Just what our recovering muscles needed to cap off a few days of rest!<br />
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Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12451013451537348947noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5910309215892045551.post-14720941937778395432013-07-30T13:44:00.000-04:002013-07-30T13:44:04.625-04:00Darrington<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
After two weeks in Squamish it was finally time to move on. Our next stop was about as far removed from the convenience and crowds as we could get, in the heart of the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, outside the small town of Darrington, Washington. Camping and climbing for a few days the only other people we saw were two forest service employees who had backpacked in to count mountain goats.</div>
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Here is Kristal atop the first pitch of Silent Running 5.9+ on Three O'Clock Rock.</div>
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It was clear from hiking through the forest that some enormous trees had been logged here many years ago. There were countless stumps that were easily 15 feet in diameter. Here's Kristal in front of of a huge dead tree that escaped the logging.<br />
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We were also camped near an awesome river, which provided some great post climb swimming.<br />
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We had originally planned to climb Dreamer on Green Giant Buttress. Unfortunately it was directly east facing and despite being a pleasant 20ish degrees Celcius in the shade, it turned out to be near intolerable climbing in the sun. We set our sights on the more manageable west facing Blueberry Route III, 5.8+ on Exfoliation Dome.<br />
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With a pre-dawn start we figured we could climb most of the route before baking in the sun. Here is Kristal coming up the second last pitch, just as we were getting into the sun.<br />
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A view of the crazy overlaps of the upper washbowl.<br />
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And Kristal on the summit.</div>
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We were stoked to have completed the climb with only minimal sun exposure. Unfortunately we now had to make it down 11 rappels and 1500 feet of steep slab hiking while frying on the rock. Here is Kristal nearing the end of the rappels, with the steep granite 'sidewalk' below.<br />
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And starting down the sidewalk, with the route we just climbed in the background on the left.<br />
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After 11 1/2 hours car to car the post-climb swim never felt so good!</div>
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Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12451013451537348947noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5910309215892045551.post-41005481832475026122013-07-26T18:18:00.000-04:002013-07-26T18:18:02.352-04:00Squamish<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
It's always a bit of a shock for us when we first arrive in Squamish. We are so used to climbing in more out of the way areas that the sheer number of people is always a bit overwhelming. There is a reason for the crowds though. It is just so convenient to be here. The ease of access, being so close to town, the toonie swim at the rec center (with hot tub). Not to mention the large variety of exceptional climbing.</div>
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Of course the advantage of it being so popular is that we always seem to run into friends from Ottawa. This trip was no exception, and it was great to see some familiar faces. And, as much as it pains us to wait for people ahead of us on long climbs, it's always great to meet new friends and share stories.</div>
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During this trip we ticked off a number of climbs that have been on our list for a while. Here I am leading the second pitch of Exasperator 5.10c.</div>
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Kristal belaying me on the second pitch of Slot Machine 5.9.<br />
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One of our big days was climbing Angel's Crest 5.10b, which climbs 13ish pitches and follows a striking ridge line all the way up to the top of the chief. Here is our early morning view north of Squamish somewhere around pitch two.<br />
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Looking down on the Acrophobes, which we had just climbed across, from pitch 10 or 11.<br />
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Kristal following up the second last pitch.<br />
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And me about the exposed crawl over to the last pitch.<br />
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Of course time spent in Squamish has to include at least some bouldering. Here is Kristal on the classic Tim's Sloper Problem V5.</div>
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When climbing anything on the Chief you can't help but notice the ridiculous number of kite and wind surfers across the sound. This trip we finally took a couple of hours to head over there and check it out.<br />
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We were pretty amazed at the number of people and the skills on display. It looked like a lot of fun, but no less crowded than the climbing.<br />
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Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12451013451537348947noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5910309215892045551.post-84298411804314189342013-07-17T19:40:00.000-04:002013-07-17T19:40:53.602-04:00Washington PassThe iconic Liberty Bell in Washington Pass has been on our list for quite a while. After leaving Frank Slide, we drove through northern Idaho and the orchards of central Washington to go check it out. Over the last couple of months we've done a lot of bouldering, but haven't actually tied into a rope at all, so the first glimpse of the towers was a little intimidating. <br />
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Washington Pass has dozens of fantastic lines all in a beautiful alpine setting. Most of the well-known climbs are on a collection of five impressive spires.We set out early and decided to try and traverse across three of the five spires. Our first goal was the well-known Becky Route up Liberty Bell. Here I am on the third pitch.<br />
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And on the summit.<br />
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The approaches for all the Washington Pass climbs are long and steep, but despite this there seems to be no shortage of climbers willing to hike up the mountain even on a weekday. By the time we got back to the notch between Liberty Bell and Concord Tower, there were at least three parties on the route we had just climbed and two others waiting. We were thankful to have avoided the chaos.<br />
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<photo crowd="" of="">We then followed a wandery, lesser traveled route up Concord Tower. We stopped to appreciate the view before rapping into the notch between Concord and Lexington towers.</photo><br />
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The final pitch up Lexington Tower included an exciting ridge traverse. Here's Jason gingerly climbing onto the top of the Stegasaur fin.<br />
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And me on the summit, with the North and South Early Winter Spires in the background.<br />
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<photo crowd="" of=""></photo><br />Kristalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05479293327702422933noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5910309215892045551.post-19873357833376465132013-07-14T14:03:00.001-04:002013-07-14T14:03:25.943-04:00Going West<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I guess we left the blog dangling a bit at the end of our spring trip. Rest assured we made it back to Ottawa in one piece at the end of April, after Kristal unexpectedly landed a job teaching. With the end of the school year looming we were anxious to hit the road again and decided to head west for the summer.</div>
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As usual the long drive wasn't all that interesting, although we did manage to stop for a nice swim in Lake Michigan and saw this cool sunset in North Dakota.</div>
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Our first stop was at Lake Diefenbaker in Saskatchewan, where Kristal's family were congregating to enjoy the Canada Day long weekend. The weather was awesome and we enjoyed a weekend filled with good food, good company, a mini beach volleyball tournament, fireworks and a lot of fun on the lake.<br />
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One of the highlights for Kristal and I was paddling around on her dad's stand up paddle board. Super fun.<br />
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After a week of driving and hanging out at the lake we were anxious to do some climbing though. Our first stop was some bouldering at Frank Slide in southern Alberta. We spent a few days there and were stoked to be joined by Kristal's brother Mark and his wife Beth (we also enjoyed the luxury of staying at their place in Lethbridge for a few nights).<br />
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Sitting around after bouldering we were discussing the blog and it was suggested that we should have guest writers. And so, in a Ropeless blog first, Beth is hopefully going to talk about something related to the day they spent bouldering with us. Take it away Beth!<br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Thank you Jason! Mark and I are super excited to be contributing for the first time.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">While Jason and Kristal were in Lethbridge we popped out to Frank Slide for a few days with them. Even though we have toured the area many times, K and J schooled us with their insider knowledge they had picked up in their few days camping there a few days beforehand. Pro Tip: The bathrooms at the Bellevue campground are much nicer than those at the local gas station. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">On our first joint outing, we did a classic tour of Franks’ south side, starting at the brawny Snakebite boulder. After a few non-warm up burns on the V5, we decided that we should probably start slower and found the Tidal Volume boulder. Below is Mark pulling hard on the boulder’s namesake problem.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">Also in an excellent showing, Jason snagged Serial Killer, the especially reachy problem on the same boulder which is nigh impossible to begin if your less than 5’10. Kristal, I, and even Mark can all attest to the lengthiness of that initial move.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">The last boulder we visited at Frank was the super sloping Vlad Slab, which features a number of low-angle, fun problems. Shown below are Kristal and I scampering up the V1s and V0s. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">Ice cream and hail capped the day. Pro tip: Bellevue has an amazing ice cream shop with dozens of flavours. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">We managed to make it back to Lethbridge before a crazy hailstorm hit, raining down ping-pong sized pieces. From the safety of the basement, we watched the ice ricochet off homes and cars.</span><br />
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<br />Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12451013451537348947noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5910309215892045551.post-72236909859121598952013-04-18T16:57:00.000-04:002013-04-18T16:57:02.284-04:00The New<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
The New River Gorge has long been on our list of places to climb, but up until this road trip a visit here just hasn't worked out. We've been here for a week now, and we've climbed every day since we arrived.</div>
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The routes here are mostly single pitch, with a good mix of sport and trad, that climb a short cliff band running along the top of the gorge. Getting to the top of a route often gives you a stunning view of the New River or the impressive New River Gorge Bridge.</div>
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Not surprisingly we've been mostly seeking out the awesome crack climbs. Here is our new friend Martin leading the impressive New Fangled Dangle 5.11a.</div>
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Kristal at the top of the first half splitter crack of Ritz Cracker 5.9.<br />
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Me heading up Springboard 5.10b.<br />
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The weather has been hit and miss, with scattered showers and some hot weather for the last few days. Thankfully there are so many routes here that there always seems to be at least something that can be climbed. Even in the pouring rain, some routes are capped by enormous roofs that keep them dry.<br />
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Though the hot weather doesn't make for optimal climbing conditions, it does make cooking and camping much more comfortable. Kristal has been making some awesome meals, including this delicious chicken Quinoa salad with freshly baked Bruschetta.<br />
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We've really been putting our new camp stove oven to a lot of use. I even managed to bake a cake for Kristal's birthday with it.<br />
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<br />Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12451013451537348947noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5910309215892045551.post-6587078387641670572013-04-11T15:04:00.001-04:002013-04-11T15:06:35.063-04:00Granite DomesOver the last week we finally managed to tie into a rope and climb up some of the impressive granite domes of North Carolina. First up was the 500-ish foot Stone Mountain.<br />
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Here I am on The Great Arch 5.5, which climbs an impressive continuous corner for several hundred feet.<br />
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We were told it was one of the best 5.5's in the country, and we can't really argue. Here's Kristal approaching the top of it.<br />
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Aside from two large corner systems, the climbing at Stone Mountain mostly involves climbing friction slab, with very little in the way of anything to actually hold onto with your hands. Here's Kristal on some nice runnout slab near the top.<br />
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And the few from the top.<br />
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After getting back into slab climbing shape we were psyched to go climb Laurel Knob, a huge dome (1000+ feet high!) hidden in Cashiers Valley and plagued by a long history of access issues. The cliff is now owned by the Carolina Climbers Association, but is surrounded by private property. It's a bit odd to have to hike for an hour and a half to access the cliff when there is a nice private road going right up to the base. You also lose that remote climbing feel when you are surrounded by million dollar mansions, especially when construction crews are building a new one right below you.<br />
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Regardless, it turned out to be an excellent day. We got an early start to try to beat the soon to be sweltering heat of the day.<br />
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We decided to climb one of the many classic routes up the cliff, Fathom 5.10a, which came highly recommended. Thankfully the cliff is somewhat west facing, so we were able to stay mostly in the shade for the first 5 pitches, which climbs up along this obvious diagonal crack/seem for 600-ish feet before climbing over the steep headwall.<br />
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Here is Kristal coming up the spectacular 6th pitch.<br />
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And at the top of pitch 7, after sucking it up and climbing the fun, but full of running water, water groove.<br />
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Sadly the top of the cliff is also private property, so none of the routes officially climb to the top anymore. After rappelling down in the heat of the sun, on what can best be described as a large granite frying pan, we were excited beyond words to find this beautiful waterfall/swimming hole on the long hike back to the car.<br />
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<br />Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12451013451537348947noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5910309215892045551.post-36465709033305871002013-04-04T23:34:00.002-04:002013-04-04T23:39:52.485-04:00Bouldering Crusade<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
It's been almost 6 weeks now since we left Ottawa, with every intention of immediately starting to climb some long routes in North Carolina. Looking back now, it's a little hard to believe that we have spent that entire time bouldering.</div>
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It all came to an end yesterday though, when we finally packed up our home/camp at Rocktown. After 14 days of bouldering there over the last few weeks it almost felt like we were locals, helping people find boulders and showing them cool problems. But with some warmer weather rolling in we are finally making our way to North Carolina to tie into a rope. Hopefully we won't be too terrified!</div>
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We had a lot of fun at Rocktown, climbed a lot of awesome problems and met a lot of really great people. Here are some pics from the last week.</div>
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Me starting up the Little Bad Boulder V5.</div>
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Kristal with one of her many heel hooks on Full Circle V5.</div>
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Me executing some super cool tall man beta on Drug Test Policy V7.<br />
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Kristal on Super Mario V3.<br />
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Me on the classic Golden Shower V5, on one of the most beautiful boulder faces anywhere.<br />
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Kristal on the cool Blue V6.<br />
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Me on the awesome Campus Punks slab V5.<br />
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Kristal catching the swing coming out of Red Belly, V4.<br />
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and working Contrail V5 on the beautiful Comet boulder.<br />
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<br />Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12451013451537348947noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5910309215892045551.post-21174051010619790502013-03-26T16:05:00.000-04:002013-03-26T16:14:51.882-04:00Cold Weather<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Over the last week the weather has been, let's say, less than ideal. With a tornado warning, below freezing temps, perpetual overcast and full on snow flurries, we decided it would be a good time to take an extended rest and move into a motel for a few days. We headed up to Pigeon Forge again, not because the town itself is very interesting (it's like a family rated version of Las Vegas), but because the motels are cheap.</div>
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We also had another errand to run up in Asheville. Last year I was invited to be on one of a series of trading cards featuring various LEGO artists. I was being sent 25 of 'my' card to sign and return, but with us being on the road, I had them sent to a post office in Asheville to pick up. Here I am signing my cards in a cafe across the street from the post office.<br />
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Pigeon Forge wasn't all bad though. In addition to all the run of the mill clothing outlet stores, it also happened to have a Coleman outlet store. We bought this cool collapsible stove-top oven for our camp stove. In the past we have had various degrees of success in trying to bake on the stove or in our small barbeque. Here is Kristal with some awesome fresh-out-of-the-oven corn bread. Delicious!<br />
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We also did manage to get some bouldering in over the last week. Here I am honing my inverted off-width technique on Aunt Fanny's Amazing Ass Crack, V5.<br />
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Today we decided to check out another nearby bouldering area called Zahnd. Due to the snow and cold we decided to leave the climbing gear behind, but still couldn't resist pulling onto a few cool problems.<br />
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On the way back into town we stopped by to check out the Blue Hole, a really nice looking natural spring and swimming hole. If only it was about 30 degrees warmer we would have jumped right in.<br />
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<br />Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12451013451537348947noreply@blogger.com0