R & R

After a ridiculous eleven straight days of climbing we were really looking forward to some time off. We headed down to Seattle to visit Dan and Allison, old friends of Jason's and recent emigrants from Ottawa. They treated us to a lovely tour of the city and we thoroughly enjoyed our stay (though NBC's Olympic coverage leaves much to be desired).

Initially, we had big plans for climbing in the Cascades, but the temperatures were looking uncomfortably hot and we opted instead to take advantage of some of the lakeside climbing at Banks Lake in central Washington.

The only problem was that most of the climbs required a boat to access. We searched most of Wenatchee (Apple Capitol of the World!) before finding a kick-ass rubber dingy and then spent two days rowing around the lake, swimming, deep water soloing, and attempting to climb out of the dingy. Here's Jason tied in and ready to go.

And me, belaying.

In case you're in the market for a new boat, the digny is not really the ideal belay vessel. It never tipped, but sharp granite and an inflatable boat are probably not a good combination. Here is Jason swimming out to and climbing a cool overhanging crack.

Here I am taking a cool refreshing dip to escape the heat.

After taking in all the sun we could handle, we went to check out the Grand Coulee damn. The best part was the air conditioned visitors center.

While driving through central Washington we saw this large glacial erratic from the road, which of course we had to go check out.

Yak Peak

On our way out to Squamish we were hoping to stop in the Coquihallas and climb Yak Peak. Unfortunately  the weather didn't cooperate. Despite the forecast calling for clear skies, when we awoke in the morning we couldn't even see the mountain due to the heavy cloud cover. We kept in the back our minds while we were in Squamish though, and the forecast looked good as we were leaving, so we thought we would try again. This time, the skies remained clear all day.

We decided to climb the popular route Yak Check 5.9, which climbs the lower pitches of Yak Crack and the upper pitches of Reality Check. With around 2000 feet of mostly sustained climbing it was one of the biggest climbs we've done. Here is Kristal on the approach pitch, with a long way to go.

Me starting up the second pitch.

Kristal on the 8th traverse pitch.

And on the final friction slab pitch.

It was a pretty cool climb, although had quite a bit of crumbly rock and questionable gear placements. The summit was worth it though.

The biggest surprise was the enormous snow field we had to traverse on the back to get back down.  Here is Kristal gingerly making her way across, with nut tool in hand to dig into the snow in case she slipped.

Return to Squamish

The last time we were in Squamish, almost two years ago, it rained almost every day, and we eventually gave up on the weather and left.  This time we had considerably better luck.  In the 10 days we spent there we didn't see a single drop of rain, and went climbing every single day of our stay.  Squamish has such a variety of climbing to offer, and we took advantage of as much of it as possible, doing a mix of trad, sport and bouldering.  Of course we tried to do as much multi-pitch trad climbing as we could, culminating in climbing all the way from the base of the lower apron to the top of the Chief.

Unfortunately with the good weather also comes the people, with massive amounts of climbers all over the place, especially on the weekends.  Of course that isn't all bad either.  It was awesome to run into Hugo and Pigeon from back home and we met two great groups of climbers from southern Ontario who were camped next to us. In an effort to avoid the crowds, we spread out our climbing over many different areas and rarely had to wait to get on a route.

Here is Kristal on the stellar Klahanie Crack 5.7, located just beside Shannon Falls.

And trying to find some gear on the 4th pitch traverse of the amazing Skywalker 5.8.

One of the highlights of Skywalker is that from the top it is a short hike to some really cool swimming pools formed along the waterfall.

We also made it to the Cheakamus Gorge, where we climbed the highly rated 3 pitch sport climb Star Chek 5.9.

Which climbs a prominent arete coming straight out of the raging river.

Another highlight was climbing the slab at Seal Cove, which comes right out of the water of Howe Sound.

Which also had some great views.

Of course we also spent a couple of days climbing on the Chief.  Here's the view of the first summit from the second summit, after topping out The Ultimate Link-Up 5.10b, which we did by linking Rambles 5.8, Banana Peel 5.7, Boomstick Crack 5.7 and The Ultimate Everything 5.10b.  In total it is described as 24 pitches of climbing, but between simulclimbing and linking pitches we managed to do it in 17.

Here is Kristal on the second pitch of Rambles 5.8.

We also spent some time climbing at the Smoke Bluffs, the Malamute and the Papoose.  After being rained out on our first visit, we were really excited to finally experience the amazing climbing Squamish has to offer. It is pretty ridiculous how much easily accessible quality climbing there is to be had.  Sadly the easy access has its price.  Aside from having to deal with the crowds, the beautiful views of the surrounding landscape are all to often marred by hydro lines, the highway under your feet, and the constant sound of traffic and machinery from the docks.

The Fold

Before leaving the Canmore area, there was one more big climb on our list, The Fold up Mount Kidd.  It climbs the obvious thin rib feature in the middle of the picture below.

The first time we attempted to climb it the weather wasn't looking all that great, so we bailed and went sport climbing instead.  On our second attempt the weather was much more favourable.  The climb was spectacular, with a mix of impeccable solid limestone and a bit of poor quality rock.  Here is Kristal eating lunch in front of some of the well textured solid rock.

And here she is about halfway up.

As usual the views from the top were amazing.

The rappel off the top was one of the more exciting we've done, requiring some faith in the existence of bolts and a full 33 meter free hanging rap.

Sport Vultures

The last week has been interesting for sure, and a bit of a departure from our recent routine.  For one thing, the weather hasn't been super co-operative.  We've often seen views like this.

Which was taken while climbing with Kristal's brother and parents, and surprisingly we didn't actually get rained out.  But otherwise, the threat of inclement weather has resulted in us going single pitch sport climbing more than usual.  Which has been pretty fun.  And in three days of sport climbing around the Canmore area we have bootied 3 whole quickdraws.  This has caused us to jokingly give ourselves the nickname of 'Sport Vultures', swooping in to retrieve the abandoned gear of climbers who bail, and don't have the wherewithal to just leave a booty biner.

We also helped out Kristal's aunt and uncle in Calgary, who were on vacation (ha!), and we spent most of the week living in the suburbs looking after their dog and two children.  It was nice to get another little break and live on the inside for a while, and we all spent a fun day at the Calgary Zoo.

Short Days

The next two big climbs we tackled were both pretty easy (in the 5.6 range of difficulty), and we were excited to simul climb as much of them as possible to save time.  First up was the North East Buttress of Ha Ling Peak, overlooking the town of Canmore.

Here's Kristal about midway up.

And approaching the summit.

After seeing no one else on the entire climb we were surprised to see a tonne of people at the top, who had hiked the popular summit trail up the backside.  Here's the view of Canmore from the top.

And Kristal hiking back to the car along Whitemans Pond after the descent.

Despite the 1500 ft of climbing it turned into a surprisingly short day.  We were able to simul climb most of it, and made the car to car trip in just over 5 hours.  With plenty of daylight left we headed into town and decided to move camp down to beautiful Kaninaskis country.

The next day we climbed Joy, a fun slab up Mount Indefatigable that follows a huge corner for an astounding 2000 ft.  It's pretty rare that you get such a huge feature that goes on for so long.  Here is Kristal near the start.

And again nearing the top.

We were able to simul climb the entire thing, and after just over 3 hours we pulled onto the summit ridge overlooking Upper Kaninaskis Lake.

The scenery was breathtaking and we were excited to find many pretty wildflowers near the summit.

As well as a fair bit of snow.

A huge scree slope allowed us to make relatively quick work of the descent.  Scree skiing is so much fun, and so much easier on the knees than hiking a regular descent trail!

We were again pleasantly surprised at how short the day ended up, returning to the car only 6 hours after starting out.