A Summer of Climbing

When we moved to North Vancouver twelve years ago we ticked off a lot of the classic hikes. Driving by the chief in the summer, the sun reflecting on the sheer granite, we would say to ourselves, we’re never doing that, these people are crazy here in BC. Having moved from Montreal, we were still focused on the top restaurants, wine, I wore a jacket to work, and had a large dress shoe collection. Fast forward a few years and my dress shoes are collecting dust while the rock shoes are taking over. Initially rock climbing was supposed to be our foray into mountaineering. Certainly, its not something a very tall, 245lbs person is naturally inclined towards. Its clearly not as natural a fit as basketball was, I kind of took for granted what being physically suited for something does! However, climbing just keeps drawing me back in every summer. That feeling of just barely holding on, then grabbing a jug--you don’t get that anywhere else. This year, realizing I’m not getting any younger, I wanted to really give it a better shot. I decided to take a huge chunk of time off from the office, and climb as much as my fingertips would allow. Right after ski season ended we headed down to Moab for a few days. Dug into the crack climbing there and had a blast, lots of tacos and ice cream. May was unseasonably dry in Squamish, and started really getting after it early. Rock On worked me. Papoose laps exhaust you by noon. We finally got up the chief together. Then alpine season opened up. Rather than jetting off this summer, I wanted to see how many BC classics I could check off, with some flexibility.

First trip was into the Valhalla’s. I have never driven to the Kootenay’s in the summer before, it’s a pleasant drive, Christina lake could give the Italian lakes a run for their money if it had a few villas. Met my guide at a delicious breakfast at the frog peak café. We were then down a short FSR and reasonably short approach. With our bear spray we were undeterred by the Aussi who reported a growling grizzly ahead, luckily it was actually a grouse. The campsite is right at the base of Mount Gimli. We got a few pitches of climbing in to warm up. Following day was the main event, the south ridge. The rock quality was excellent, as was the position. First pitch is the hardest, beyond the roof move near the top, which helps you relax and enjoy yourself. We were happy to have 70m rope for the rappel as it certainly would have been very much a stretch for anything less, couple parties on the route had a bit of a time getting down. Wish I had more time here, lots of other stuff to climb in the zone.

After a few days back at work , headed out to the Bugs. We had done a multigenerational trip into CMH Bugaboo in the summer a few years back and I climbed Pigeon, and both of us climbed Fisherman’s friend. However, its such a legendary place I wanted a more authentic bugaboos experience. We covered about ¾ of the truck with chicken wire hoping porcupines wouldn’t notice the front, and started the approach. There has been some very recent trail developments and it was actually a very pleasant hike. I can see why the hut gets full of hikers, but happy to be headed for Applebee. It is a gorgeous amphitheatre setting, with two huge spires in your field of view. The first day we were off for Surf’s up. The B-S col was in great shape for us, and we arrived at the base while it was still quite cold. I made the mistake of putting my crack gloves on and neglecting to put my gloves on overtop before starting to belay. My fingers were pretty freezing even before gripping the bone cold granite. I had never climbed on rock that cold bare handed before, you can barely feel the rock, only started to warm up when we reached the midway point beachy ledge. The top half is some of the finest climbing I’ve ever done. Looking back towards Pigeon, the glacier, and the massive Howser towers, above a splitter crack. I had been feeling the altitude this day, and my now discovered bad habit of holding my breath on the trickier moves was not help. For the last two pitches the mountain greeted us with graupel. Thunder was a concern, so we were trying to book it. The kick of adrenaline really capped off a great day. A short traverse at the top followed by a series of raps and a nice walk back to camp after a successful day one. Despite the perfect weather, I took a rest day on day 2. It was a wise decision; I needed every ounce of energy for NE Ridge the following day. The climbing isn’t quite as pristine as the top of surfs up, but it was another glorious day. There was no pending thunder this day, although the glorious sun had me go through my 3Ls of water way too quickly. Some very fun exposure at the top, and a cool little shoulder stand extra crux to get to the south summit where my height was actually helpful for a change. Looking back at the two spires at camp, hard not to be in awe of ticking off these two. A perfect trip that will be hard to top.

Skywalk on Combatant was a bit of a pipe dream for the summer but heard it’s a bit sandbagged and didn’t get a window, it will have to wait. Got in some five fun climbing with a great view on Achilles spire, as well as plutonium shores. A couple attempts at Nesakwatch spires zone without the weather cooperating led to some more Squamish climbing. Impeccable Howe Sound views on Throne of Kings and a new first 10b move (albeit a bit soft!). Jungle warfare. We discovered what kitty litter granite is on Yak Chek. Tested my slab tolerance on earthshine.

Looming thunderstorms pivoted us from Colonel Foster on the island to ghost range. We were the only ones in the whole valley. Climbed Bonanza and Macadamia. Struggling up a 5.8 off the deck really doesn’t help the confidence but it was a blast of a trip. that last pitch of Macadamia looks heinous from the bottom but its super fun climbing, almost bailed on it with a flight that night and energy levels running low but it was a great pitch to leave it all out there on. Our camp pelican cooler survived with a few grizzly teeth marks while we had been off climbing, made sure to keep our tents pretty close together after that.

By the last weekend in August we had one last shot at Colonel Foster. It was only a single day of good weather between a wet approach and exit. The island old growth makes for a pretty nice rainy day hike though. The bivy spot by the lake is incredibly scenic. We had the other yatri join for the hike in. I was a slow starter in the morning, combined with a disgusting dehydrated breakfast choice got out of camp a bit late and the wet rock ledges on the start meant the full traverse was unlikely to happen. There was some vertical shrub climbing involving ice axes, endless gully options, and some fun climbing on a south buttress. We reached the south summit a bit behind schedule, with a bit of snow in the shaded aspects. Knowing the traverse was out, opted to just soak in the views rather than bag the SW summit too. Beautiful valleys of clouds, clearing out to the open Pacific and giant Mt Waddington on the coast range visible. Probably the most scenic summit I’ve been on in SW BC. Would love to come back for full traverse with a bivy to watch the sun dip on the Pacific.

As I’m writing this its now September, the mountains have had a dusting of snow. Will I get one more alpine mission in, we will see. But the cumulative fatigue of the summer is adding up, it was certainly a good run, lets see what next summer brings. Thankful for the tireless guides who made this happen.