Summiting The Chief
Wednesday, after 11 hours and approximately 2,000 feet of climbing, we topped out on the Stawamus Chief. The Chief is located about an hour north of Vancouver along the panoramic Sea to Sky highway.
Wednesday also happened to be our wedding anniversary.
In the U.S, the park service would never mark the approach trail to a rock climb. Climbing is renegade and dangerous and imagine the liability.
The Boy Wonder at the top of pitch 1 of 16.
The first half of our route ascended the North Gully, providing us with blessed shade. (On the second half, we baked and fried.) Views out the gully, with a peak at Garibaldi in the distance...
Amidst sheer granite walls on either side of us, The Boy scouts the next pitch.
I'm not sure why he was doing the scouting, as it was my turn to lead.
Up I went...
In the groove. (If you see more skin on the ledge below, it's because there was another party behind us -- as well as one in front. It's a popular route.)
The only good thing about emerging from the gully into the blazing sun for the second half of our climb was the views. This is Howe Sound in the town of Squamish. Squamish is an old logging town. The logs were once floated down the river to the sound. From there, they could be transported by ship.
Modernized logging still occurs, and the logs are largely transported by train now, but Howe Sound is also incredibly popular with windsurfers and kiteboarders. In fact, the name Squamish means "Mother of the Wind". The winds musn't have been any good here, because you can often count up to 200 kites/surfers. Here's a closer look at the logging.
I was too hot and bothered to take photos on the second half of the climb. Finally, after sixteen pitches, we topped out! From there, we ran down the hiking trail to round out a 12 hour day.
Don't even look at my feet. (The blisters are left over from surfing. The red is the leather dye from my climbing shoes.)
Suffice it to say the brew pub in town has seen the likes of us before. Climbers are perhaps their best clientele. Tired and happy, that's exactly where we went...
**
FYI: I'll probably have spotty internet for the next few days.
Wednesday also happened to be our wedding anniversary.
In the U.S, the park service would never mark the approach trail to a rock climb. Climbing is renegade and dangerous and imagine the liability.
The Boy Wonder at the top of pitch 1 of 16.
The first half of our route ascended the North Gully, providing us with blessed shade. (On the second half, we baked and fried.) Views out the gully, with a peak at Garibaldi in the distance...
Amidst sheer granite walls on either side of us, The Boy scouts the next pitch.
I'm not sure why he was doing the scouting, as it was my turn to lead.
Up I went...
In the groove. (If you see more skin on the ledge below, it's because there was another party behind us -- as well as one in front. It's a popular route.)
The only good thing about emerging from the gully into the blazing sun for the second half of our climb was the views. This is Howe Sound in the town of Squamish. Squamish is an old logging town. The logs were once floated down the river to the sound. From there, they could be transported by ship.
Modernized logging still occurs, and the logs are largely transported by train now, but Howe Sound is also incredibly popular with windsurfers and kiteboarders. In fact, the name Squamish means "Mother of the Wind". The winds musn't have been any good here, because you can often count up to 200 kites/surfers. Here's a closer look at the logging.
I was too hot and bothered to take photos on the second half of the climb. Finally, after sixteen pitches, we topped out! From there, we ran down the hiking trail to round out a 12 hour day.
Don't even look at my feet. (The blisters are left over from surfing. The red is the leather dye from my climbing shoes.)
Suffice it to say the brew pub in town has seen the likes of us before. Climbers are perhaps their best clientele. Tired and happy, that's exactly where we went...
**
FYI: I'll probably have spotty internet for the next few days.