Back from Squamish
We had a wonderful couple of days. Got up there late Tuesday afternoon, and claimed a campsite at the Bulletheads Campground near the base of the Chief, the huge granite monolith we'd be climbing upon the next day. We went to the local climbing equipment shop to pick up a couple of items we needed, then off to the Howe Sound Brewpub for a burger and a beer. We sat outside on the terrace and looked over at the Apron, the area we'd be starting on in the morning.
A restless night for me, per usual, first night on the ground in a tent, but I was up early - 6:15, astounding! We went to the local Starbuck's to meet up with our guide, had a jolt of coffee and a muffin and zipped off to the Apron. We were first for Diedre, the 7-pitch route we were starting on, and it was a blast. Easy slab and corner climbing, then lunch stop on Broadway, a big ledge going across part of the Chief. Our wonderful guide gave us cookies he'd made from his great-grandmother's recipe. Very tasty. We got our packs back on and scrambled across the ledge for a bit until we got down to the Grand climbers' trail. An explanatory note here: Climbers' "trails" are frequently nothing more than a goat track or worse, so get the image of a sweetly groomed woodsy footpath out of your head.
We wound up at the base of some classic many-pitched routes, but we went up an easy two -pitch bolted slab route called Merci Me, which got us up for a closer look at the Grand Wall route off to our right as we hung at the belay. We rappelled and went over to another two-pitch classic called The Exasperator. A party was just finishing with it, so our intrepid guide led it and turned it into a 45 meter toprope for us neophytes. It was a good taste of how challenging those impossibly skinny-looking cracks are, but we did it. I came off just after the crux, and my friend popped off lower and at the same higher point as well, but for a couple of 40-50ish year old babes, we did very well, finishing in good form.
I was so exhilarated after this day of sampling various routes that I felt like doing more even at 4:00 PM, or the next day. Our guide described a route called The Ultimate Everything that links a bunch of moderate stuff to the tune of 24-27 pitches up the Grand. He said he'd taken his dad up it last year, who must be around my age, and he'd loved it. What a fabulous day that would be - all day climbing 5.9, getting to the top of the Chief then hiking back down. Knowing my knees, the descent of the hike would be the hardest part. I'd go next week...
We had a mostly uneventful drive home, except for having to swerve to avoid hitting what looked like a student's metal desk lying in the HOV lane. A terrific two day adventure midweek, getting to do everything we'd wanted and more.
A restless night for me, per usual, first night on the ground in a tent, but I was up early - 6:15, astounding! We went to the local Starbuck's to meet up with our guide, had a jolt of coffee and a muffin and zipped off to the Apron. We were first for Diedre, the 7-pitch route we were starting on, and it was a blast. Easy slab and corner climbing, then lunch stop on Broadway, a big ledge going across part of the Chief. Our wonderful guide gave us cookies he'd made from his great-grandmother's recipe. Very tasty. We got our packs back on and scrambled across the ledge for a bit until we got down to the Grand climbers' trail. An explanatory note here: Climbers' "trails" are frequently nothing more than a goat track or worse, so get the image of a sweetly groomed woodsy footpath out of your head.
We wound up at the base of some classic many-pitched routes, but we went up an easy two -pitch bolted slab route called Merci Me, which got us up for a closer look at the Grand Wall route off to our right as we hung at the belay. We rappelled and went over to another two-pitch classic called The Exasperator. A party was just finishing with it, so our intrepid guide led it and turned it into a 45 meter toprope for us neophytes. It was a good taste of how challenging those impossibly skinny-looking cracks are, but we did it. I came off just after the crux, and my friend popped off lower and at the same higher point as well, but for a couple of 40-50ish year old babes, we did very well, finishing in good form.
I was so exhilarated after this day of sampling various routes that I felt like doing more even at 4:00 PM, or the next day. Our guide described a route called The Ultimate Everything that links a bunch of moderate stuff to the tune of 24-27 pitches up the Grand. He said he'd taken his dad up it last year, who must be around my age, and he'd loved it. What a fabulous day that would be - all day climbing 5.9, getting to the top of the Chief then hiking back down. Knowing my knees, the descent of the hike would be the hardest part. I'd go next week...
We had a mostly uneventful drive home, except for having to swerve to avoid hitting what looked like a student's metal desk lying in the HOV lane. A terrific two day adventure midweek, getting to do everything we'd wanted and more.
posted by isabelita at 4:11 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home