When I graduated high school, the first thing I did was pack up my gear and move to Squamish. It was pretty much
the ideal summer, and lead to meeting a lot of amazing people, climbing
every day that I could, and getting my first photo ever published in
Gripped Magazine. The set of photos in this post will be 5 years old by time this year's season kicks off, and are mostly poorly done snap shots - but they bring me back to the first time I ever had the privilege of sharing the first area of the Eldred Valley boulders I started to re-clean with a crew of super fun, equally stoked individuals. The B branch boulders had been partially developed already years ago by Colin, Rob and crew - but had subsequently grown back over. Whenever I brought one of the original developers into the woods to show them my "new" line, they'd say "I think (insert name here) climbed that.....yeah....probably". Since many of the names had been forgotten, the 'first' ascentionist still gets to name the problem, and there's even the chance that it was in fact a legit first ascent - but it never really mattered, in my mind it was still the same feeling. Discovering a new line, cleaning it, working it to see if it goes, then finally sending it.You can't beat that experience. I must have really
been hyped, seeing as I was able to talk a crew of people with limited
vacation time into actually
leaving Squamish for a place they had never even heard of.
Starting off in Squamish, we packed up everything we had but the kitchin sink - I mean kid's pool - and hit the road.
After taking the boat from Horse Shoe bay over to the Sunshine Coast, driving the length of it, and taking another ferry into Saltery Bay, we were feeling the need to stretch our limbs. The Stacks is a seaside high ball area in Stillwater, and since it's between the ferry and my mom's house (where we inevitably crashed at for showers and real food), we headed straight there to take advantage of the last hours of sun. I've spent countless hours at The Stacks over the years, traversing back and forth and soloing the easier problems - just myself, the ocean, and the cool orange-grey granite. When you lay back for a break, all you hear are the waves, and on some days, the sea lion colony on a near by island barking away.
Mica heading up the areas classic hand crack "Meat Grinder". It's graded using the YDS like all the other highballs in the area, as it was primarily a tope rope area first. It's rated a moderate 10c/d, but boulderer beware - the top out is the crux. There are no holds, so be prepared to use your crack climbing technique for the near 20ft top out. I happened to fall topping out and flew over my spotter, and the 3 crash pads we had below, landing feet first on the granite shelf. Miraculously I walked away with nothing more than a bruised ankle, and a slight case of the 'Holy fucks!'
Below left -
Ilah styling one of my favourite problems, which I renamed 'new school'
(V3) after it became apparent no one knew the name of the problem, or
like some of the more bouldery problems in the Eldred - it was never
named. When I first started climbing, and
Aaron Black was working on his
mega project Call of the Granite in the Eldred, I bumped into him at
the stacks on one of his 'in town' days. He showed me the line, which he
felt was 'new school' compared to the others, and it may have been the
first boulder problem above V0 I ever climbed.
Below right - Mica near the last move with the ocean a few feet away.
A short walk from The Stacks is the Dead Point, a very technical, short top roping wall that you
could high ball...but you would have to deal with a double technical slab finish on the already 20+ft high barely less than vertical slab. If anyone does want to solo this wall, please let me know so I can come take some photos (and evacuate you to the hospital if you fall!)
A seagull joining us for lunch, and Jasmine checking out a more fortunate starfish.
This shot is actually not the same day, but I had to throw it in. Nothing like a post climb swim to end a perfect day.
We left the next morning after stocking up on supplies for the Eldred Valley. Seeing as this was before I owned any trad gear, and everyone else was on vacation, we didn't have enough gear for multiple party ascents of any of the multi pitch routes. We spent our days exploring the many boulder fields, climbing on the few lines I had established (or re-established) in B-branch, and soaking up sun beside the emerald green Eldred river.
Static Cling, V4 - The first problem on the first boulder at the entrance to the B Branch boulders. This is one of the well known original lines. Colin suggested the grade of V4, and because of that, this problem became the bench mark standard for all the grades I assigned from then on in the area. It has recently been spray painted "B BRANCH" in big blue letters - so the loggers won't miss the turn I assume. Not the prettiest thing in the world, but at least you can't miss the area's entrance now...
Below is the John Galt project. (For those of you who haven't read Atlas Shrugged, the name is a reflection of the difficulty to get through it.) I don't know how hard this project will be, but it's definitely beyond my ability for now.
There were two possible betas we were trying, neither of which felt very possible - but the holds are all there, so it will eventually go. Just over an arm span away from the hand hold Bryden is on is a legitimate jug, which once you've latched, will set you up for what appears to be a dyno to the perfectly flat lip - sans foot hold. It's possible there might be a different Beta, but it will take someone a lot more creative than me to figure out. I kind of hope the no foot dyno is the only way, because come one - how cool would that be?
Above are two shots that remind me how far the cleaning process has come over the years. I can't believe we even tried this problem looking back at how dirty it was. Today it's one of the cleanest lines in the forest - and it has to be, because of the intense smearing needed on your left foot and the bad slopers you desperately slap at. This problem was for sure climbed back in the day, but the name had been forgotten. We re-named it Savage Cling (V4), though it may appear with a different name in the new guide book.
On our last day in town, we headed to Powell Lake to do some sport climbing at Higgy Land. Ilah warming up on the classic 5.9, Knobulator. This route has a lot of sentimental value for me, as it was the first route I ever top roped, lead, and free soloed.
I can't wait to get back to town in May and start sending.
