Vancouver 09 TR

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Ed Hartouni

Trad climber

Livermore, CA

Topic Author's Original Post - May 15, 2009 - 02:00am PT

I was at the Particle Accelerator Conference in Vancouver last week, and found a little time to climb and socialize with Mighty Hiker, MH2, Tami, Brock and many others... quite fun and a wonderful city.

The opening sessions were at the Hotel Vancouver

a wonderful old Canadian Railway hotel, the Hyatt Regency was just across the street, where this image was shot. It was Sunday, 5/3 and I was waiting to meet up with Anders.

As it had rained, we weren't in a rush to get to the cliffs. On the way there we picked up our rope-gun MH2 and headed out. After a stop to get coffee, we headed out to Little Smokey Bluffs. Our first stop was to do Penny Lane 5.9, which is a great introduction to the rock. We rapped off and set a top rope on Crime of the Century 5.11c, which I managed to handdog on top rope... thin fingers. Here is a strong, young local Mike leading it in great style:

MH2 had also lead a 5.10 around the right from Penny Lane. We were on our way to another climb when we stopped to watch Mike... here's the scene
quite chill.

Wandering around the cliffs in sight seeing mode we got to the top of Jabberwocky 5.10a, which has an acrobatic start to a great crack... here is MH2 setting up the rope
after top roping this we headed out for a beer and the trip home. We called Tami after dropping MH2 off,
"what are you up to?"
"I'm drinking, where are you?"

We picked up some side dishes and headed out to Tami's for a great dinner with her and Phil, chatted a lot about various things, some of which are captured on video....
...always wonderful to stop by and catch up on what's happening.

Phil had asked me if I liked "Trailer Park Boys," I had never seen it, so he lent me a two DVD set which I watched in one sitting one of the nights.... that was weird. This TV series would seriously be right up some of yours senses of humor... you might want to watch it for a serious twist. http://www.trailerparkboys.com/

By Wednesday I was really hurting with a cold and cough, pretty sure it was not swine-flu, went to the Cliffhangers gym to meet Anders, Brock and MH2 and get a bit of climbing in. Didn't last too long, but did manage to get up one of the cracks without too much of a struggle.

On the next Saturday, 5/9 I played hooky and we headed out to Squamish again, this time Brock was our rope-gun. Once again a pretty relaxed start, the objective being Sun Blessed 5.10b on The Backside Crags at the Chief. On our way out there we took a look at some wide cracks, here is Scimitar (the topic of a past thread)
Maybe I should submit Squamish to the WideFest Organizing Committee for consideration! My excuse for not jumping on any of these wide cracks was that I had left my Kaukulators in the car... I only had my Chameleons with me...

Sun Blessed is a cool climb in three pitches, each different climbing from the others. Here is the prominent 2nd pitch crack:
the start is a dike you can't quite make out, which runs into the one you can see going up and right.
Here is Brock making the awkward moves near the crux

The 2nd pitch hand crack is really wonderful, here is Brock leading out
under the attention of Mighty Hiker

Anders clearing gear so I could follow carefree

We picked the left variation 3rd pitch, which was stemy and with a thoughtful crux, Brock doing the honors, once again

we got this summit (and the other two on the way down), beautiful view of Mt. Garibaldi [edit to get the name right per Tami]

After the hike around and down, we headed off to find some quite spot to have a beer and burger, but this being NHL playoff night with the local team we settled for the not-too-crowded Troller bar in Horseshoe Bay, here is Mighty Hiker and Brock...

All in all a great trip with a lot of physics, and climbing...
thanks to you all in Vancouver... I definitely have to road trip up with 510 OW and get some fun in soon!

ß Î Ø T Ç H

Boulder climber

the greasewood ghetto

May 15, 2009 - 02:14am PT

Textbook tr - - Thanks Ed .

Lynne Leichtfuss

Social climber

valley center, ca

May 15, 2009 - 02:21am PT

Super Zer Kool Mr. Hartoni.....the story line and pics plus people are just great ! Enjoyed. Peace, lynne

Mighty Hiker

Social climber

Vancouver, B.C.

May 15, 2009 - 02:25am PT

Yes, we had a nice visit from Dr. Ed - not many SuperTopians seem to make it up this way. Contrary to rumours, his conference was about more than determining whether or not climbing ropes can exceed the speed of sound - although that vexed question remains unanswered. (http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.html?topic_id=335919); We did have nice weather for both days Ed was free to climb, which helped. And very capable rope guns. Due to my lack of fitness, we did not attempt Cobra Crack (also in the Cirque of the Uncrackables), but did our best to persuade Ed that a WideFetish camp at Squamish may be feasible - the ambitious could even try to duplicate Grug's solo FFA of Pipeline, although the pipes are now gone.

Here is Ed, belaying at the base of the route for those who like piccolo trumpets.

Andy (MH2) leading same:

And displaying his versatile belaying abilities:

We then visited the Weed Farm, where Tami was busy concocting something. If you read the fine print, you may think the recipe was from "Arsenic & Old Lace".

A high fibre diet, apparently:

Our second day out - Brock (lurker) and Ed at the top of Sunblessed:

And a scenic shot.

Tami likes to mock my knocks (knees), but they haven't prevented moderate athletic achievements.

kinnikinik

Trad climber

b.c.c

May 15, 2009 - 09:49am PT

way to nail the weather!

Crimpergirl

Sport climber

Boulder, Colorado!

May 15, 2009 - 10:10am PT

Looks like such fun! Wish I could get back up there...

spyork

Social climber

A prison of my own creation

May 15, 2009 - 10:23am PT

Cool stuff.

goatboy smellz

climber

dirty south

May 15, 2009 - 11:05am PT

Looks like it was a very clean and polite trip.

bluering

Trad climber

Santa Clara, Ca.

May 15, 2009 - 11:10am PT

Nice stuff. Look like some awesome routes.

Reilly

Mountain climber

Monrovia, CA

May 15, 2009 - 11:39am PT

I don't believe those shots were at Squeemish, I see shadows and dry rock!

ps
Anders, is your orthopedic condition a result of or a genetic predispositon to excessive stemming?

Reilly

Mountain climber

Monrovia, CA

May 15, 2009 - 11:59am PT

Thanks, Tami, then that confirms my suspicions about why his family got kicked out of Norway. How the hell can you ski like that?

MisterE

Trad climber

One Step Beyond!

May 15, 2009 - 12:00pm PT

Nice TR!

No pictures of Tami sitting in the car with pencils in her eyes?

;^P

Ed Hartouni

Trad climber

Livermore, CA

Topic Author's Reply - May 15, 2009 - 12:03pm PT

there are days in Canada that are mostly sunshine and relatively dry

As if we had affronted the gods, there was rain on the upper parts of Sun Blessed even though there didn't seem to be any source of rain above... not much rain, but perhaps a reminder that it could start any time it wanted, with or without clouds.

We were sun blessed, and of course, we only climbed where we could find dry rock. It seemed that there was a lot of traffic on The Apron, though the streak marks were running. That didn't appeal to any of our rope-guns... and in negotiation with the rope-guns, they are happy to follow anything you want to lead.

Thus no wet climbing.

Oplopanax

Mountain climber

The Deep Woods

May 15, 2009 - 12:20pm PT

Ed, you went to the Troller Pub, but the photo is of Trolls Restaurant, which is just a couple doors down the street - I don't blame you for confusing the two cause I grew up there and it confused ME until I reached drinking age.

Mighty Hiker

Social climber

Vancouver, B.C.

May 15, 2009 - 12:51pm PT

Several people in my family have knock knees. It doesn't seem to slow us down very much. Being a gentleman, I will refrain from drawing attention to Tami's....

Troll's (the restaurant) and the Troller (the pub) are next door to each other, and owned by the same person. It's a bit of a pun, in that (I believe) the owner is nicknamed "The Troll", plus Horseshoe Bay is a working harbour, with lots of fishboats - trollers/trawlers. Given my heritage and such, and trollaphobia on SuperTopo, we thought it would be good for Ed to have a picture.