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MH2
climber
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Topic Author's Original Post - Aug 5, 2009 - 07:43pm PT
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40 days and 40 nights with no rain. Maybe this Biblical stuff has something right.
Last Monday ( a holiday up here in BC ) we tried to stay out of the sun.
We were successful, although even Squamish regulars may not be overly familiar with parts of the terrain pictured below.
I certainly wasn't.
Also went sky-diving without a parachute. Or a rope. Just about 10 feet flat onto duff. No harm done (physically).
This sequence is in order taken (2 cameras and 2 different file numberings)
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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Gully bashing.
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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Somewhere on Zodiac Wall, I'd guess.
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MH2
climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 5, 2009 - 08:17pm PT
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Gully bashing
Somewhere on the Zodiac Wall
Can't deny that.
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Climbing dropout
Trad climber
Vancouver, BC
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Northen Lights / Alaska Highway - and your climbing partner was Lindsey Eltis
Congrats on a kewl ascent ...
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klk
Trad climber
cali
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sometimes i really, really miss squamish, as in those gorgeous dihedral shots.
sometimes i really don't, as in the vertical jungle.
are you really wearing orange crocs in that one shot?
they're made for gardening, so i guess it's appropriate.
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MH2
climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 5, 2009 - 08:51pm PT
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Northen Lights / Alaska Highway - and your climbing partner was Lindsey Eltis
Getting warmer. Not bad, Bruce. But it's Lindsay.
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MH2
climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 5, 2009 - 08:56pm PT
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are you really wearing orange crocs in that one shot?
I'm wearing an orange helmet and mousey shoes from Wal-Mart.
Somewhere I have a picture of those crocs(?) approach shoes heading up snow to the Apron Strings start to Grand Wall.
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klk
Trad climber
cali
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The sound ain't in the background, so yer either on the North End on one of those things that got cleaned/climbed after I left, or way at the other end in a weird spot that faces north.
I'd bet N. End.
That one corner looks really killer.
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Jingy
Social climber
Flatland, Ca
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Cool shots... Love that little bear head pokin out...
Straight up.. keep them coming
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Climbing dropout
Trad climber
Vancouver, BC
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Spell checker hooped me on Lindsay's name. I had it right first pass.
"Ron Zalko Workout" may be the pitch in the last picture. I recognize the orangey wall above as being right of Public Image.
WTF is that creature on the tree ???
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MH2
climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 5, 2009 - 09:04pm PT
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Love that little bear head pokin out
Is that a marten? A weasel? We saw what was probably Mom leaving the area in a hurry but the youngster showed no fear of us.
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Zander
Trad climber
Berkeley
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Nice!
And to think one of my friends told me the rock was much cleaner in Squamish than Yosemite.
Zander
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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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It looks like a marten in my Audobon mammal book, but they don't have a picture of a juvenile so I can't be sure. There are several creatures that look somewhat similar.
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klk
Trad climber
cali
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And to think one of my friends told me the rock was much cleaner in Squamish than Yosemite.
Squamish granite rocks. It's the stuff on it that kills ya.
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pip the dog
Mountain climber
planet dogboy
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wow. there is clearly some truly pretty rock out at that end. though it also looks like a true "pay to play" environment. i love photo #8 (counting from the top) -- the guy (surely your partner) wearing those orange, um, what do they call those goofy rubber clogs recently all the rage among my nieces and nephews... crocodiles? crawdads? whatever...
anyway, buy that man a beer -- on me (you know my email, send me the bill). for you just gotta love someone who schlepps all the way to the north end _and_ rips up through all the muddy stuff down low in footwear like that. they must weigh a ton, and be as about as controllable as snowshoes. me, i'm impressed.
~~~
i've got a question for you MH2, and Mighty Hiker, and the rest of all you's "up there": how do you think the upcoming winter olympics will affect that chunk of paradise once the word gets wind of just how sweet it can be, just there?
serious question, seriously asked.
my sweetheart and i lived in SLC just before the winter olympics there. and i was certain that once the world got a close look at the place the real estate would go ballistic and the (local) world would change - for the worse.
in that case, the results seemed to be a mixed bag. in the short term, yeah, the real estate prices shot up. but within a year or two sagged back to [then] reality[ish] -- though the vacation destination area prices soared for a long time. they didn't crash back to earth until the recent reality check.
~~~
so i'm wondering about what lies in store for vancouver (and environs): will it be like SLC? hard to guess, as CDN real estate hasn't gotten hammered like down south here in Bushatopia. that and i suspect that only those who've actually been there have recognized that vancouver is surely the best city in north america.
i placed my own bet, a decade ago, on an acre of dirt surrounded by almost two million acres of national forest in the outer bitterroots. and as it is now payed for and rents out at a profit, i guess i should consider myself lucky. the downside is that i can't afford to live in my own home. as such years of endless hotel rooms to pay my way (and then dirtbag). odd that i can't afford to live at the address on my driver's license -- there is simply no work for the likes of me within a couple hundred miles.
and yet i still end up making some, not much, money renting it out to dreamers. dreamers like me... thud.
~~~
bottom line: i've had my eye on vancouver for years now (it's not only gorgeous, but there is actually work for the likes of me there. the nationality stuff i can perhaps circumvent -- there is this one clause in your national code that allows for...)
so, do you think your local R/E market will go ballistic after the olympics? or will it be like SLC? perhaps it's the _Winter_ part of winter olympics that cools the jets of all the weasels, most of whom rarely see snow.
i dunno. hence any local insights much appreciated.
^,,^
(ah, i should have married Abby, the canuck, when she suggested the idea. a great soul and still my dearest soul mate. but alas, i grew up way too slow. climbing addicts, like any addict, end up paying quite the price...)
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Climbing dropout
Trad climber
Vancouver, BC
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What Pip the Dog is expecting, a boom, to happen to BC Real estate, will not happen. Precisely because it is what everyone is expecting to happen.
I sold my place in Whistler last year and was darn lucky to do so. What do you think is going to happen to a market where everyone decides to sell in order to cash in on the Olympics ?
it's called over supply, and prices go down ....
I am betting on it, with my own money.
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MH2
climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 5, 2009 - 11:34pm PT
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Pip, climbingdropout should know what he's talking about.
About 15 years back I was told that there was a long-range plan for 30,000 new residences on the highway between Squamish and Vancouver. At that time the only real new development was a golf course(!) just south of Britannia Beach.
Now that the Woodfibre pulp mill is gone, Squamish is a much more desirable location for development. It has a sort-of university and will certainly grow some, given the handiness to climbing, skiing, mountain biking, river-running, and sailing of various kinds.
I can picture the Olympic committee or their relatives investing in land along the Sea-to-Sky corridor, perhaps knowing that Vancouver will get chosen and that an improved highway is part of the deal.
However, that conspiracy theory fails several reality tests.
Commuting between Squamish and Vancouver, not to mention Squamish and Whistler, is already quite busy, and the 2 bridges into Vancouver create annoying bottlenecks.
Probably a few folks with ability to invest will marvel at the scenery during the 2010 Winter Games, but no real estate gold rush seems likely.
The shadowy big investors are patient and maybe looking 30 years ahead.
In the meantime, Squamish is and will remain the world's "best urban crag", and affordable housing near to Vancouver will remain elusive.
How people can complain about taxes being high and yet think that high real estate prices work for them, I don't understand. You should be looking at what fraction of your income goes to what. I think most of ours goes to the bank.
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bluering
Trad climber
Santa Clara, Ca.
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That's good lookin' stone right there, dude!
F*#k, I gotta get out more....
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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Hmmm. I'm thinking there's more than one approach and climb involved here. Pic 7 (down from the top) pretty much has to be looking up from somewhere fairly high in the South Gully. But if they're all in chrono order, then where are the first six? Pic 5 looks like you're up near the top of something.
So did you climb something in pics 1 through 5, then descend and head up something else?
I know there's a new thing called Polaris -- I think on the right side of the Zodiac -- is that what you're on in pic 9?
And then there's the whole Promised Land area up the North North Gully. I've never been there, so maybe...?
And finally, in response to:
That's good lookin' stone right there, dude!
Yeah, it's good-looking stone. But there's a catch. It's in a socialist country, and before they let you climb there, you have to be cool with gay marriage, and agree to accept first-class medical care at an affordable price. You sure you can deal with that?
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