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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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MH2
climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 6, 2009 - 12:42am PT
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Well, there you go, Pip. You can't do better than climbing dropout and Jim Brennan, who both know this place much better than me.
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MH2
climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 6, 2009 - 12:56am PT
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So did you climb something in pics 1 through 5, then descend and head up something else?
Good thinking.
Time to put this to rest.
We did the relatively recent New Life, thinking we would arrive on Astro Ledge and then, Lindsay had suggested, perhaps do the first 2 pitches of The Calling. I thought perhaps not since I am old and infirm and had to go in to work that night.
At the top of New Life I recognized the approach I had once used to the North North Arete, which of course is Astro Ledge. However it wasn't Astro Ledge after all and dead-ended shortly after my brief flight, which could have been a few seconds and hundreds of feet longer.
We followed the fake Astro Ledge all the way back to the gully separating the North North Wall from The Promised Land, up the gully to the real Astro Ledge, and back out feeling like Indiana Jones on the fixed line sections to finish with the first pitch of The Calling.
That Lindsay Eltis is tenacious.
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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Good thinking.
Ha! Do I get a prize? More shortbread would do.
Tell us about New Life
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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This thread deserves a bump so that people can pick up on the link in Andy's post directly above this one. There is good route info in the page the link takes you to, but the whole "Gumbies! On! Crack!" blog is pretty good. Funny, and about real climbing.
D
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pip the dog
Mountain climber
planet dogboy
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i much appreciate the local insights into the possible effects of the upcoming winter olympiad on that neck of the woods.
fwiw, i have no interest in real estate speculating (good thing as i couldn't begin to afford it). much the opposite, in fact. what i have is this wickedly selfish interest in seeing places dear to me left, well, um, "uncooked".
this as i schlepp from one lame motel to the next to pay the bills. i need at least the mental image of 'that better place' - those places dear to me - that i can return to, if only i grind through yet another empty gig in like cincinnati, or wherever.
squamish is, for me, one such vision of escape. so is the gokyo valley on the other side of the world. there are others, but as i've never mentioned those others here, perhaps mum's the best word.
huh... maybe's there is an idea in this pinball connection. perhaps you BC locals could start spreading rumors about a growing Maoist insurgency in outer vancouver. worked pretty well in gokyo...
~~~
i try to remind myself to leave the locales to the locals. they're there, they know, trust them. hell, it's everything i can do to manage matching socks. let it go. trust. hope for the best.
^,,^
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MH2
climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 7, 2009 - 03:15am PT
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The Promised Land, the North North Arete, New Life, Tall Skinny People, Astro Ledge, Zodiac Wall, etc.
Total human population = 2 on Monday 3 Aug '09
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Climbing dropout
Trad climber
Vancouver, BC
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Aug 11, 2009 - 12:56am PT
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Seeing that picture above reminds me of hanging out up there with Dean and Randy when they were building those north walls routes. I have some classic shots from above that need to be scanned of those guys in their pink and blue lycra tights taking whippers on vision quest. Another one bonging up with Deanno after doing "The Calling" and really knowing what the calling meant to him. That crazy rappel of Public Image with Randy after christening Indica point. The MASSIVE trundles .... aaaahh those were the days
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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Aug 11, 2009 - 01:43am PT
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pip asked about how the upcoming winter Olympics will affect Vancouver, Squamish, Whistler and B.C. The only true answer is that it's hard to say.
In the short term, it's pretty clear that:
 The Olympics and all related projects (highway rebuild, rapid transit from airport to Vancouver) will probably cost the public at least twice what was claimed, and we will come to regret all that public investment during an economic boom rather than a recession. The government today committed to seconding 1,000+ senior civil servants to 'volunteer', at public expense = $30 million more.
There will be major impacts in Vancouver, Squamish and Whistler during February, and to some extent in January and March. Unless you have to be in Vancouver at the time, maybe better to be elsewhere. Except a B.C. invasion of Joshua Tree and Red Rocks in February.
A big part of the impacts will be security - police, military, CSIS, borders, airports, roads, agents of other countries. This will significantly restrict travel in the city, and if you don't have tickets and accommodations, or live there, you may not be able to go to Squamish or Whistler then.
It is also likely to infringe civil/constitutional liberties, given that the commercial and government interests behind the Olympics want a pretty product for the public, and the only way to accomplish that is control. It's essential that the event be safe for all concerned, but also important that citizens' freedoms be infringed as little as possible. Expect more on this subject as time goes on - they've already done some clumsy things, which has gotten negative attention from the news media and civil liberties groups.
Much will be done to prettify things prior to the Olympics, at least for the short term e.g. the chronic problems of Vancouver's downtown eastside.
Medium to long term is harder to say. Vancouver and Whistler were already on the international map in a way that say Salt Lake City perhaps wasn't, and I believe metropolitan Vancouver (Chilliwack - Bellingham - Nanaimo - Squamish) has considerably larger population. The Canadian economy is in better shape, although more affected back east (for once) than out here - although that could change, as US restructuring continues, or if the recession is a double dip. Canada, and Vancouver, are internationally seen as desirable places to live, if expensive. Significant changes, e.g. a rise in the true price of oil/gas, geopolitics, a depression, would of course have unpredictable consequences.
The mini-boom from the highway and Olympics project is already pretty much over, and both Olympics and highway project have already been factored into real estate in the Squamish and Whistler areas. (The highway may in the short term be slightly faster and safer to drive, but increasing traffic volume and aggressive driving may soon end that.) Whistler is nearly built out in terms of what its planning and community will absorb - although the provincial government, and big developers, seem to have an override. Squamish has gone through a lot of development over the last ten years, much of it poorly planned - largely due to land ownership patterns and municipal decisions dating back decades. It's a hodge podge community, and will take a long time to get over it. Its economy and community are more diverse than they were, but in many ways it is now a bedroom suburb of Vancouver. Over the last 15 years, a reasonable number of climbers have moved to Squamish, and there may now be several hundred living in the area.
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MH2
climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 11, 2009 - 02:15pm PT
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Seeing that picture above reminds me
Intriguing, climbing dropout.
Up there with Lindsay I mentioned how Sig Isaac compared Northern Lights to Astroman, and he said, "It's better than Astroman."
But lesser known, along with the other testpieces you mention.
Great routes that will hang in curious contrast above the casino and electronic billboard.
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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Aug 12, 2009 - 01:53am PT
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So the news today is that the Civil Liberties Association and others invited the United Nation's Office of Human Rights to send observers to the Olympics, to ensure that there are no violations of human rights. The surprise is that the Olympics organizing committee didn't object. Whether the UN will send observers, and whether they'll be allowed to properly do their job, is undecided.
I suppose next they'll send Jimmy Carter.
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