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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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