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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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Feb 28, 2010 - 02:30pm PT
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Keith Nannery!? Now there's a name I havn't read since Gordie Smaill's guide.
Ex-brit who based himself in the Vancouver/Squamish area for a while. Really quiet guy, thoughtful partner, super pleasant to be around, and probably the hardest climber I ever met. Yeah, I know, there were people who got up things with higher grades, but I think Keith was playing a whole different game.
Wish I'd known him better.
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Lionheart
Trad climber
Brier, Wa.
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Feb 28, 2010 - 08:22pm PT
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Keith HANSON! Thanx Mazamarick.
The funniest thing: One day Keith and I "loaded up" for a walk onto the Ross Ice-Shelf to see the penguins. Being civilians, we ignored the Navy's hazardous terrain restriction and weaseled our way around fizzures and crusted-over ice-puddles to a basking herd of elephant seals a mile out. The ice was 4' thick but the puddles weren't always obvious. Breaking thru one might drop a man into ankle deep water--enough time to spike a fear of plummeting all the way down into the food chain of Killer Whales. As we entered the perimeter of the seal pod Keith's concentration was fully on the puddle paranoia. He had just passed a few feet beyond one of the giant males when it awoke from its sleep, reared its head and belched out a warning as loud and long as a foghorn. With arms covering his head, Keith spun so fast his back leg broke thru a puddle. The next 15 seconds found him splashing backward off-balance across the small pond with multiple horrified expressions of fear--from terrors both above and below. (Van Gogh painting here.) Keith didn't fall flat, but all 4 limbs were soaked and the water-spray showered him almost to the same effect.
And that face(!)...I laughed so hard all the way back to camp that he got a bit angry with me. Sorry Keith... but 30 years later, I'm still laughing.
(If he sees this post, I'll probably never be able to rope up with him again.)
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dacooker
Sport climber
Vancouver, BC
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Mar 25, 2010 - 05:44am PT
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Wow this is the coolest post I've ever seen. I'm a novice climber, and going through these photo's and posts, has been very inspiring. I'm climbing in the Squamish area, and can't wait for my next send.
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mazamarick
Trad climber
WA
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Jul 21, 2010 - 12:51am PT
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bump for mid-summer apron epic. MH, please?
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Jul 28, 2010 - 06:01pm PT
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The start of the newly-rebuilt highway to and past Squamish, with new signs. Only $1 billion, and counting. And a bit of a tongue twister, for non speakers of Coast Salish. (Distances in km - the sign is about 15 km from downtown Vancouver.)
And a route marker of a more historic nature. The sign at the start of the trail to the foot of the Grand Wall, probably installed by the Mountain Access Committee in the later 1960s. (I'll ask my father.) With almost 40 years worth of tree growth encroachment.
Later I'll try to get a photo of a highway sign from the return trip, which includes a new name for Vancouver. All part of the deal with the "four host first nations" at the Olympics.
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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Jul 28, 2010 - 11:06pm PT
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skwikw ..... prolly a literal translation from "Place Where Rich White People Do Skiing, Drinking and Trying To Get Laid"
But, if yuppy Whistler ain't your thing, you could hang here...
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Jul 30, 2010 - 02:48am PT
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Art photo, from the forest on the backside of the Chief. It's an area that seeps, and there must be some mineralization uphill. Fairly unusual to see that kind of discolouration at Squamish.
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MH2
climber
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Jul 30, 2010 - 03:16am PT
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Lovely picture, Anders.
That's the entrance to the enchanted forest.
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survival
Big Wall climber
A Token of My Extreme
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Jul 30, 2010 - 10:24am PT
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What a great thread Anders.
Possibly the best "regional" history thread of the whole dang taco.
Sure takes me back to being a n00b in Oregon in the mid 70's!
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Jul 31, 2010 - 01:06am PT
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One thing I've been wondering about for a while is the height of things at Squamish, e.g. that of the three summits, and the climbing height of the Grand Wall. I finally got back measuring last Saturday, while on a fossicking expedition.
For background, BC Parks' publications show the following elevations:
1st summit: 610 m; 2nd summit: 655 m; 3rd summit: 702 m.
NTS map 92 G11 shows a survey mark on the 2nd summit, at 2,138' = 652 m. It's right at the second summit, if you know where to look. I don't know how the elevations of the first and third summits were measured, and have asked BC Parks.
So I set my altimeter at the front counter of an outdoor store on main street in Squamish, essentially sea level, and went from there. The pressure dropped slightly during the afternoon - when I zeroed the altimeter on the way up and then down, the later elevations were a bit higher. Allowing for that, I got the following elevations:
Grand Wall start: 120 m (the base of the tree at the bottom of the Flake)
1st Summit: 606 m
Grand Wall finish: 504 m (with harness!)
2nd Summit: 640 m (at the survey pin)
3rd Summit: 684 m
Adjusted for the known elevation of the survey pin, the heights of the three summits measured at 618 (2,027'), 652 (2,139'), and 696 (2,283'), which seems reasonable. The net height of the Grand Wall seems to be 384 m, or 1,260'. I'd guess all are plus or minus 10 m. (Of course, the climbing distance involved in the Grand Wall route is significantly greater.)
Amusingly, I ran into a climber/land surveyor on the way, and thought about getting help from a pro. He could probably measure it to within a millimetre.
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Chief
climber
The NW edge of The Hudson Bay
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Jul 31, 2010 - 02:29am PT
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OK, Anders counts three summits on the Chief and maybe the books and signs say so.
Look at the geology, count the three main gullies, go for a hike and check it out, there's four distinct summits.
The Grand is on the first, The Badge on the Second, The Zodiac Wall is on the third summit and the NW face of the fourth is just now seeing some development.
(The Bulletheads could count as a fifth but the South South Gully doesn't bisect the formation the way the northern three do.)
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MH2
climber
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Jul 31, 2010 - 02:49am PT
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Look at the geology, count the three main gullies, go for a hike and check it out, there's four distinct summits.
Received wisdom takes another hit.
Good call, Chief.
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Jul 31, 2010 - 02:53am PT
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Perry raises a good point, though my interest is more in the vertical height of the various walls, such as the Grand, rather than the height of the summits. The Chief is considered by hikers and BC Parks to have three summits. (They're not peaks - not pointy enough.) Some consider the top of Zodiac Wall, which is separated from the 'third' summit by the top of North North Gully, to be a fourth summit. It may not have a closed 50 m contour, which I believe is the geographers' and mapmakers' definition of a summit. The maps aren't accurate enough to be sure. Certainly from some aspects it's quite distinct, from other aspects, e.g. the second summit, it's just a shoulder on the side of the third summit, with a bit of a depression between, at the top of the gully. Maybe I'll measure it sometime, both the height of the summit and the depth of the gap.
Oddly, I was on the Zodiac summit on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning, giving a hand to some friends who got benighted on the North North Arete, just below the top, and couldn't find their way up. I found them right out at the end - a neat place to be by moonlight.
Perry, Andy: You guys around this weekend?
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Chief
climber
The NW edge of The Hudson Bay
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Jul 31, 2010 - 10:23am PT
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Hey Mighty,
Forget about it.
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Today is the first day with significant rain here since late June, after a damp spring. The forests are quite happy. However, there have been a lot of fires in the interior, and with a big high pressure area over the coast, the smoke drifts out. Here's what the view was from the Chief, on Wednesday:
Not something that's usual here, although we've had a few such events the last few years, as summers get hotter and drier, and the beetle infested dead trees burn.
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Aug 26, 2010 - 09:34pm PT
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A photo of the usual suspects, at the Adventure Centre one recent rainy morning, hoping for adventure. Alas! It was not to be.
L-R: MH (aka "young punk"), MH2 (aka "rope gun"), Sibylle (aka "roadtripper") and Tricouni (aka "nails").
Glenn and I returned yesterday, and did Slab Alley on a hot afternoon. A bit over 48 years since he did the third ascent in May 1962.
As I didn't take the photo, no one has a tree growing out of his/her head.
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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Aug 26, 2010 - 09:58pm PT
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Are you sure you pasted that in the right thread Anders? Doesn't it belong in the "Hot? post your favorite "Hot " photo" thread?
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MH2
climber
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Aug 26, 2010 - 10:04pm PT
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48 years later
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Chief
climber
The NW edge of The Hudson Bay
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Aug 26, 2010 - 10:28pm PT
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I thought it was spend it like Beckham.
Speaking of Tricouni.
Bugs for breakfast.
We ended up climbing the left hand summit.
Clagged in summit near Tricouni
Alpine slpendor
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Aug 27, 2010 - 12:32am PT
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Thanks Andy, and Perry, and Tami! I knew I wore that red Acopa tee shirt that John gave me for a reason yesterday. Glenn and I had a delightful adventure, though we ran out of steam before climbing Boomstick, or visiting the Baldwin plaque. Next time, plus then we'll get more photos.
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