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Tricouni
Mountain climber
Vancouver
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Mar 21, 2012 - 11:31pm PT
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Ok, now I want to know the most obscure routes any of you've done on the Chief. Mine was probably Green Thumb. Now that would be an epic cleaning mission...
Green Thumb? Wow, haven't heard that name in years...
For me, probably the Chlorophyll Variation of the North-North Arete. Or maybe the complete North-North Gully. That one is memorable for me for one reason only. Or maybe Kiddie Corner on the Squaw.
Or maybe it's the easiest route on the Apron.... (quick, what's it called?)
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thekidcormier
Gym climber
squamish, b.c.
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Mar 21, 2012 - 11:42pm PT
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Mike; kris' proj is at the north end.. read a bit closer and you might know that :)
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Scrubber
climber
Straight outta Squampton
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Mar 21, 2012 - 11:45pm PT
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Or maybe it's the easiest route on the Apron.... (quick, what's it called?) The Groove? climbed it... once, and that's a good story...
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Big Mike
Trad climber
BC
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 21, 2012 - 11:54pm PT
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oops :) tell it!
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bmacd
Boulder climber
100% Canadian
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Mar 22, 2012 - 01:09am PT
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I dont have a static enough internet connection to peruse much detail online these days. Life is tuff in these dusty campgrounds, swillin Listerine and bangin cheap Vegas hookers in between epic sandstone ascents
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hamie
Social climber
Thekoots
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Mar 22, 2012 - 01:16am PT
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Sorry Kris, but I like my picks hanging on the wall. You can do this, and pretty well anything else if you're single.As I have said before, "Being tired, cold and scared is not nearly as much fun as it used to be."
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Rolfr
Social climber
North Vancouver BC
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Mar 22, 2012 - 01:17am PT
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And back to climbing........ Rain Dance. Ivan and I always thought there may be a good continuation after the first pitch, but after climbing it, we became focused and obsessed with Dirty Little White Boys and never revisited it. It may be worth a look see again. Thanks for stirring the old memories, Andy.
Ivan may have been the antithesis of the classic Squamish, hard man, climber of the day. His story is worth mentioning. He was totally unconcerned with climbing convention, attitude or style. He wore his baseball cap backwards before it was popular, wore camouflage pants and sported tattoos down to his finger tips , not as a trend, but just as his style. A massive 210 lbs of old school logging redneck, but a temperament of a pussy cat. I met him when he was soloing Cat Crack in his cowboy boots, he thought climbing looked interesting and decided to give it a go. That was the beginning of a 10 year friendship and numerous, joint first ascents.
There were many times climbing in Squamish, we'd be surrounded by the Lycra clad climbers "du jour," that would scoff and sneer at his unconventional dress, only to watch in amazement as he would float up some of the hardest slab test pieces of the day, baseball cap on backwards.
He was a bit of a collector, first ascents, gear, cams, anything associated with climbing.
Last I heard, he was into collecting guns, and showed up at the Squamish gun range with a 50 caliber, WW II , tripod mounted machine gun. While everyone was popping off single rounds, he quietly set up his 50 cal, with a belt feed and blew the sh#t out of his target.
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Mar 22, 2012 - 01:48am PT
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Rolf: Please tell the story about Ivan and the tree he felled at the base of the Grand Wall. (Pre-park.)
Ok, now I want to know the most obscure routes any of you've done on the Chief. Mine was probably Green Thumb. Now that would be an epic cleaning mission...
That's the kind of discussion that will drive away most of the Yankees. They'll be horrified, disgusted, and flabbergasted. Obscurities that even Ed H might not bother with. The only thing worse would be discussing whether Stephen Harper is real or an android.
There is a subjective element to it, in that in the right (wrong) conditions, some climbs that may otherwise be relatively decent can be obscure, or worse. For example, ascending North Gully in a rainstorm, or full winter conditions. And a route full of trees, moss, shrubs and lichen when first climbed can gradually clean up (or be cleaned up), and become something worthwhile. (NTTIAWW routes full of trees, moss, shrubs and lichens, especially cedars.)
Now to think up some stories of past tales of derring-do, usually fighting the elements as well as obscurity. We did some fairly obscure exploratory stuff in the 1970s particularly. Not routes in any real sense, and no name or grade or anything, but certainly "climbs".
There is a fairly long list of routes at Squamish that may never have had a second ascent, though. Northwest Passage is one. Zodiac Wall was repeated by Steve and Hugh in 1970, and almost repeated by Daryl, Stu and another in about 1978.
(I wasn't suggesting that Hanging Gardens be renamed, merely observing the irony of its name and new condition.)
And yes, gentlemen and ladies, we have a gondola to divert to a better location, that is Goat Ridge. So let's get on that.
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Tricouni
Mountain climber
Vancouver
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Mar 22, 2012 - 02:28am PT
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Or maybe it's the e]asiest route on the Apron.... (quick, what's it called?
The Groove? climbed it... once, and that's a good story...
The Groove wins! I'm surprised it's been done in modern time. That was my son's first roped lead, at age 12 or 13.
Tami, I don't think the hike up to Broadway really rates as a route, but no matter.... works for you!
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hamie
Social climber
Thekoots
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Mar 22, 2012 - 02:31am PT
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Tami, there is no tape on that POS conduit because I was hoping someone would steal it! I only rapped on conduit once, the last of five 160' raps off Takkakaw, and it was so scarey we used three pieces.
Prior to tape we used to mark our gear with paint. One time Baldwin came back from Yos with black electrician tape on his gear, and told us that everyone in the Valley used different coloured combinations of tape. Coloured tape was not readily available in Canada, so we bought some the next time we were in Seattle--REI. Big Jim got red, Tony Coussins chose either blue or green, and I took yellow. Being the first person in Canada to mark my gear with yellow tape, I feel no compunction in picking up anything marked in yellow, as it must be mine. So watch out. Anything look familiar?
Anyone got any good conduit stories? [Make that horror stories.] Malemute prolly has several!!
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Mar 22, 2012 - 02:44am PT
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I took yellow. Being the first person in Canada to mark my gear with yellow tape, I feel no compunction in picking up anything marked in yellow, as it must be mine.
An Olde Marlboroughian indulging in kleptomania? What is the world coming to? Well, at least I know now where all my yellow-marked gear went.
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RyanD
climber
Squamish
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Mar 22, 2012 - 12:50pm PT
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+1 for south arete, better than calculus IMO. There is a barley anchor above the roof on the right. I did not see it the first time i did it either, i noticed it on the second pass when i was alone so it was to be no help then either. Wide section is only about 20 feet or so & not too bad, biggest jugs ever thru the crux bulge. Some great hand jams on that climb, very enjoyable. More ppl should do it.
@thekidcormier liquid gold is great! and clean! No less than 5* I heard Boyd cleaned it & did the FFA a few yrs back. The long 5.10 cracks at the top are one of the better pitches of the grade in Squam, bring lots of gear if u want to link it into a 70m pitch. As well when we did this climb we had heard it was all natural anchors. We ended up setting a gear belay on every pitch as there were great natural stances. However on every pitch, after the anchor was built. One of us would always notice a notorious barley station nearby!!
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thekidcormier
Gym climber
squamish, b.c.
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Mar 22, 2012 - 07:32pm PT
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Ryan; nice i'll have to get on it when it dries up! have you done the right variation on the final upitch? it looks pretty full on up there!
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Rolfr
Social climber
North Vancouver BC
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Mar 23, 2012 - 12:20am PT
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OK here it is, Ivan and the tree.
A bit of preamble. You have to remember that Ivan came from a very private ,Scandinavian family with a strong work ethic. He worked as a tree faller in the closed culture of the 1970/80’s Squamish logging industry, where climbers were viewed as curiosities and the Chief was still just Crown Land and logging was king.
If it sounds like I’am preparing an excuse, dam right!
Anyways, he was one strong bugger and quickly improved, to the point that, one early spring, we decided to climb Apron Strings. I froze my a ass on the first pitch, and grumbled the whole way, while he commented that , you couldn’t even see the route from the trail with that big old tree near the base, hiding the route.
A couple of rainy days latter , Ivan proudly tells me, he cut down this massive tree and now you can finally see the route from the trail, and it isn’t covered in shade all day! WTF ! Well the sh#t hit the fan, some climbers said he needed to be ostracized from the community, the climbing community was in outrage. Ivan couldn’t figure out what the big deal was? The turmoil finally died down, and after a bit of examination, the tree was rotten to the core and would have probably fallen in the next big storm.
Ivan felt pretty bad about the whole situation after seeing it from a different perspective. In an attempt to make him fell better, I said “ It’s not like you cut down a 250 year old tree”. His response “ nah it couldn’t have been more than 150 years”
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thekidcormier
Gym climber
squamish, b.c.
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Mar 23, 2012 - 01:52am PT
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Funny story
Speaking of chopping trees to let the light in have you been up to funorama recently since hevy dutys crag renewal? Its so rad up there, magical even!
Any story behind the name?
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RyanD
climber
Squamish
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Mar 23, 2012 - 04:31am PT
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That Ivan guy sounds awesome! Hilarious story! Does the route "Horrors of Ivan" have anything to do with him?
Kidcormier, Luke? i'm not sure what the right variation to liquid gold is? We did the long, twin cracks that go right up the middle of the largest bullet. So good! The other routes that got (re)cleaned in the bulletheads recently are very worthwhile as well. There is so much new climbing at Squamish right now: multi pitch, bouldering, sport climbing, and of course the seemingly endless smoke bluffs??
Did i mention bouldering? Am i the first one to mention bouldering on this thread? Does anyone like bouldering here? When was the first bouldering in Squamish? I like bouldering in Squamish a lot, some of the best in the world. You can do it in the winter when it's too cold to be on a route. Hopefully the thread police would permit bouldering discussion & photos for any inclined to participate?? I would like to hear what people who were here in the earlier days knew about it or if it was even on the radar?
Bouldering a few weeks ago in the smoke bluffs, it is about to snow.
Edit: Hahaha Soloing cat crack in cowboy boots! i guess that was bouldering BITD
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thekidcormier
Gym climber
squamish, b.c.
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Mar 23, 2012 - 10:34am PT
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Correct me if Im wrong but I believe boldering is a phenomenon occurring amongst men ages 15-30, particularly in the climbing subculture,trying to out-do one another in terms of boldness.
"I solod Corn flakes while drinking a beer and only slipped twice"
"I zippered out 16 RURPS and factor twod on the belay, and walked to wendys with a broken leg"
"Yea well I Simul climber b-peel with no protection between me and my partner while playing online poker on my cell phone"
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hamish f
Social climber
squamish
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Mar 23, 2012 - 10:35am PT
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Better not get me going on the topic of "exciting" tree removal stories.
You'll all curse the day you invited me...
Like the dead fir (4' diam.) at the top of the ladder on the south summit (backside) trail; that one launched so far we thought it might make the campground.
We were paid by B.C. Parks to remove that snag (just to make it clear we weren't sport-logging).
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Mar 23, 2012 - 10:46am PT
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A page back Mighty intoned:
That's the kind of discussion that will drive away most of the Yankees. They'll be horrified, disgusted, and flabbergasted
Condescension will get you nowhere, mate, especially with the Seattle crowd.
Obscure mossy choss piles miles from nowhere was foie gras du jour to many of us. ;-)
And I believe that the standard was set on the letting of daylight into
the swamp at Castle Rock.
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hamish f
Social climber
squamish
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Mar 23, 2012 - 11:27am PT
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I can appreciate this is a Squampton-climbing story site and I won't subject you guys to tall tree tales.
Climbing massive trees with a chainsaw hanging off your gear loop often made rock climbing seem pretty tame. As that was my career, those stories would fill a small book. Back to the rock related stuff...
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