i am back in minnesota after a full summer of rock climbing in squamish british columbia. this was my best summer of rock climbing in my lifetime. climbs that we did that stand out include:

*alaska highway 5.11d w. eric
*the free grand (attempt) 5.13 w. mike, shown in the top two photos
*the grand wall 5.11a, climbed six separate times w. eric, lee, anna and two mikes
*the first two pitches of university wall 5.12 (i took a 25' upside down fall and we bailed)
*the wall of attrition 5.11c w. lee
*tantalus wall 5.11c w. lee
*free way 5.12- w. todd
*the left side of the split pillar 5.12 attempted w. lee
*the egg v11
*black water direct 5.12b onsite
*border line into angel's crest 5.11c w. lee
*angel's crest 5.10b w. anna, eric and lee, three separate times
*calculus crack 5.8 w. rich, anna and erin (with a broken foot)
*the roman chimneys via the grand wall 5.11b w. lee
*the daily planet 5.12a w. mike (seatle mike)

i am so thankful to have had many great partners and such a fulfilling experience.

check out this beautiful crack rich is leading in a secret valley...

today is canada day!

i have not written in a while but here are some recent events:

eric and i climbed the entire "alaska highway", five grueling pitches. our goal was to climb a link up of alaska highway into the next route "the calling". after the first five pitches though i was physically too exhausted to continue. three of the pitches contained strenuous off width sections that i am not accustomed to climbing. so i have been practicing off width climbing.

the second picture is of rich on one of the classic off widths at "the cirque of the uncrackables".

the third picture is eric leading a ridiculous 5" crack at murrin park.

the kid shooting the gun is ben, a local who was intrigued by a pellet gun brought across the border by a group of californians. ironically the only other group here from california also brought a pellet gun!

i hate off width cracks!

my finger healed and the last week i have had much better luck. a mountain guide and new friend of mine, eric hughes and i climbed to the top of the chief via "angels crest" and "high plains drifter". eric let me on-site the hard top two pitches, a 40 meter 5.11 hand crack and a 5.11c technical crack. we passed two parties and climbed the 16 pitch route in under 5 hours this way. rich and i climbed a nice 6 pitch 5.8 up the "apron" called "calculus crack" the picture is rich on lead. the bouldering pictures are of our crazy quebecois friend, jacob the last one is rich on "lucky sharms". rich hooked me up, volunteering with arc'teryx last thursday. i helped with a sale and they gave me a jacket, sushi and beer, sweet!

what a day! my car got broke into (see previous post), my friend Liam landed on my other friend James's head and i split my finger BAD.
i met up with some friends i met in hueco tanks, who are from the UK. they are hilarious and very talented climbers.

we climbed " fixing the car" together, a cool v8. when i topped out i noticed i had badly split my finger. i guess i will go back to trad climbing for a while until it heals.
Liam, a master high ball boulderer, fell from the top of "ride the lightning", a v8 with a hard mantel at 22 feet. he landed on James's bald head. one picture is of Liam about to fall before the sloping mantel and the next one is James with 5.10 sticky rubber shoe marks on his head. both guys were totally fine and Liam did the problem 1 minute later!

i woke up this morning to my passenger side window of my car smashed in. my car was parked at the inn parking lot. i think my old i pod was the bait. unfortunately for them it was worth no more than $50. luckily for me, the alarm went off so they did not have time to find my wallet, passport and check book also within the car. lame way to start the day but i have had so many fortunate things happen to me lately that i am not too upset by the break in.

i am currently working/ living at "the inn on the water". i check in guests and perform house keeping duties part time. 20 hours of my work week goes to pay for me to stay here. i would prefer to work for compensation but stay at the campground but it has been raining a lot and i am happy to have a cozy place to call home, plus all of the workers here are very nice.

this weekend rich and i climbed a mega scary, 30' highball, v5 roof to a slab with a v2 move at 25'. i will not do this climb again, once was enough.

-rich the beginning of the slab.

rich kupskay surfing boulders,

vince pinch and the classic viper.

this morning i climbed "the egg", woohoo!

climbing "sharma's arrete"


today mike and i climbed the 5.12 pitch of "daily planet". we took the wrong approach trail three different times on our way to the cliff band where the climb is located called "the sheriff's badge". after over 2 hours of approach we finally climbed the two pitches leading to the base of the route, which proved to be awkward slab climbing up arretes. the 5.12 pitch was easily freed but we were not expecting such an epic on the approach and so with no food and getting hungry we rapped back down. this is another climb i will need to go back for.

the second photo is mike on "golden boy".

the third photo is me leading the 5.12 pitch on "daily planet".




yesterday was awesome friction, with winds blowing through the forest and cool temperatures. i quickly did all the moves on "the egg" including the difficult start move three seperate times. a great day.

yesterday we did some bouldering in the morning. i tried the egg and a few other things but my skin felt thin and the bouldering hurt.

later in the day i went back to the "inn on the water" and officially got the job. they will schedule me according to my climbing. i get free internet, laundry and a bed, pretty nice.

yesterday, late afternoon, mike and i hiked back to "alaska highway". this time i freed the 5.11d pitch with no falls. i wanted to keep climbing the entire route but after bouldering all morning, we decided to rap off the top of the second pitch. the last three photos are of mike following the 5.11d pitch and me, psyched to be at the anchor. the climb includes awkward hand jams, three large roofs and two difficult chimneys.


the top picture is me trying "defender of the faith".

a friend of a friend, Mike Hopp and i climbed "the grand wall" today. it was my second time up the route and his first. we did the climb quickly and were back in camp by 2 pm before an afternoon shower started. i told mike to lead the first pitch and started him off on the wrong climb, a 5.11d slab instead of the correct 5.9 first pitch of the grand wall. i was scared that we would never complete the eight pitches when Mike struggled to get to the second bolt. only after trying the pitch myself did it click that we were not on the first pitch of the grand and i had sandbagged mike by putting him on an impossible squamish slab. he forgave me and now i owe him a beer.


the second picture is mike on the split pillar. the third picture is looking down at mike on "the sword" pitch. the last picture is me walking off on the thin and exposed "belly good ledge".

the first two days in squamish rich and i bouldered with some of his friends from vancouver. we did many classics in the grand wall and north wall boulders. i love squamish.


this picture is Jamie on a new problem in the north walls. the first picture is me trying "lucky sharms". the second and third pictures are Rich on a really hard warm up

in anticipation of climbing "alaska highway" this morning, i opted not to go to a late night beach party with Rich and some of his co-workers. instead, i looked for a free spot to camp. i initially decided to camp near the beach up a provincial park road. i found a flat, out of the way spot at 11pm near the entrance to some kind of mine. i started setting up my tent when something huge in the mine collapsed. it was dark and it scared to hell out of me, my reaction was to get in the car and speed away to another free campground called "the spit". i slept fine at the spit despite a few strange noises that i ignored. i noticed bear paw prints on my car trunk (where some of my food is) this morning. this means that there was a bear less than six feet from me scoping me out while i slept.

well, i am in squamish BC. the drive from minnesota was pleasantly uneventful, no flats, speeding tickets or accidents. today i tried unsuccessfully to climb "alaska highway" with a guy i met at the pub last night. his name is Connie and he is actually an internationally certified mountain guide. i am kicking myself for not bringing my camera on this ridiculously steep and exposed climb. the 5.11d pitch had awkward stemming and offwidth dihedral moves that i could not on-site. we are planning on going back to redpoint the route. the picture shows part of the second pitch that follows the double cracks out the massive roof.