Although we've been unable to communicate with the outside world for awhile now, we are still okay... really! The lack of recent communication is partly due to the fact that there is only a slow internet connection at the lodge (no phone), but the biggest factor is that they seem to keep us very busy. So far we have had two school groups come to do programs, both for five days each. The first school came in on the 9th and left the morning of the 14th, the second school came the afternoon of the 14th and left this morning. That left us instructors about four hours to prep for the next outing.
For both of the groups Ashley has been instructing at the "rock camps"(taking the group out to the climbing bluffs and teaching climbing, rappelling and whatnot). This seems like a pretty good gig; they set up a huge basecamp, with huge tarps, a big fire pit, and all of the spare gear that you can fit into a 15 passenger van! For the first group I lead a trip up "Kings Peak", one of the taller peaks in the area. It was a four day backpacking trip with ten high-school students. On our summit day we ran into 50 foot visibility, and horizontally blowing ice pellets; we turned back short of the summit, but I think it was a good experience for the group. The second trip was leading a trail building crew; the school seems to think that this is a good character building activity for it's students. I guess this may be true to a certain extent, especially if you also consider millitary service or being in prison to be character building activities. All in all it went very well though.
Now we both have a few days off until the next group come in.
On the North Glacier of Mt. Myra
Our House, Room 57
of the Annex.
The Outdoor Center where the dining room is.
The black piping on the roof is part of a passive solar
Awwww... Sorry Dudes - I tried.... for some reason its just not working.
Another non-photo update on what is going on...
Hiking training was just peachy; Every hike/climb out here is a hell of a grind uphill the whole way and just incredibly beautiful. Unlike our Mt. Myra adventure, this hike was lush with unspoiled nature, however we had 20 people in our party so we probably ruined the "peace and quite" aspect of the mountaineering for all the other people up there that day. We made summit the first day then came back down to a hanging meadow to spend a raining/misty/
damp evening learning how we set up camp/cook with students. Despite that sounding a bit drab, I couldn't wipe the grin off my face - being in the mountains is just too awesome. How awesome you might ask? Well, on the way down the next morning whole group posed in front of this massive fir tree at the side of the trial (... I am so bummed that we cant post photos...) and later that day Paul and I figured out that by its diameter (approx. 14ft) that it was likely around 1300 years old! From sights like that to alpine meadows, white granite rock outcrops, glaciers and snowfields... This island living this is pretty sweet!
Yesterday we were out on the Burman River sea canoeing trip (the one day version - usually its a 2 or 3 day trip with students). We casted off out into the Matchalat Inlet - a massive inlet that stretches from the west coast of the island (just north of Tofino) all the way to Gold River (which is pretty much in the middle of the island and only an hours drive from the lodge). We paddled along the coast line up into Muchlee Bay and then up the Burman Rive and were super lucky to get not only calm conditions but all got to see tons of wildlife including eagles, a black bear, salmon, and a sea lion! The boats we used are huge Voyager canoes that we crammed 10 people into, are super tipy but can really cruise! It was a really neat experience and something that neither Paul or I had ever tried before.
The schedules for the next few days are up and the students are arriving tomorrow (eeee!) Paul and another instructor are kicking things off by taking a group of students up Kings Peak and I get to go rock climbing at Crest Crags with my group! We will be out in the field with our students for three days and they will be leaving early monday morning. The next group shows up monday afternoon.... and so starts the madness! We are going to be going solid like this for the foreseeable future... well that is, till our contract ends. Can't wait.
Long time since the last post, and already a week into our stay here at Strathcona Park Lodge; we've been keeping busy (as always)! From Squamish we made the journey to the other side of the Rocky Mountains, took some time to unwind (or work in Paul's case) and visit with friends and family. On our way back out this way we spent a few days with Jason in Sicamous, slept on a beach in Naniamo, and picked up another new staff member to carpool with us out to the lodge.
Stathcona Park Lodge is certainly an interesting place and beautiful place. Established 52 years ago it still is practicing some of the same things it did back then. One of the great things this entails is the menu which strives to be 80% "colours" and is generally low on meat and high on veggies and all very healthy. There is no mac'n'cheese with hot dogs here.
The buildings are also quiet unique; most were build by staff (with little to no carpentry knowledge), with wood stolen off of logging areas and milled here on site. They even have a system set up where they allow staff to build their own cabin, and then will buy it off of them for the same cost of building it when the staff member leaves. As a result there is a variety of building types from timber frame to domes, most without water or electricity. Some of the buildings were purchased and moved here, like our current home - the Annex.
Moved here across the lake via boats the Annex was the staff accommodation for a logging operation some 50 years ago. It boasts both running water and electricity and we really didn't understand why people seemed to make fun of it... until the first night when it was bitterly cold in there (there is no amount of heating that would keep that building warm...) and the mice scurrying in the walls, floors and ceilings woke us up. It still seems pretty luxurious to us (coming from a tent in the bush) and besides, the mice are pretty cute.
Set along the East shore of the Upper Campbell Lake, Strathcona Park Lodge offers a long list of outdoor activities; kayaking (flat and white water) as well as easy access to sea kayaking, canoeing (both flat and white water as well), a beach volleyball court, wood heated sauna, swimming area, beaches, soccer field, tree climbing (up a massive old growth fir), 2 zip lines, high and low ropes courses, and even rock climbing (3 private bluffs). Only a few minutes down the road from the lodge, Strathcona Provincial Park offers a variety of hiking and mountaineering trips.
The lodge tries to be as eco-conscious as possible; It makes its own power from a water wheel, buys locally grown food whenever possible (and even grows some food on site), uses a solar water heating system, composts, and teaches/practices "Leave No Trace"ethics.
A typical day on site starts at 730am when the breakfast bell rings. At about 815-830 the first 3 hour activity block starts, then it's lunch at noon and a second 3 hour activity block in the afternoon. The dinner bell rings at 5:30, after that a two hour activity block wraps up the day and you promptly go to bed.
The past week here has been great; We finished up our training on Thursday afternoon, leaving us the evening off to go to Campbell River (the nearest town) to pick up some things we are going to need in the next few weeks, and take it easy at the lodge. Yesterday we decided to climb one of the peaks that we potentially are going to take students up, Myra Mountain. Usually done in 3 days with students via the hikers trail, we thought we should try something different and approach by the NW ridge and do it all in one day. We calculated it all out and figured we were in for a 13 hour round trip, so we set the alarm clock for 5:45am and tried to find some food for the day.
The hikers trail (and the first part of our hike) is a bit of an unfortunate situation and we are both a little confused as to why they the lodge has decided to use this particular peak as the ascent starts at a strip mine, then follows a road to a power generator then takes an old bulldozed cat road up the mountain side following a pipeline. You finally get a taste of unspoiled nature 10km from the car at Tennet Lake. We branched off the hikers trial at about the 4km mark, took a bearing for a destincive drainage and began whacking and grovelling our way through the brush up to the NW ridge. We finally gained the crest and found ourselves in the (much easier to navigate) alpine. After some interesting route finding around cliff bands and some decent elevation gain we were out on the North glacier and making good time up its steep slopes.
We hit the summit by 1pm, took in the views, ooed and awed over the peaks in the distance and then decided to take the hikers trail back down to avoid re-whacking and the slippery slopes we had come up. The upper part of the hikers trial is beautiful, there is some safe snow crossings and amazing alpine lakes and meadows, but it is way longer of a trip- about 8km just to the lake from the summit! We were making good time though and despite feeling fatigued and pretty damn thirsty by the end of it we made it back to the lodge for dinner. Total trip; about 21km (around 10km longer then we calculated for) in 10 hrs and 40 min. Go us!
Today is a day off to catch up on some of the things that we haven't had time to do (laundry, blogging...) and tomorrow we are starting "hike training" and taking off on a 2 day trip up Kings Peak - a mountain that we have been wanting to climb anyways. Unfortunately, we wont be doing any of the technically routes - just hiking for us. After that we have the choice between two water trips; Burman River (a sea canoeing trip where we would be observing bears catching spawning salmon) or a white water kayaking (or canoeing?) trip. Then there is a "refresher day" with all the staff to go over anything that may be unclear. The day after that the students arrive!! We have lots to look forward to, and hopefully we will be able to keep you updated on all of them!
Sadly, no photos - we have 'em but can't seem to upload them in the no communication zone (Strathcona). Big slide-show party when we get home?
Here's some photos from the day that Mom, Cher and the Kids came up to visit us in Squamish as well as a few from our last day of climbing.
Hiking at Shannon Falls
Mom and Cher
Mom and Nelson playing
Shy and Christolla
Christolla was up for the first climb of the day and did awesome despite never climbing cracks before!
Nelson was up next and also made easy work of the climb!
The Second climb of the day was a chimney system that proved to be a challenge!
Nelson trying the other (easier) side of the Chimney
Rappelling can be pretty scary some times and at first Nelson was really struggling with trusting the rope to get lowered. However, by the last climb he figured it all out and even was comfortable enough to show off his "pizza legs" skills for the camera.
Hanging out at the Lake
Swimming in Brome Lake
We got one last climb in before we packed everything up and came back to Calgary. Shy working the fist crack on pitch one of St. Vitus Dance
Paul on the second pitch... before the off width thrutching began
We are Thrilled to announce that we both were hired at Strathcona Park Lodge as outdoor instructors for this Fall season!! Our start date is Aug 30, so that means that our time here in Squamish is pretty much done. We are planning on heading back to Calgary to get organized this Saturday, take some time to rest and relax then head out to the Island. It really couldn't have happened at a better time; just this afternoon Paul and I were talking about how we seem to be getting burnt out from the summers worth of playing, camping and continually being outdoors. Its time for a change of pace and scenery. We're really looking forward to seeing friends and family!!
In other exciting news, its been a busy week with both my good friend Paul Adamiak and my mom, the kids and Cher coming out to see us! Paul was out for a few days and we managed to squeeze in climbing at the Bluffs, a few things a the Malamute and then a hike to the 3rd and 2nd summit of the Chief (Paul if you send me photos I will put them up!!). The rest of the crew came out for the day on Wednesday and we got a lot done! We started with a hike up to Shannon Falls from the climbers campground - lots of going up steep stairs, beautiful waterfalls and the wonderful cedar forest. Then we were off to Brome Lake to have a picnic and do some swimming in the freezing lake water. Between the wind and the water we didn't last long in there. To wrap up the day we went down to the Smoke Bluffs and set up some ropes for the kids - they did so good!! I was very impressed by thier crack climbing skills; they are naturals! Foot jams, laybacks... those kids are going to be my rope guns in no time!!
Wow, it feels like ages since we wrote last and we’ve been up to a lot!
Over the long weekend it was “Logger Days” here in Squamish; a neat festival for the towns #1 industry.There were events going all weekend and we managed to take in the chair making competition. It was pretty impressive how detailed and exact they could be with a chain saw! Noisy, but neat!
The next day we decided to try to escape the long weekend crowds and do a climb that sees less traffic.The “North North Arete” goes at 10a, 7 pitches and boasted having “more interesting climbing” than the popular (and heavily climbed) Angles Crest (which is one arete over) and its trial head was literally just across the forestry road from our casa! As we found out, “interesting” evidently means dirty and chossy... there was certainly was a great variety of climbing but it was badly in need of some love (and cleaning).It felt like we were alpine climbing in the Rockies; rambling over huge boulders, fighting with tree over growth... but all in all a super fun day!It would be phenomenal if it was all cleaned up.The guide book also was a little vague on how to get off the route once you got to the top.We easily spent a few hours on the Zodiac summit wandering back and forth on a trail that ended in either direction at an impossibly steep rock face that dropped down hundreds of metres to the gully bottom.We found the way off by sheer luck (and desperation as a thunder storm was roaring just up the sound) and hurried off the backside trails, through the climbers’ campground and back to the tent in a wonderful (and surprisingly big) 12 hour loop.
Lowell and Heather woke us up the next morning and took us to Chekamus, a sport climbing area where we failed about for a while and sent some interesting stuff.Paul even ticked off an "11b" lead.
After a few days rest, we got it in our heads that we should take a whirl at “Strange Brew” a link up of “Cannabis Wall” and “Breakfast Run”, two fairly substantial and committing aid climbs up the impressive Tantalus Wall.The route description informed us that most beginners (ie: us) would need two days to complete Cannabis Wall and a third to finish up Breakfast Run, which seemed a little crazy since the whole climb is a total of only 9 pitches but as we found out, Aid climbing time is seriously fucked up.
Spending multiple days on the cliff side meant that we would need to devise some way to sleep up there.Being far too poor to afford a Portaledge (literally a metal framed ledge that you haul up the mountain behind you) and none available to rent, we took Dan’s (the climbing shop owner) half-joking advice and tracked down some hammocks.Then there is the issue of hauling all the food & water, plus other important items (ie: sleeping bags, clothing layers) that you will need... no small amount.Also not being able to afford a haul bag (durable, large, build to drag up rock faces) we stuff our day packs till they bulged at the seams, fastened them together and called it good enough.
We got our typical late start on the first day, slogged our stuffed packs and every piece of gear that we own (save one 3 inch and two 4 inch cams – the Big stuff) up the mercifully short approach trail.The Tantalus Wall starts off as a steep slab (about 60 degrees) and at about a third of the way up veers up to vertical with some slightly overhanging sections. It is an incredibly impressive looking wall.
Paul was up for the first pitch.A few hard hook moves off the ground gained a position in a tall but narrow flake arch which flexed visibly when you weighted the gear you placed in behind it.It was a relief when Paul reached the bolt line above, however the safety of bolts was short lived and ended with a contrived pendulum.
Starting the pendulum run...
At the highest point in the pendulum arch Paul had to try to place a hook before he was sent swinging back in the other direction. Silly.
Then I was up for my first ever outdoor Aid lead.With so much to deal with as far as the 20 pounds of gear, finding placements, etires getting tangled... etc. I was surprisingly too distracted to be nervous and slowly plugged my way up the left arching corner crack system.About half way up I took a moderate fall when the piece I was standing on popped to teach me that I need to more vigorously bounce test my gear before I trust them (Bounce testing has to be my least favourite part; wiggle and progressively weight and finally bounce on the gear that you just placed to see if it will hold you... it doesn’t always).About 3.5 or 4 hours later I was finally done and the sun was down behind the mountain across the sound.
A whole afternoons worth of climbing, only 2 pitches up and pretty hungry we decided to fix our ropes (Tie them off at one end to a secure point) and rappel, get pizza and a good night sleep and start off early the next morning.
We were back up at the top of pitch 2 at about 8am the next morning, and Paul was up for the third pitch – another left leaning corner crack with a neat move over a small ceiling to gain some vertical face climbing.Just as he got going it started to rain.
Nearly at the hanging belay.
Being good turn takers, I was up for pitch 4, an extremely thin crack system that ate up only the smallest of our small gear – nothing bigger then a 0.3 inch cam.
Graded as one of the easier pitches on the climb(at C1+) this pitch taught us that the Aid grading system really doesn't mean a thing - its all hard.
Pitch 5 was amazingly long and followed several different crack systems and varied substantially from tiny thin cracks to flakes and big fist sized (or larger) gaps, complete with a ledge traverse.Paul placed the majority of the gear and all of the 23+ slings & draws that we brought with us. By the time I had cleaned up all the gear and made it to the chossy dirty mound at the top of pitch five I was using my headlamp to see what I was doing. A whole days worth of climbing and only 3 pitches higher.
Sadly, there was no good place to string up a hammock nor lay or sit very comfortably.We tried to rest the best we could, but by 3 am we realized that we were not going to get any more rested and it would probably be better to try to get moving.Facing 1 more pitch to complete Cannabis Wall and 4 more pitches to finish up Breakfast run we realized we would be up there for two more days if we tried to continue on.If we had not already been utterly exhausted from the last two days of climbing, the fact that we were on our last few litres of water and the food we had packed had not kept well in the heat would have made us come to the same conclusion; we had to get off that wall.
Paul made a good attempt at pitch 6, but the daunting, descending, over a foot wide, chossy crack we were suppose to follow was just too much for us both.So, we set up a rappel line off of pitch 5 and bailed from there. By 8am we were back in the tent and incredibly thrilled to be able to sleep on our new air mattress.
We really got worked up there.We are both physically spent and will need several days to recover.However, it was an amazing experience and a great challenge.
After two great weeks on Vancouver Island, we arrived back in Squamish on the 27th. After catching an early ferry across, and running a few errands in Vancouver, we were back in town with enough time to do some late afternoon climbing. We were happy to find that none of the things that were left in the tent went missing while we were away, and there was not a large family of raccoons living in there, as my brother suggested there might be!
Since getting back we've been trying to push up the grades that we are climbing at. So far that has been going well; most notably, yesterday evening Ashley onsighted (climbed to the top, on the first try, without sitting on the rope or pulling on any gear) a climb called "The Zip". This is a classic Squamish climb at the grade of 5.10a. Earlier that day I managed to work my way up a 5.10b climb called "Slap and Tickle", also an onsight.
Other than that it's pretty much back to the normal routine. It is still really hot here, and our campsite in the shade makes sleeping in far too easy.
Ashley grinding her way up a short squeeze chimney.
The leopard spots are coming back! It took me a while to figure out where these were coming from; they are Camelot bruises from where my gear bumps or get pressed against my thigh while climbing. Ah, its good to be back in Squamish!
