Squamish Climbing - Labor Day 2008

"Blink" - its been another month since I've posted anything!! This blog just drives home how fast life moves. Before I know it, several more weeks have passed without any updates. Well, we've been climbing. Since the last post on Leavenworth, I've gotten out to Darrington, Index, Beacon and finally last weekend a long weekend at Squamish.

A couple of weeks ago, Pete, Drew and I planned a weekend in Washington. A trip to the mountains got changed at the last minute to a trip to the crags, but we still had a great time. Unfortunately, I left my camera on the top of my car at Drew's and couldn't take any pics the whole weekend. Luckily, someone actually rode by on their bike the next week, knocked on the door, and returned it!! My faith in humanity is restored - but I still didn't get any pics from the weekend. We spent one day sending cracks on the Lower Town Wall and then I snuck the Prius up the rode to 3 O'Clock Rock and we climbed Cool Runnings - good times.

This past weekend, Kristin and I headed out to Squamish. A mediocre weather forecast had us questioning the decision, but Kristin wanted to get in some crack mileage, and she had two previous Squish trips canceled earlier this summer. We decided to make a run for the border despite the iffy weather - jonesing for jams - gettin the shakes for granite - addicted to cracks. Expectations were high.

We pulled in on Saturday morning, and it was wet - real wet. Apparently it had been dumping rain for a few days, and everything was soaked. We set up the tent and decided to hike the chief to get in some cardio and check out the views.

From Squamish - Labor Day '08

Day 2-4 saw us cycling through some of the best moderate crack pitches in Squish!

From Squamish - Labor Day '08

Climb and Punishment, 5.10c

From Squamish - Labor Day '08

Exasperator, 5.10c

From Squamish - Labor Day '08

Crime of the Century, 5.11c
(I got royally spanked on this one)

From Squamish - Labor Day '08

Kangaroo Corner, 5.11a
(Shorty but goody)

From Squamish - Labor Day '08

Mosquito, 5.8

From Squamish - Labor Day '08

Seasoned in the Sun, 5.10b

We also had some nice views of the Grand, bringing back some good memories from earlier in the summer.

From Squamish - Labor Day '08

We were really roughing it - dirtbagging at its finest. We decided to rough it one last night - in Vancouver - at Joe Fortes - for seafood. Man the things we sacrifice for our climbing bum lifestyle.

From Squamish - Labor Day '08

From Squamish - Labor Day '08

From Squamish - Labor Day '08

Feeding the crack addiction - seafood - Canada. Labor Day 2008!

Times are tough for climbers here in Portland. With trips like this, I really need a vacation. Luckily, we're headed to Montana!! Check back in a couple of weeks for the update.