A Thousand Words

Alright everyone. The boulders were off the hook today. The forest was crawling with people trying to squeeze out the last moments of friction before the rains come. Needless to say we had a great time. Big crew around today and I think it will be best to let the pictures do the talking. Till next time...

Jamie Chong showing off his one of a kind chalk bag courtesy of La Sportiva.
Tyrone Brett getting down It's About Time before tagging out to babysit the kid.

Fraser Charles giving me the stink eye close up.

Jamie making quick work of Mosquito Masterbater.

Rich Kupskay pulling Jamie off The First of the Seven Terrors.

Jamie flashing the gang sign of a one person club after completing the Seven Terrors in one day. For the whole story, check out YukonerDownUnder.

To my loyal fans

This post goes out to my loyal fans. What have I been doing all week? Thinking of ways to dazzle and trick you into telling your friends and family about this blog. How am I going to do it? I have no idea. Gift bags? Prize draw? Nude Photos? Then I got thinking...LOYAL fans dont need any prize. They are satisfied with the simple pleasure of reading my true to life words and pondering their complexities in the moment.
I digress........

So what has been going on? Squamish has been going on. The weather has been off the hook this week and people have been calling my phone line day and night with their sweet stories of perfect friction. I myself had the opportunity to take in the forest wednesday night and I was suprised that there was not more people in the forest. What is wrong with you people?

Anyways...this weekend is going to be sick. A lot of people are climbing and the vibe is going to be pretty sweet. I suggest getting in your car and climbing on saturday. It will be worth it.

I am going to leave you with another skate video because skateboarding is killing it right now. Thursday night I went to the hastings park and got old school on the bowls there. Needless to say everyone was better than me. I think I am going to have to take Rich there for a "First Try Friday" dropping in on the bowl. anyone got a video camera?

Enjoi!!

Weekend Warriors

Going up to Squamish this weekend was a bit of a no-brainer for those who know the magic of winter temperatures. Matt and I arrived at the forest around 12 noon to find it mostly deserted. Chapman and friend were quick on the scene and things started off from there.

When arriving at the boulders, there is always the age-0ld question of where to warm up. Most people prefer the High V0 area to warm up because of the long movement and concentration of problems. This is all fine and dandy is spring or summer forest conditions, but that part of the forest is often much darker than the Easy area in the winter and so I broke with the group to warm up there. Matt would argue that is because I am afraid of high balls in the other area but that is just not the case.

After everyone was all warmed up, it was off to the races. Nobody had an idea of where to go (other than myself) and I was not prepared to drag everyone back to the Gibb's cave area if no one else was going to be climbing. We quickly decided to go to an old highball classic called No Excuse for Porn Hair. This boulder is situated between the end of the Grand Wall boulders and the beginning of the Apron parking lot. There is actually now a trail that leads right from the Talus to the Apron, so you no longer have to walk along the highway to get there.

I had never been to No Excuse for Porn Hair so I was psyched to do something new. The boulder itself is much higher than it looks from the road. Matt fired it straight away while Chapman and I took a couple goes.

Chapman on the other side of the camera.

After visiting the Porn boulder, we headed back up to my arch-nemesis, Northridge Mini. I was sure that today would be the day but after slipping off a couple of damp holds and getting stopped by an early move, it was time to pack up and go somewhere else. At this point we were joined by Jamie, Sarah, and Gary as we headed over to Worm World Cave. At Worm World, the day felt like it was winding down, but it was nice to relax in the forest and take in the sweet sweet weather. We found Sam and Shannon working the low start of WWC and the energy was good for hanging out and having a good time. I also took the opportunity to take some photos.

Gary using an unusual way to get off.

To end the day, Jamie, Matt, and I ran around the boulders climbing some classic problems. This was probably the best part of the day. I love going around climbing things that you rarely climb. Till next time dear boulders...till next time.

Shot in the Dark

The sun was shining so hard in Vancouver on Saturday I could think of nothing to do but check the boulders, with a faint hope that something might be dry.  Reports from the boulders on Thursday and Friday had noted that the forest was completely soaked, but for my own sanity, I needed to have a look for myself.  

The only person I could convince to go was Rich Kupskay.  Rich is your man if you are on a rogue mission, and a rogue mission was what we were on.   As a back up plan, Rich was going to learn how to drop in at the Squamish skatepark, so either way the day would not be a total loss.  

Our first impression of the boulders was that we had wasted our time.  Easy in an Easy Chair was damp, Animal Magnatism was soaked, and even Gibb's Cave was looking pretty wet. Rich and I headed to the car with a slow saunter, our motivation shredded before us.  There was to be no bouldering today.

However, on the way back to the car, Tyson Braun was getting his pad and he was psyched to find some dry rock despite the outlook.   Soon after, we found Big Kevin and Andrew Boyd warming up on the very boulders that were wet only minutes ago. The day was turning around.

To make a long story short, we ended the day at the Defenders boulder with visits from Tyson, Georg, and Chris Weldon.  After a good session, my tips were ready to burst and we headed back to the city.  Here are some photos I took during the day.  Unfortunately, I only took photos during the warm ups.  A few turned out okay.  The outlook for Sunday looks good so if you are sitting at home wondering, get in our car and check it out for yourself.

Rich throwing the ol'bearclaws on Gull Skull

Toping out with a smile on Gull Skull circa 2009

Weather Update and Video

So everyone is bummed about the weather.  I just talked to Chappy and the forest is completely soaked.  However, he did say that he say Simon was out there underneath the Gibb's Cave boulder (good work following my advice, unfortunately you will now never trust me again).  Anyways to cheer everyone's spirits I thought I would post a Battle of the Berrics video.  This one features my favorite, Steve Berra, training for his up and coming match against Marc Johnson.  if this does not get you psyched to go and work on your flatground kickflips, I don't know what else to do.  

Weather Update

For those of who are getting psyched because of all this sunny weather, you may have to curb your enthusiasm. Reports from the forest indicate that the boulders inside the forest are still pretty wet, with boulders, such as supefly, being completely soaked. The night session on thursday night may be postponed unless we get some heavy Howe Sound winds. I will posted again as soon as I hear more.