When it starts breaking 100F in SLC, it’s definitely time to bail to the North. This year our annual Canada trip came a bit earlier than in seasons past, but temperature wise it was just in time. After a couple days of driving in our new road-trip vehicle, Jen and I finally found ourselves in Squamish. Since we’ve been takin’ ‘er easy for the last few weeks to let some chronic injuries heal, Jen and I are pretty tired after only two days of climbing, but it’s a very satisfying tired.
We’ve been bouncing from place to place, cragging and doing the occasional multi-pitch route to get our feet under us again, and so far it seems to be working. Our bodies are sore and my cuticles are thrashed from the finger cracks, but the pitch count continues to rise. I love this place, and I never forget that, but I never seem to remember exactly how much until I’m hiking up through the loamy forest, fingers touching the thick moss of fallen trees and millennia-old granite boulders, and hiking up to yet another pitch of world class climbing in a place still free of over-zealous park rangers (I’m talking to you Yosemite).
Since we ended up in the Canadian Rockies last year, Jen and I haven’t been to Squamish in a couple seasons, so we had no idea that there was now a gondola between the Chief and Shannon Falls. I almost crashed the van when we passed it. This, and the other tourist-trap “updates” made to the town and the crag-filled forests that surround it are rather sad, but none of that is enough to make me stop loving this beautiful place.
Our plan is to rest today, which has so far consisted of sleeping in, eating breakfast, and writing this. We have a bit of grocery shopping to do and some van organization to take care of, but I’m betting we’re back on the rock before the sun sets. It’s just too good not to climb.
