Good Book

Why I Came West by Rick Bass

I get irritated by environmental judgmentalists, who get on their self-righteous, popular platform without doing a thorough job of investigating a) the issue and b) the potential solutions.

Anyway, this book is refreshing and inspiring. He talks about logging, fuel dependence, and hunting...and finally, here is someone who can talk about these topics without a massive guilt trip about the 'footprint' that we are leaving behind.

Squamish

We went to Squamish for some trad fun, but didn't realize we were going at the same time as their annual Mountain Festival. The campgrounds were full, packed in tight with climbers staying awhile. So, we stayed at Paradise Valley Campground, which was quite pleasant but a bit out of the way. The other downside of being there at the time of the Festival was that the crags were crowded. But, we did enjoy a presentation by Sonnie Trotter and the Oh Canada Film night, a festival event.

Did some great, classic climbs: Cat Crack, Diedre on the Apron, Penny Lane, Pixie Corner...

Racking up for a 5.9 crack.

There was a film crew here, filming a SciFi series.

A unique climbing area, the Smoke Bluffs,

right in the middle of a neighborhood and with great views of the Chief and the bay.

Cat Crack, 5.7

Bright and early on Diedre (5.8) on the Apron.

A good view of Diedre from here...

(the white streak on the third hump)

Penny Lane, 5.9

Pixie Corner, 5.9

4th Party

We went to the top of the ski hill for our annual neighborhood/friend/family 4th party. Although it threatened rain all day, it only began to drip about midnight.