[Grubes]

thanks will add it to the list

[Grubes]

nice cheers got both the latest squamish selet and bouldering guide so going to check it out and tick as many as I can. just want to climb a shit load of things big and small.

My mate is keen to check out a mountain bike trails centre. is it worth it as a rest day activity. Also I have not been on a mtb in about 12 years and never done any serious runs. Will I be okay on the begineer runs?

[SA Chris]

There's a nice 10a sport slab / face can be done near slot machine, we intended to do it, but I was fried after slot machine in late afternoon heat and didn't fancy sweating up it.

There's http://www.tantalusbikeshop.com/Home.html on the way out of town where you can hire bikes and get info on trails; there's all grades from piss easy to super hard. Or you can head to whistler for the day and scare yourself shitless on the DH stuff.

As to whether it's a rest day activity or not depends on your fitness! Be a good option if weather is marginal though.

[butterworthtom]

On the biking thing I can strongly recommend "Half-nelson"

It's very good fun and not too bad. I did it on a hard tail after going to a rave in the woods the night before and having not slept. It seemed like a good idea at the time, and it did turn out to be a amazing one!

http://www.pinkbike.com/news/half-nelson-trail-squamish-2010.html

[Sasquatch]

Ony advice on the biking thing, and coming from someone who loves to bike, is that the color system spans the equivilant of 5.5 to 5.14 in green, blue, black.  Be very careful going to black, as a couple of the trails would have had x ratings in climbing.

[Grubes]

thanks guys
as I said not been on a bike in years so wont be pushing it. It will only be just a rest day activity to try grow some skin back and keep moving.

[SA Chris]

Unless you are biking fit, it may well not be a rest! You can hire canoes in town and paddle up the inlet. We intended to, but good tides never coincided with rest days. day in Vancouver and Aquarium etc is a more sedate option.

[Paul B]

Grubes - you'll have a great time here. The climbing is good, the cafe culture very good - all nice and relaxed (if the weather plays ball).

If you've got any Windsport skills then I'd recommend using them, the Squamish spit is covered in kitesurfers every day and it looks awesome (good place to watch). I've never used a kite but I'm pretty psyched to rent a Windsurfer and see if I can remember any of what I learnt in two weeks in Egypt! If not I'll stick to taking photos with a long lens.

[Grubes]

Thanks paul can't wait.
I think your back before I go so might run into you at some point.

Not done any wind sports before but I am willing to give any thing a go.
Have you done the grand wall?

[Paul B]

No, Nat has requested we take it a bit easy after Yosemite so this week we've been mostly (eating Raspberry Pop Tarts - sorry) just ploughing through the Top 100 list, mainly sticking to very accessible and pretty steady stuff. The Grand Wall is of course on my list (although our lists don't often align fully), was their a concern you had regarding it?

[Grubes]

Mainly if I can get my fat arse up it without having to aid entire pitches ...
My mate is keen as hell for it and so am I. Hes a better climber than me and happy to lead the crux pitches.
I heard most of the pitches are E1/E2 ish which should be fine after a week or two of adjusting to the rock type and building route fitness.
The crux pitches (the sword and split pillar) I heard is significantly harder (around E3/4). So just wondering what yours (and nats) experience of them was.

[metal arms]

Mainly if I can get my fat arse up it without having to aid entire pitches ...
My mate is keen as hell for it and so am I. Hes a better climber than me and happy to lead the crux pitches.
I heard most of the pitches are E1/E2 ish which should be fine after a week or two of adjusting to the rock type and building route fitness.
The crux pitches (the sword and split pillar) I heard is significantly harder (around E3/4). So just wondering what yours (and nats) experience of them was.

I did it with my missus.  Check out my logbook on UKC (same user name) if you want to see what kind of grades I normally climb.  I'll give you my thoughts on the pitches but obviously usual disclaimers apply...

P1/2 - Easy slab but run out.  Can run 'em together on 60's.
P3 - Starts easy but a couple of tricky/powerful moves to get to the bolt ladder, then easy aid to get to the belay ledge
P4 - Split Pillar Starts easy and then gets bigger and harder culminating in a few run-out chimney bit.  This is probably the most north-american style crack pitch.  On our first go in the cold I pumped out and fell off and then we abbed back to the floor as we were cold and miserable! 2nd go did it fine but still got very tired!  We took nothing bigger than a friend 4 so had to run the top out a bit but it felt fine.
P5- The Sword - Brilliant.  Great face style climbing on good holds/good gear above a huge amount of air with a powerful fingery layback to get to the aid ladder.  Probably E3...
P6 - Perry's layback.  Fully bolted.  Felt like a powerful 6b.  I only just onsighted it.  Keep going on it.  All the holds are good.
P7 - Slightly wierd slab move on it.  Kate pulled on the bolt because she couldn't reach the hold.  Fine if you're above about 5'9" I reckon.
P8 - Make sure you go up the right bit.  I went wrong (to the right if I remember but my memory is shit) and ended up on a big ass loose flake!  Spicy.  Fine going the right way though!
Done.
We finished up the black dyke which is fully bolted at about 6b. (4 pitches).

Enjoy if you get on it.  It was the only goal we had for our trip, but all the routes we did were brilliant.

[Johnny Brown]

There are three common starts - with potential for variations. The first time we did the usual layback crack off the deck, then easy slabs. Last summer we came in from the right to overtake some punters - no guide so made something up further right than normal - joining Cruel shoes I think? The two pitches up to the Split pillar tree ledge were good and didn't require any aid - but harder than the other options.

Split pillar is tricky to grade in British money - E3 5b? Never desperate but very sustained. Bits will be bold, not because there is no gear, but because you can't carry or place that much gear. I used a combo of laybacking and jamming.

Sword is good british style climbing - varied, choice of holds, hard E3. The aid ladder is a pain if, as is likely, you haven't done much aiding and you haven't got aiders. I wouldn't recommend taking any aid gear, just make sure you know what you're doing first.

Perry's layback is burly laybacking up an off-width flake. There are too many bolts. I remember cruising it on second but ended up resting last summer - if there were half as many bolts I reckon I'd have made it! Just too tempting to clip them... crux is at the end where you have to make a bit of a reach.

P8 - the loose flake is in the corner to the left, and ends in a poor bolt covered in tat. We made this mistake too. Correct version follows a line like and upside down question mark - undercut out right, then layback up then back left.

[metal arms]

There are three common starts - with potential for variations. The first time we did the usual layback crack off the deck, then easy slabs. Last summer we came in from the right to overtake some punters - no guide so made something up further right than normal - joining Cruel shoes I think? The two pitches up to the Split pillar tree ledge were good and didn't require any aid - but harder than the other options.

Oh yeah, we just walked along the ledge to do the slab start.  Because we're wimps and didn't want to do the Apron Strings start if we had a big day ahead of us!

Is Perry's layback harder than the 6b I was sandbagging on about then?!  Yeah there is too many bolts but I was glad of them.  Did I mention I'm a wimp?

[Johnny Brown]

No idea how to grade it really - though for various reasons I know a few who consider it the stopper pitch. We did it on our first day last year, boiling hot and badly jetlagged. The whole route felt a touch harder than I remembered.

[36chambers]

So me and the gf are heading to Vancouver next week to visit a friend and we're planning on staying in Squamish from Monday to Friday for two consecutive weeks. Mainly planning on bouldering around the Grand Wall area. I have been so busy with work that I haven't properly looked into anything yet.

So has anyone got any recommendations with regards to:
- accommodation; camping, airbnb?
- travelling there, is it worth renting a car in Vancouver?
- nice places to eat/visit around Squamish?
- should we go up the chief at some point, do we need a trad rack?
- must do boulder problems up to V11
- ideal number of pads to have
- good rest day activities, mountain biking?
- any other must do things whilst we're there?

cheers in advance

[SA Chris]

You can walk up the chief, or do various route options to get there either all the way, or traversing off to the path at ther top. We walked to the top with a minimal rack and did a few of the easy slabs just below the summit.

I'd definitely hire a car, or borrow one if you can?

Great mountain biking around Squamish, loads of bike hire options, or you can drive up to Whistler if you fancy some uplift. You can go kayaking in the sound, we meant to, but weather was iffy and never happened.

One or 2 pads should suffice, you can hire them in Squamish.

[shark]

Worth taking lightage. Looked to me like a lot of people did night sessions to get the conditions.

[Tommy]

I must be a total pleb as I loved the Howe Sound place and also Mags99. I even had to go one last time on the way back to the airport! The Howe Sound was good pub stuff - I suppose I like that crap.

In contrast I thought the Sushi place was not that great. All a matter of taste at the end of the day - me and Habrich are on a different league obviously ;-)

Likewise I echo the Whistler art gallery thoughts - me and Pete had a really good hour or two in there visiting and talking the employees. Really great. I saw quite a few people who looked broken from the mountain biking - be careful!

edit: actually, it can't have been the one Habrich mentioned as that wasn't around. Must have been another.

[Grubes]

I was a fan of the food at the howe sound too. Think we ate there 11 out of 20 days.
But I could of been the great beer made us ignore average food.

[SA Chris]

I liked Howe Sound too, but then I am a Burger and Fries kind of guy. Shame we had to drive to our accommodation in Brackendale, so one of us had to stay sober.

[Fultonius]

I liked Howe Sound too, but then I am a Burger and Fries kind of guy. Shame we had to drive to our accommodation in Brackendale, so one of us had to stay sober.

I thought beer didn't count towards drink driving in Canada, only the spirits.     

[SA Chris]

Given that Squamish was basically a set of roadworks when we were there (just before Olympics with S2S getting major upgrade) we struggled getting back even when sober!

[36chambers]

No one's mentioned anything about the bouldering, is it all choss?

[SA Chris]

You could just look up some of the previous threads...

http://ukbouldering.com/board/index.php?topic=12446.0