Should We Stay or Should We Go?

We were planning on leaving Squamish yesterday...but we didn't.

Instead we aren't leaving until sometime next week.

We have been invited to a pig roast on Saturday (Amanda is so excited about that one...), so there's no way we can miss that!  And on Monday, this cool kid from Vancouver Island has offered to climb Angel's Crest with him on the Chief.  Angel's Crest is a 13 pitch traditional climb with several 5.10 pitches.  Amanda will not be joining in on the fun, but we have a pair of binoculars so she can watch me poop my pants safely from the ground.

I'll try to take my small camera with me, but fair warning, they will not be quality photos, but it does have auto-focus, so even I shouldn't be able to mess that up.

Also, next week, the temperature is supposed to drop creating great conditions for some of the harder lines we have been attempting in the forest.  Hopefully, we can wrap up some unfinished business in the forest and hit the road back to America, down the California coast's Highway 1 to Big Sur, and eventually the Yosemite Valley for a bit before settling down in Bishop California for a month or so for some more world class bouldering.

The Forest

Seems to me that we hit Squamish up at precisely the right time.  Three solid weeks of no rain.  I have no huge sends to report on, but Amanda on the other hand, has been crushing!

We have primarily been bouldering, but since it finally rained yesterday, we are heading to Checkamus Canyon today for some good 'ole fashioned bluff scalin'.

We were joined for a few days by Nashville natives, Jonathan Craig (all-around master of everything athletic) and Igor "I don't mind walking" Pusanov.  We have also been hanging out with friends I met when I first came here (this is my fourth trip) back in 2003, which has been a lot of fun.

We should be leaving here within the next few days and starting our slow move toward Yosemite National Park via Highway 1 down the Californian Coast.  We were going to ferry over to Vancouver Island for some sport climbing at Horne Lake, but we have decided to skip it since the Canadian Dollar is dominating our American Dollars ability to go very far up here.

Enjoy these photos that Amanda has taken!

Amanda on the Black Mark, V4...so close...

This is what we have to look at every morning when we wake up!

I know what you're thinking, Amanda looks stumped in this photo.  The reason?  Why can't Josh focus the camera!

Taking a stroll on the classic Tradkiller, V4.

Making progress and more funny faces on Worm World Cave, V9.

Amanda trying to figure out It's About Time, V5.

Squamish, B.C.

Yes.  Yes.  Yes.  We have arrived in beautiful British Columbia.  More notably, in Squamish.  Home to the gianormous granite monolith known as the Chief.  And just below the Chief, hundreds of granite blocks nestled in the forest.  We have been here nearly a week and have already run into many old friends who came back to Squampton in 2003--and never left!

On the way here though, we have a thorough history lesson in American Mining from tour guide extraordinaire, Shane Williams in Butte, Montana.  As well as meeting up with the prestigious Dr. Mike Majerczyk in Seattle for an awesome dinner with plenty of laughs.

Getting used to the granite, we will most likely only stay here a few more weeks before ferrying over to Vancouver Island for some sport climbing at Horne Lake.

This is all for now, enjoy some photos!

Amanda on the Squampton classic, Easy in an Easy Chair, V4.  Despite its name, there is nothing 'easy' about it!

Close up shot of the same problem.  Sweeeeeet.

Check this out #2

That, my friends, is the rare level 5 Kentucky Waterfall haircut that existed for somewhere between 3 to 4 minutes sometime shortly before we started the trip.  Amanda decided that since I may be mistaken for Lorenzo Lamas from the hit T.V. series Renegade ("and that's a bad thing?" I remarked.), I should most likely trim the latter off as well.  Here in the photo you can actually see myself mesmerized by the sheer mulletude of the cascading curls as they frolic over my right shoulder.  Already thinkin' about growin' it back out.

It's okay to be envious.

Leaving Ten Sleep

Today we are leaving the dolomite paradise we have grown to love over the past three weeks and are moving on to Butte, Montana.  This stop was not planned, but a very special friend is going to put us up for the night, the one and only, Mr. Shane Williams.

We should be in Squamish, B.C., within the week, and I know Amanda is ready to break in her new Organic crashpad on the boulders under the Stawamus Chief.

Besides bouldering, we will also be doing a little bit of sport climbing in Chekamus Canyon.  One wall in mind is known as The Big Show, and I remember seeing it in 2003 and thinking how crazy it would be to have the ability to climb on this wall.  It is huge and looks like a giant UFO crashed into earth!  We will definitely be posting photos.