SquamishClimbing.com

As many in the climbing community have heard, Tony Cousins died on July 28th, 2008 while climbing at Squamish. He was 70, and was rope-soloing "Sally Five Fingers" at the Little Smoke Bluffs. There will be a memorial service for Tony this coming Monday, August 11th, 2008 at 11:00 AM at Knox United C...

Oh well, I sit corrected. Was the highway and railway completely closed for 12 days in 1991? I wonder if somewhere in the bowels of the Ministry of Highways someone has information on closures?

From the news media today, it sounds like bus companies are trying to arrange buses to take people Squamish-Whistler-Pemberton-Lillooet-Hope-Vancouver. I suspect it'd be a six or seven hour trip by bus, as it's a fairly windy and hilly route - not a scheduled bus route, I suspect. But it may be an a...

There is a road from Pemberton to Harrison Hot Springs. It's probably not a realistic alternative, even if you have a suitable vehicle and experience, and it will still probably take less time to go via Duffey Lake and Lillooet. After branching off the Duffey Lake road (highway 99), it's a gravel ro...

The last lengthy closure of the Vancouver-Squamish highway that I can remember was in August 1975. There was a large collapse/slide about 2 km south of the current one, that closed the highway for a week. There've been several short closures, both weather and slide related, but none of similar lengt...

I just noticed that the forum has now transmogrified me into a "junior member". Who'd a thunk it? I vaguely recall signing up as a grown up or something.

Gary: Please fix asap. Just don't put me down as 'sport' or a 'gym' climber.

The Ministry of Transportation and Highways has now announced that the closure will be for five days. The slide area is about 75 metres long, and covered in up to 10 metres of debris. http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=4d2f2262-e433-42e4-b27f-a3228f38df3f It doesn't appear that it...

Headline in tomorrow's Squamish paper:

"Rock slide closes Sea to Sky Highway. Vancouver isolated."

In answer to the original post, the one piece of equipment that will make falling on slabs a bit safer is a helmet. It's not hard to develop the art of taking slab falls safely - some mental and physical agility are all that's needed. "I think that the hardest slabs in Squish are the second pitch of...

Eric and Daryl graded the Split Pillar 5.9 when they did the first free ascent in 1975. With the possible exception of a move low down, it probably is 5.9, although quite sustained and strenuous. It is similar to many Yosemite cracks that were climbed in the 1960s and early 1970s, and also graded 5....

The Eryl Pardoe Memorial Hut was built on the Dance Platform in 1971. Pardoe was active in the Vancouver area in the late 1960s - I believe he had emigrated here from Wales. He died in an accident on American Border Peak in July 1970 - see Canadian Alpine Journal 1971, page 53. There is a report on ...

It seems to have worked. Hopefully Gary won't be perturbed - I don't recall seeing many photos posted to threads here. The three bongs are (L - R) a 5.7" LongWare, a 5.2" LongWare, and a 3.5" Chouinard. I won't clutter up the website with the other gear pictures - there's half a dozen on SuperTopo.

I was recently given some climbing equipment by the family of Leif Patterson, including some that was probably used on the first ascent of Pipeline, and other routes at Squamish in the 1960s that he climbed. It includes several 5" - 6" LongWare aluminum bongs, which were quite unusual pieces. I post...

Greg Cameron's (short) story about his climb of Pipeline is at http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/threa ... _id=204679

A correction/update to the earlier post - the fee at Braesyde will be $10/vehicle/day, not $5.