Road to Chek

[J Mace]

Are you suggesting that the money spent by the UBC Varsity outdoors club was money well spent?

But I agree we should spend money and time fixing up forestry roads for people who cant get their kids strollers to the base.

[pinner]

As much as we'd all love to revel in the glory of our ideals of what trad climbing on undiscovered rock could/should be/once was in Squamish, the reality is that Squamish climbing is "full" already, and is only going to continue to grow at rates of 5-7% per year (if my memory serves), according to McLane's Squamish Climbing Strategy Report.

The majority of those climbers are/will be sport climbers, and pressure on Chek will continue to grow. A paved road, or at the least, as Dru suggests, a well-drained and maintained road, will be necessary soon (although the number of young gymrat neophytes in their 1986 Corollas and sparkly new Gri-gris will probably necessitate pavement. When I first got my Jeep, just because it was 4x4 didn't mean I new how to use it - the son of suburban yuppies with no offroad experience is quickly able to muck up even well built gravel). Another option is to close the road to vehicle traffic and build a larger parking lot at the bottom.

If you climb in Squamish regularly, or even infrequently but care enough to be posting here, and haven't read McLane's report, you are doing yourself a disservice, and don't care as much as you think you do.

I've got my copy printed and in a binder on my bookshelf with my guidebooks and topos. I suggest you give it a scan, even if it's just to see what's being proposed so you can decide to take a stance one way or the other.

check it out at http://www.squamishaccess.ca

[raingod]

Are you suggesting that the money spent by the UBC Varsity outdoors club was money well spent?

you should ask the folks lined up at the base in Summer

or you could ask the members of the VOC who spent the time and money

[Marty]

I agree with Peter, on busy weekends there just isn't enough room for all of the cars to be parking at the bottom of the road. I know because I own a Civic that can't make it up there.

Even if you fix up the dirt road, the road is steep enough that you'll get idiots spinning their tires, redeveloping the trenches. The road will likely be thrashed in short order.

Given the number of people that visit the Chek climbing area, and the continued growth of the sport, $40,000 doesn't sound like all that much. I bet you could also get a few climbing gyms in the Greater Vancouver area and equipment suppliers to help out with some of the cost if you ask nicely.

Are there any groups out there that are in place to organize something like this?

[Anders Ourom]

pinner: Let me know if you want a copy of some comments I submitted with regard to the Squamish climbing report. I tried to send a PM, but am not sure if it was successful. aiourom@telus.net

[gearheart]

Marty - both the SAS (Squamish Access Society) and CASBC (Climbers Access Society of BC) are working on this (see Peters post above re CASBC). The SAS's $40k estimate from last year for paving one section of the road was a very rough estimate only. The SAS is getting better estimates for more options as the next step.
If anyone is interested in helping out with this (or any other squamish access issue) please contact the SAS through our web-site - squamishaccess.ca
Todd

[Russianfront]

I have been up there the last 2 weekends. The steep bit just after the lower parking area is a bit bumpy, especially on the left but cars are making up up to the main big parking lot. While its mostly high clearance trucks & SUVs there I also saw lots of small cars. So its doable in any car if you don`t mind a little trashing on it a bit. I took the `hard line` up the left in my pathfinder just for fun. Don`t do this in a car if you like it the way it is. You`d be leaving bits of it on the road, expensive bits

[jefffski]

a couple of well placed culverts will fix this road, as most of the damage is from water running down it.