Sea to Sky Trail -- anybody been on it?

[squamish climber]

There was an article in the May28th edition of the Georgia Straightabout the ongoing Sea to Sky Trail project and the section through Cheakamus Canyon.

I'm wondering if anybody's been on it through the canyon and if there are any new climbing possibilities in the Canyon. Post up if you have any info.
Here's the link to Sea to Sky Trail

[Dru]

It's the existing Starvation Lake trail through the Canyon, which has been around in one form or the other since the cattle drives of the 1860s. Culbert's 1974 guide mentions climbs along the trail. If you hike it today you'll see some interesting old routes - there's one nice dome with a roof crack with an old fixed pin and bleached-out sling about 15-20 minutes down from Hwy 99, and a bunch of other obscure stuff scattered around.

[squamish climber]

Thanks Dru, I knew I could count on you to have some knowledge on this. A nice dome and roof cracks sounds interesting... And the setting is kind of spectacular, kind of like Starchek++. It looks like you could combine it with a mtn bike ride. If anyone ventures down there post some pictures.

[Dru]

So I was actually motivated to hike the Starvation Lake trail from Paradise Valley to Hwy 99 today, been about 10 yrs since I last wandered it and it has been nicely refurbished recently.

This is the dome with crack I mentioned above. In the mid 90's it had a bleached sling hanging off a fixed pin visible at the roof. Sling is gone now. No idea if this has gone free or whether the sling just rotted off. It looks like it would be 10+ or so if given a good scrub? To find it, walk down the trail from Hwy 99 for about 15-20 minutes until the crag is visible on the left.


Front view


Side view

Here's a bonus view from the trail of the trestle that crosses the canyon. Trestle Tower (5.6 one pitch route from the early 1960s) is on the sunlit face of the leaning tower at the left end of the trestle. Star Chek is the shadowed arete behind the trestle in the distance with the sunlit talus cone behind it. You can see the Leaning Tower and the Two-Face area behind that talus cone too.



I remember about 1994 Andy Cairns and I went exploring for new routes in Cheakamus Canyon. We found our way down to the trestle and climbed Trestle Tower. The arete that is now Star Chek caught our eye and we were all "OMG, check out that unclimbed arete!". Then the sun came around and lit up the bolts and we realized someone else had already had the same idea

[squamish climber]

Hey Dru thanks for the pix. I know when I drive by the canyon on the highway I always wonder what's around the corner down there. So when I read the article and the went to the website on the trail it got me psyched to wander down sometime and check it out.

Still looks like there's a lot of new route potential and a chance put some second ascents on some forgotten climbs.

Anybody else been on the trail and have pictures?

[Dru]

Myles Holt tells me he climbed this crack on the dome a few years ago and that it goes at 10+. New anchors on top. The fixed sling was on an old home-made aluminum tube chock.

[kirk]

There's also a bunch of random bolts on a S.facing low angle slab opposite of the crag above. Climbed one route there a few years ago, it was similar to those routes to the left of Charlottes web at chek. It would make a good beginner area if it was in a more convenient location but aside from that it wasn't very exciting.