Visiting Vancouver and new to outdoor climbing

[Mmmango]

Hi!

My boyfriend and I are spending a week in August in Vancouver (we're from Montreal... We'll also be in jasper for 3 days. Any help with jasper would be great too!) and I thought it could be fun to do some outdoor climbing! The thing is, we've never gone climbing outdoors on our own. We've gone on a few climbing trips with the McGill Outdoors Club and we climb (toprope) at an indoor climbing gym but I don't really know how we would just go out on our own. I have my own harness, shoes and belay device (my boyfriend doesn't... He usually rents) but we don't have any ropes or other gear, nor do we know how to set-up top ropes. Are there places where ropes are already set up and we can just climb? Or does anyone know of a group/club that goes out regularly that we can perhaps join? I'm looking for something that doesn't require us spending a ridiculous amount of money!!

Thanks so much!

[crazymonkey]

Hire a guide, hire a guide, hire a guide. Can't stress that enough. If you don't know how to set up or even double check an anchor, hire a guide. Any knob can go to a gearshop, outfit himself with plenty of shiny things and nylon things, and prance around the Bluffs like he owns the place.

Hire a guide.

www.squamishrockguides.com
www.westcoastmountainguides.com
www.tourismsquamish.com/activities/rock-climbing

You could also rent a crashpad from Dan at Climb On and go boulder.

[gnarnaphobe]

Any knob can go to a gearshop, outfit himself with plenty of shiny things and nylon things, and prance around the Bluffs like he owns the place.

Are you implying the the guides at squamish do not guide knobs...

..or that guides think that everyone who wasn't professionally taught rock craft is a knob?

or both?

[Tasgumby]

Hey guys, I just moved from tasmania to whistler and I read the comment about the bluffs. I wasn't going to mention it to locals, but now that you say it - that place is scary. I just went for a look around and had to leave because I was sure I was going to see someone go splat. Dude sketching at the anchors trying to figure out how to rap on his gri gri. Then got all offended when people tried to help him. Then some chick setting up to climb on a top rope with two daisy chains on her belay loop. Wtf?

[crazymonkey]

Not implying that at all, Garnaphobe, just referring to a couple people I've witnessed. The most memorable was a guy with a brand-spanking double rack up to a #4 Camalot, miles of webbing daisy chained all over his harness, setting up a toprope at B&F with an american death triangle, telling his two never-climbed before female companions how he does this all the time and totally knows what he's doing, throwing in words like "Yosemite" and "the Creek" for good measure. They trusted him. How would they know any different?
What I'm saying is that if you have no experience and want someone to take you out who you know you can trust, hire a guide. There's lots of safe non-guide climbers out there too. But as a newbie, would you really want to take that chance and wind up with Mr. Sketchypants?

[natsdad]

This happened a few years back, but the closest I ever came to getting hit on the head by a falling piece of gear was near the base of Quarryman. Some newbs were climbing it and somehow dropped a wired nut (fairly large size, too). I happened to see it coming just in time and caught it (otherwise it would have hit me on the head). Later, when they got back to the ground, I asked if they dropped this wire - and they were not even aware that they had....

Steve

[jipstyle]

This raises an interesting ethical question: does it count as booty if it falls from the sky and are you required to return gear that nearly killed you?

Discuss.

[NateDoggOG]

As far as I'm concerned, any dropped gear is fair game, especially if it almost kills you. As long as it is found by the bootineer before the original owner.

[jipstyle]

As far as I'm concerned, any dropped gear is fair game, especially if it almost kills you. As long as it is found by the bootineer before the original owner.

Agreed.

What if the booty is lodged in the unconscious bootineer (great word, btw) ... can the original owner reclaim the piece?

I say no. To the victim go the spoils!

[smallman]

If you are stupid enough to climb under anyone else, with or without a helmut, especially newbies, then you can't blame but yourself if you get hit by falling stuff.

[jipstyle]

Wow, you guys are killing the funny.

[skidrc]

Teh funnez, you mean.