Summer 2014 Epic Road Trip Part 3 – The Long Way Home

Well, looks like I’ve headed as far East as I’ve planned to go. I guess it’s time to slowly make my way back to the Westcoast. But first, there’s going to be some detours! Was driving the Crowsnest Pass and came across Frank Slide. It was pretty crazy. It’s where a rock slide happened in 1903 in the little town of Frank in the middle of night. 90 million tons of rock came down and took out the Eastern edge of Frank, the coal mine, and the railroad. It killed 70 – 90 people. Apparently they’re still buried in the rubble.

Next stop was Nelson! Met up with a few friends and stayed there for the majority of the week. This town is pretty awesome. Good food lots of young people, and surrounded by mountains.

Spent the morning rock climbing at Raven Wall in Castlegar with a few friends. Great climbs! Was able to flash a 5.11a and projecting a 5.11b. Until next time!

Back on the road again! Heading out West.

Made it back to the coast! Met up with a friend and enjoyed a sunset at Crescent Beach. Always a great place to just hang out.

Next day, picked up my friends from the ferry and off to Squamish for the weekend before I had to head back to reality. Haven’t been here in years, so it was amazing checking it out and seeing how much I’ve improved. Great times!

What an amazing trip! Great rock climbing, great friends, great food, lots of nature… Life can’t get any better than that… Well, I guess it’s back to reality. Stoked to see what lies ahead! Definitely more adventures to come!

Summer 2014 Epic Road Trip Part 1 – Chasing A Waterfall

First off, I’d want to say I’m really sorry for the lack of updates. Things have been really busy – working, rock climbing, sorting out some photography things, and road tripping. Hopefully I’ll get caught up on all my work soon…

I decided to go on a two week road trip. It was something I had to do because last year I wasn’t able to go on a trip, so I was really itching to get out there. I got the chance to meet up with a bunch of friends along the way. It was definitely great seeing them again It’s been too long! And this was actually the first time I’ve ever done a trip by myself (well… Drove all over the place by myself), so it was something out of my comfort zone because I had long days of driving and I always felt like I needed a partner in crime when doing trips like these. But I was glad I went for it!

My trip started on July 11th (Friday) right after work. Packed up my car and headed for the ferries. Spent the weekend in Squamish doing a trad/multi-pitch rock climbing course (no pictures for that). Then on the Monday, I was off to my next destination – Lake Louise. Met up with a friend and her friend and camped at the Lake Louise campground. The next day we climbed Takakkaw Falls. It was my first big multi-pitch climb, so I was really stoked about it. 12 pitches rated at 5.6.

 

Here’s a picture of our camping spot. Rise and shine! Ready for an epic day!

Here is the beauty we’re going to be climbing.

After climbing up all that scree at the bottom, we were ready to rock! This is Sean leading the first pitch I believe.

Joy leading the second pitch.

4th pitch – just a little bit of traversing.

This next pic was great. This is the view you got after coming out of the rocks on pitch 7.

So much focus…

The next one is the 11th pitch. It’s not really a pitch… It’s more like climbing through a 200ft tunnel near the top of the waterfall. So awesome!

Joy finishing up the last pitch!

We made it to the top!

After hanging out for a little bit, it was time to get back down. This is Joy setting up the first rappel.

Thank you Joy and Sean for bringing me up this amazing climb! You guys rock! What an epic way of starting the road trip. So much beauty.

Next day, it was time to head over to Calgary, so I made a quick stop at Lake Louise to snap a few shots.

Stay tuned for the next part of the trip!

More Rock Climbing At Nanaimo River

On Aug 25th, Bethany, Lauren, Chrissy and I decided to go rock climbing for a day in Nanaimo River (Dion and Marilee were going to meet up with us later on). Chrissy has never climbed outdoors before, and Bethany and Lauren were always itching to do more rock climbing outside. We finally were able to arrange a day where all of us weren’t busy. So off we went!

The awesome part about Nanaimo River (Sunny Side) is, it’s a short hike to the crag. And once you get there, it’s an amazing view from up top, and then you get to rappel down. It’s always a great time!

Lead climbing a route called “Green (5.8)” (Thanks Lauren for taking some pics of me!)

Now that a top rope has been set up, it’s Bethany’s turn.

Lauren’s turn!

And this is Chrissy’s first outdoor climbing experience.

After this, we moved over to a really interesting corner climb. So after I set up the top rope, I stayed up at the top so I could take some pictures from up top. I’ve never done this kind of photography before, so it was new to me (which was really cool!). This route is called “Jamaica Jerk Off (5.7)”. Lauren was first to go on top rope!

Bethany’s turn on the route.

And Chrissy is next…

And look who finally showed up! Dion and Marilee!

Afterwards, we did a few more climbs… Lauren found a frog in a hole in the wall. It was an awesome day! Great to see Chrissy climb so well on her first time! As well as seeing the progress on Bethany and Lauren! Sooo proud of you all. It makes me super stoked seeing you all stoked on climbing and just getting better and better each time. Can’t wait for our next outdoor adventure!

Rock Climbing at Nanaimo River’s Sunny Side

Well…. Since I’m working full time now, I have to really take advantage of the weekends. Soooo what do I do? I go outdoor rock climbing! My friend Nashira came to make one last visit to Victoria before she moves to the interior (booooo!!), so Nashira, Dion, and I went to Nanaimo River for an awesome day of climbing on Sunny Side. I love this place! I also love the random chairs… Great view.

Also there’s a nice view of the river.

Once we finished taking pictures and admiring the view, we decided to get some rock climbing done! We decided to get to the bottom the cool way. Which is rappelling down with our gear. It’s always a good time.

This is Dion on Psychobabble (5.9) (the climber on the left).

This next route is called Jamaica Jerk Off (5.7)

While we were climbing, Nashira had homework to do.

This has become a pretty awesome day. I FINALLY finished one of my projects. The route is called Pseudo Placenta (5.11a). And my goal for this summer was to send a 5.11 route – which means climbing it without taking a fall or break. Soooo stoked!

photo by: Nashira Birch

Photo by: Nashira Birch

What an amazing day! So stoked to see what other projects I’ll be able to finish this summer!

Chilling on Mt MacDonald

Dion and I went rock climbing on June 30th at Mt MacDonald. Both of us were running a bit behind that day, but I was glad we had a really late start because it was SUPER hot out.

We got to the climbing area and decided it was going to be a really chill day because of the temperature (luckily it was late afternoon and the sun was slowly going down by the time we got there). We started with a 5.10a route (??) that wasn’t listed in my guidebook. Did another run at it, then afterwards took our food to the top and ate our supper while enjoying the amazing view from up top. After a good meal and a good chat, it was getting late, so we had to rappel down, pack up and head back home… Overall we didn’t do much climbing at all, but it was such a great time just talking and hanging out with a good friend. Here’s to more awesome days of climbing!

Photo Credit: Dion Manastyrski. http://earthpics.ca

Photo Credit: Dion Manastyrski. http://earthpics.ca

Rock Climbing at Nanaimo River’s Darkside

Well, it’s been a few years since the last time I was here. Dion and I saw a break in the weather, soooo we decided to do some awesome rock climbing at Darkside. Once we started hiking to the climbing area, a huge wave of flashbacks from the last time we visit hit me. That was when I knew it was going to be an amazing day. We had a late start, but oh well… We’re outside! So let’s get our climb on!

This is our hike into the climbing area. It’s such a unique place! Walls on either side of you… These pictures don’t do it justice.

We set up shop and had lunch in the area. Afterwards, we were ready to climb! This is Dion rappelling on Puppets On Strings (5.9). We weren’t able to take pictures while climbing because it was just the two of us…. Oh well..

After a few warmups, we were onto Too Much Boogie (5.10c). Excellent route! Nice and high, tricky in some spots, and fun! This is one of my projects. One day I’ll send it. And this was the last climb of the day as it started getting dark.

Rock Climbing at Mt MacDonald

On May 27, Nashira and I went for a quick climb at Mt MacDonald. It was my 2nd outdoor climb of the season, so it was great knowing that the weather is warming up. It was raining a little bit lately, but hopefully it will be a better summer than last year!

After the short trek up the mountain, Nashira realized she forgot her climbing shoes. So she had to do a few routes in her bare feet. She toughed it out!

The next two pictures are of Mt Wells. Can you spot the climbers??

Happy to be climbing!!!

The view from up top. Not bad at all.

Rock Reel Film Tour 2011 Hits Victoria

Wow, I just realize I forgot to blog about the Rock Reel Film Tour. So that means I’m a couple of weeks late, BUT the tour is still going, so if you get a chance to catch it, go watch it because this is a great film! This all went down at the Vic Theatre. There were a lot of times where I would be sitting on the edge of my seat trying to sit still with my sweating hands, because some of these films were intense!

Big UP Productions, Sender Films, and others team up to showcase six different main films and a bunch of little short films.

Cold: A group of alpinists, Simone Moro, Denis Urubko, and Corey Richards decide to summit an 8,000 meter mountain in Pakistan, Gasherbrum II. -50 degree temperature, avalanches, etc etc.

Project Dawn Wall: Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson goes to Yosemite to attempt to free a route on the Dawn Wall. Check it out as they talk about their adventure of pitch after pitch of 5.14’s.

Ice Revolution: Will Gadd dreamed of ice climbing a place that’s overhang filled with icicles and a lot of difficult ice. After 30+ years of ice climbing, he finally gets to visit such a place that he thought only existed in his mind. So he teams up with Tim Emmett on a crazy adventure to Helmcken Falls.

Sketchy Andy: Andy Lewis got into slacklining, then as he got more into it, he went to the next level and start doing really long high-lines and masters aerial tricks. He’s constantly pushing his confidence to the next level. Some might say he’s crazy…

Race For The Nose: What else is there to say about this? One of the most craziest competitions ever – speed climbing the Nose route of El Capitan in Yosemite. This is where anything goes…. Racing up the 3,000 feet rock face in under three hours.

Origins: Obe And Ashima: Nine year old girl, Ashima Shiraishi from New York City finds her passion in rock climbing. Her coach, Obe Carrion coaches this rock climbing prodigy and takes her to competitions, sending V10’s (if not harder), etc.

Overall, it’s an awesome film. I enjoyed every second of it, and after watching it, I wanted to climb even more. Such inspiration! So check it out if they’re playing near you, or the DVD is coming out soon, I believe… But here’s the trailer if any of you are interested.. Climb on!

Victoria Rock Climbing In Late October

This summer was definitely a weird and short one. It rained quite a bit, and we only had about a month of real summer weather. So as you know, you need good weather to go outdoor rock climbing… August was amazing. September it started to rain a little bit. October wasn’t any better, but then I saw a window of opportunity last week. Two days of sun! One day to dry the rock, the other to climb. I NEEDED to squeeze in one more day of climbing before putting my gear into storage. So Nashira and I decided to go for it! I must say… It was such an awesome day of climbing, AND it was a place I’ve never been to! The whole day I had a big smile on my face. Didn’t take many pictures, but at least here’s a few!

A pretty sweet view from the top of the climb!

This next picture is composed of 9 pictures. I wanted to do a panoramic shot but instead of taking the pictures horizontally, I chose to try it vertically. Across from us is Mt Wells where I do a lot of climbing…. Such a beautiful day! And it was warm which is really odd for island weather. Click on the pictures for a higher resolution.

So I’m hoping I’ll be able to squeeze in one or two more climbing days… Crossing my fingers.

Week 34 of HDR Project: Mt MacDonald

Nashira and I went to Mt MacDonald on Monday to do some outdoor rock climbing. So I thought this would be a rad place to take a HDR pic. So this is the view from the top of the climb! Not too bad. A nice view of Mt Wells. I’ll be posting a few more pictures soon!

10mm, ISO 200, F8