The Climbing Life

Hello Again!

Even though it's mid-winter, the time has come to update my blog. I've been pretty dormant (climbing-wise) for the last year, as I finished my PhD and helped usher my son Rowan into the world. But lately, I've been in the bouldering gym here at UBC a fair bit, trying to get back in shape. I set here at UBC, which certainly helps my motivation.

I am also motivated because I'm working on a new bouldering area in Vancouver. It's only about a 20-minute drive from my house. There's probably room for about 400 problems, lots of which will be pretty hard. The climbing is mostly on short bluffs, but there are 10+ free-standing boulders as well. I've been prepping stuff, and laying out where the trails will go, but now I'm almost ready to start climbing. I was working my first problem there on Saturday (just before it snowed) - a short 2-move problem that'll likely be V4 - V6, and it felt good to be working new problems in a new area.

I've got a bunch of stuff prepped, and now those lines just need a good wire-brush scrubbing before I get on them. On the weekend I found that a small boulder that I had previously ignored will actuall have a couple of really nice short power problems on it, as well. I also found a new boulder hidden behind a fir tree - the largest free-standing boulder yet, will likely have 5 - 7 problems on it.

Anyways, I'm pretty excited. I'll post some pictures when I have them.

"Where is this area?", you ask. When I get 50 problems cleaned and sent, I'll post the directions here.

T.