Bouldering Guides to Giscome, Hedley, and Godman Creek

In an effort to make them accessible to as many people as possible, I have decided to make the three bouldering guides I have produced in the past available on this blog. They are 'copies' of the original guides, as I am making them available via Google Docs. This virtually guarantees that most people will be able to print copies of the guides if they wish (although the quality may be somewhat less than the original PDFs). I'll also provide links to active URLs where the original PDFs are hosted. Happy Bouldering!

The Giscome Boulders, near Prince George (BC). A fun little bouldering area on reasonably decent granodiorite. Only 50 problems, but several are of exceptional quality, including Fear of Flight (V2), Solar Power (V4/5), and Amon Ra (V10). This was the first guide I wrote (back in the late 90's, I think), and the grades are 'Northern Rockies Stiff', i.e. notably stiffer than those of Squamish. The Google Doc version of the PDF can be found HERE, and the original PDF (requires Adobe Reader) can be found HERE.

The Old Hedley Road Boulders, between Princeton and Hedley (BC). This is a fun area in the arid south of the province, and could ultimately hold a few hundred problems. A few friends and I spent a several days there, cleaning stuff up, and had lots of fun. The rock is a generally solid granodiorite (some boulders have smooth water-worn features), and the landings are often very flat and sandy. There is an AMAZING swimming hole nearby, with some very fun deep-water soloing over a deep, clear, warm pool in the Similkameen River. Standout problems include Scot's Cave (V7/8), Inner Vision (V5), and Nose Job (V1). The boulders are essentially scattered at the base of a talus slope adjacent to a Provincial Campground; only a short walk from your campsite to the boulders! The Google Doc version of the PDF can be found HERE, and the original PDF (requires Adobe Reader) can be found HERE.

The Godman Creek Boulders are located in West Vancouver, just off the Sea-to-Sky Highway that links Vancouver and Squamish. I was pretty heavily involved in the development of this area, after discovering it on one of my many 'boulder-hunting' forays (some people hunt mushrooms, other hunt for bargains, I hunt for boulders). The problems at Godman Creek are generally on short bluffs of granite similar to Squamish. The problems here are generally slabby, although there are a few steep lines as well (including Jenga V4). There are several decent lines here, althought the REAL classic of the area is the highball Moby Dick (V1), cleaned valiantly by Ronald Gagne. Other great problems include Trent's Baby (V4) and Trouser Trumpet (V2). The Google Doc version of the PDF can be found HERE, and the original PDF (requires Adobe Reader) can be found HERE.

Enjoy!

Gym Projects

In the wake of last month's competition, the walls of the GPRC climbing gym were a little thin, so Julian and I spent four hours last night setting routes and boulder problems. I had thought we were only going to set for a couple of hours (from 9 until 11), but Julian is a machine, and we ended up setting until almost 2am. We had a productive time, though. Julian set two routes, and I set a route and five boulder problems. We were mostly setting moderate routes, and three of the five problems I set were fairly moderate. I did manage to set a couple of harder problems as well; these new lines, combined with all the new problems that Julian, Steven, and Noah set, will mean that the gym is well-stocked with projects for the next month or so. Spring training will be fun!

Spring is almost here! I am planning on heading out to Hasler in the next few weeks, to start climbing and cleaning new projects. More to come!

Training!

Many people (myself included) primarily just climb (mostly in a gym) to train for climbing. There are those, however, that REALLY train to climb - and reap the benefits when they become monstrously strong. Markus Bendler is one of these people. Check out this video (first in a series).(Go to http://vimeo.com/36429174 if the link doesn't work for you).

Eisprinz - Chapter one (with Markus Bendler) Indoor Training from Berni Kogler on Vimeo.

Hasler Cracks

Spring is slowly, but surely, coming to the Peace River country. With spring, of course, will come climbing. New projects, new boulders, routes to be bolted, cliffs to be climbed. I'm excited to try and climb the four hard cracks at Hasler Bluffs this year. I know at least 2 (maybe 3) of them have been done, but the fourth may remain unclimbed. Regardless, they all look great - thin cracks up faces that are either steep slabs or vertical faces. Here's a photo of Pressure Cooker (5.6 A1, with the A1 section being the thin crack that constitutes the bottom 3/4 of the route). Would be nice to climb this thing...

Le Reve!

Jonathan Siegrist, already known for impressive ascents of Lucifer (.14c, The Red), Waka Flocka Flame (.14c, Rifle), Just Do It (.14c, Smith Rock), has made the first ascent of the amazingly steep Le Reve (possibly .15a) in Arrow Canyon, Nevada. You can check out the amazing short film of his ascent of this monster route on his blog. Well worth watching!

Rock Out With Your Chalk Out!

I spent last Saturday afternoon in the chalky haze of a climbing gym, filled a sense of deja vu. I was at the GPRC Climbing Gym in Grande Prairie, setting problems for their annual bouldering competition, "Rock Out With Your Chalk Out". It had been a few years since I had set for a competition, but having done it so often, it was easy to step back into the role and put up some fun problems. "Hmmmm... deadpoint out to this pinch, then we'll have them cross up to this huge pinch... then match, throw for a sloper..." Like riding a bicycle; once you've set for a number of competitions, it comes easily. I was only one of several setters for the comp, though, and all 27 of the problems were good - lots of varied movement, lots of cool holds. Oddly, I set three of the easiest problems in the comp, and the two hardest (no moderates for me, this time!). One of the hard problems I set was a world-cup style problem at the base of the lead wall. Big moves, lots of technique, big finish. The other hard problem was a long, techy, involved roof problem on big pinches and slopers. I didn't get the chance to finish them during the setting, so I am looking forward to getting on them this week.

It had snowed a LOT the night before the comp, so I was worried that attendance would be poor. My fears evaporated as people started pouring into the gym an hour before the comp - there were almost 30 competitors, which is a good number for this small gym. Scorecards in hand, the competitors poured into the gym. Julian had built and installed a number of new volumes before the comp, which really added to the excitement. After a half-hour or so, everyone settled down to the business of working and sending problems. Thanks to the organisers and the setting, the comp went over smoothly, with lots of energy, and no big mishaps.

Huge thanks to the sponsors of the competition - Valhalla Pure Outfitters in GP, and Starbucks (coffee for everyone!). Julian and AJ did a great job organising the comp, and all the setters came through with quality problems.

It was fun being part of a comp that is a little removed from the regular comp scene. There was a lot of competitive energy, but everyone's focus was on having a good time. I do have to say one thing - the GPRC Junior Team REALLY needs to work on its comp skills! :) No attempts to read the problems before they got on them, no strategizing... As an ex-coach myself I could see room for improvement!

Here's a few photos of the comp, taken by Julian. Enjoy! (The guy is the hat and blue shirt is yours truly...) One last thing... the guy in the white tank top (name unknown to me) is probably the most positive guy I've ever met at a comp. Props to him!

RESULTS

Womens OPEN: Carlee 2510
Womens ADVANCED: Michelle 1490, Keria 1400
Womens NOVICE: Ashley 1090, Kate 1000, Cheri 900, Breanne 890

Mens OPEN: Carl 3000, Andrew 2870, Jacob 2230, Dom 980
Mens ADVANCED: Tristen 2310, Devin 2270, Rogan 2240, Dwayne 2110, Corey 1990, Tyler 1870, William 1600, Shea 1370, Lawrence 1290, Chris 1280
Mens NOVICE: Troy 1970, Brad 1090, Cody 1060, Jared 1000

Now, my only wish is that all of these people would come and climb at the gym on a more regular basis! The gym needs more energy!

Field of Dreams

Google Maps has changed the face of bouldering. "Nonsense!", you say. "How could a piece of corporate software / web application change bouldering at all?" The answer, of course, is that online satellite imagery has allowed climbers to prowl the world looking for new bouldering areas. In Colorado, for instance, several new areas have been found using Google Maps (or Google Earth).

Unfortunately, the resolution of the Google Maps satellite imagery for much of Canada is too low to look for boulders. On a whim, I tried looking at the National Geographic map too (powered by Bing), and was surprised to find that for some areas, they have much better (higher resolution) imagery. I spent some time scoping out the boulders at Mt Babcock (near Tumbler Ridge), and was excited to see that the boulders were FAR more extensive than I had previously thought. I had bouldered at Mt Babcock several years ago, establishing several problems with Shelley and our good friend Curtis Sauve. But now it seems that we had been only to the most minor of the areas at Mt Babcock. The really exciting areas (expanses of apparently huge boulders) are still waiting for a visit!

I have compiled a image of the entire Mt Babcock boulders. I was going to keep it to my myself, but decided against it. Enjoy!