Whistler

I just came back from a trip to Whistler for the ISSW meeting. For those who don't know what this means, don't worry, I did not either. It's the international snow sience work shop, and it was actually a pretty good meeting. 800 people from the snow industry and about 60 presenters is quite a lot for a small town like whistler and an even smaller brain of mine. Luckily I was able to break things up with a few climbing sessions with my old buddy Jay. He moved to Pemberton a couple of years back and besides having a good visit with him, he showed me a few secret spots in the coastal woods. I felt a bit like a tourist with him, which was actually quite enjoyable. above is Jay cranking on the big show in Checkamus Canyon, the famous "Devision Bell" and the picture on top is a beautiful 12d in the Suicide area.
Although the weather was quite coastal (read pissing rain all week) we got treaded with a blue bird day for my last climbing day. Jay took me on a classic Squamish multi pitch route called "Freeway", a 12 pitch climb which was high on my hit list for the past decade. We had our self a really good time and I was able to on sight the climb, which I was quite proud of, since granite climbing is not my forte. After I hurt my shoulder on the descent with a stupid slip on a slick slab, I went for the 1000 km drive home.