Rock climbing in Squamish

Well, I am now both equipped and trained to climb outdoors, but I have to admit that my first experience was so-so. First, there was the weather, rainy and cold with the two last hours of our course spent under the pouring rain. OK, this is BC, but aren't we in July? Around 3 p.m., we were all wet and cold, not happy. Fortunately, we started the class early, around 9, so it was a good day's work.

The day course was enough to learn all the basics and safety precautions, rappel down a few routes and try actual rock climbing. Because the rock was really slippery, we only tried to do half a route, the Burgers and Fries in Smoke Bluffs. Problem is, this 5.7 route starts with crack climbing, basically you have nothing much to hang to but climb up by wedging your feet inside cracks. Well, for some reason, that didn't agree with me. I felt really unsure about the route and didn't make it really far up. I think I would have been more comfortable on dryer rock.

I added some pictures of the day on Flickr. Candice also took a few while I was climbing, I'll point to them as soon as she gets them online somewhere.

Today, we went shopping for outdoor gear at MEC. I bought a cordelette (5 meters of 7mm static cord to anchor around a tree), a prusik (1.5 meter of 7 mm static cord to use as a break for repelling), a double shoulder-length sling (nylon, to build an anchor), a single shoulder-length (nylon, to build a leash), a locking carabiner (again, for the leash), six straight-gate carabiners (anchoring) and a helmet. All I'm missing is a rope, but Sarah bough one and I wasn't exactly ready to spend another $200. Yes, 60 meters of climbing rope costs $200. Sarah and Candice bought extra equipment as well as two climbing guides with routes. Now we just need for the weather to cooperate :-)