Squamish Days

If they knew how many black berries I would be stealing I doubt that they would have let me into their country. Canadians are a friendly bunch, especially those in Squamish, B.C. but no one likes to have all their fruit stolen. Kim and I kept a mindul eye out for the mountie filled two large tupperware containers with the fruit from behind the downtown grocery store. It was pleasant work- pick one, eat one, pick one, eat one, eat one, pick one, eat one, pick one, and repeat. Somehow, my container seemed to fill much slower than Kim's.

Thomasina spends most of her free time sewing these days. She sewed a black bag with a picture of Snoopy on it and the phrase "I'm kind of a big deal." I carry all of my bouldering supplies in it when we have climbed in the forest. That night, Tim, Kim, Dirty Bird, and I, went over to where Thomasina and Cedar are staying, she sewed a new patch on my ripped pants for me, while I baked a black berry pie.

Over pie and ice cream, I picked a cowboy patch for my pants to cover the enormous tear, that I got from bouldering at Way Lake. Climbing near Mammoth over two months ago, had been the last time that I wrestled little pebbles, and when I got to Squamish, I felt rather weak. I would like to say that the weakness left. I would also like to say that I am a billionaire. Unfortunately, I can say both but saying them does not make them come true. My cowboy patch made me feel tough though and I managed to make a decent attack on the native rocks.

The arete bulges high above the granite on the Squaw. Just to the right, is the notorious ffwidth Pipeline- a testpiece that I had taken an enormous lob off of my first summer in Squamish. A series of piches, sidepulls, and balancey climbing goes through a V4 boulder problem and into a difficult mantle towards the summit. Dave Morales belayed me when I dogged the pitch, then again when I almost sent the pitch on toprope. We rappeled from the top of the Squaw, leaving the Frayed Ends of Sanity (5.12c) for another trip. After two apple fritters, a blue berry muffin, and enough water to drown an elephant, we started up Freeway (5.11c). The climb went well, though I fell on toprope twice. I blame a lack of skin and feeling tired for my falls. Dave hiked the route and we managed to top out just as it was getting dark. We ran down the trail. The fifteen pitches of climbing that day, tired me a little (this is me spraying about how much of a hardman I am). The cowboy patch inspired me to kick myself with some spurs and get down in time for dinner.

Kim and I ate tortellini with bad pasta sauce for dinner. The weak American dollar, and the offensive amount of money I had to spend getting a pass port just before the trip(the pass port agency suspected me of being a berry thief), kept me on a budget. I am always on a budget though this one was titled Foreign Expenditures and the debits were written neatly in the checkbook of my mind. We had been eating better meals. The night before, Mary-Kate, Kim and I ate half off pizzas at the Howe Sound Brewery. They were moderately good for half off pizzas. The price was half off- which was good because if the sauce or cheese had been half off I would have demanded a refund. When we ordered, I wondered if they would fuck up my order. A few nights prior, we had eaten with Will Wolcott and Courtney Miyamato for their last evening in town. The brewery put mayonaisse on my chicken sandwhich.

"He hates mayonaise," Kim stared at Will's order of poutinne- french fries soaked in gravy and cheese curd. "It reminds him too much of semen. This morning at the bakery, he made the most disgusted face I'd ever seen. He never show his emotion but he looked absolutely devastated."

Will shared his poutinne while we waited for my sandwhich. The first one came with mayo, despite telling the waitress, "I'm allergic to mayo. Please don't put in on or my throat may swell shut." The staff at the brewery probably wanted to poison me. The second sandwhich came without the disgusting white goo and I made it through the meal without my throat swelling shut. This was one of my fears when going to the brewery for pizza with Mary-Kate. The pizza turned out ok though. They kept both halves of the cheese and the sauce on the dough and they didn't put any mayo on it.

Kim has had an impressive trip. She followed me up the Grand Wall 5.11 A0, pulling off her first wall ascent ever. She led her first trad route on a multi-pitch climb, she's doubled the number of trad leas she's made, and she had her best bouldering day ever here. Lately, her hips started bothering her. She fell off of Heartbreak Hotel and badly bruised/hit her hip bone. Pretty proud despite her injury!