Squamished

It was promised. I didn't really believe that it would happen, but the rain came and it seems like it wants to stay. I am sitting in the Squamish Adventure Centre, drinking great coffee, looking out on the Chief through 10 foot glass windows and watching the rain come down. There will be no action today. But, to be fair, a second rest day is probably not the worst thing that has ever happened. I climbed my first four and was destroyed. We visited Vancouver yesterday, ate yum cha, watched some Wimbledon action and cruised, but I'm still a little blasted, so happy to work on my caffeine addiction, a task to which I have shown rare dedication.

The view from my van in the morning.

Big Chicken, V10 

Anubis, V7

So, the first days of my trip have been amazing and I am absolutely loving Canada. Such a stunning country; rugged, primal and untouched beauty everywhere. The people are pretty great as well, many of whom share an Australian sense of humour with a few little extra quirks thrown in for good measure. A certain camaraderie and confidence that encourages the flagrant use of high-fives, outrageous positive-reinforcement of the most benign behaviour, but mostly just general good-naturedness that is hard to fault.
Oh, and the climbing is pretty awesome also. Four days of climbing in a row, did seem like it might be a little excessive, but it all turned out ok, especially since I was out with some great people. I hadn't seen Aimee and Reagan in six years, so kicking round the forest with them was a treat. They are great fun and always the best of company, really can't believe I have waited this long to visit them. But, as it always is with great friends, it seems like it was just yesterday that we were hanging out in the Gramps, fighting off heat exposure and plagues of flies. Ah, the memories...

Anyway, I digress, the guidebook contains a list of the 'top 100' problems in the forest as well, so trying to tick off as many of these as possible is a nice little mission to have as well. Over the last couple of days I've managed, Resurrection V9, a super classic highball with some nice long moves, Big Chicken, V10, (Video) Grampians style pulls between good holds on a steep wall and a heap of other moderates. Now it's just down to waiting for the weather to improve and fighting off the caffeine shakes...