Canadian Road Trip 2nd stop: Squamish

After Gimli we cruised through Revelstoke, Pemberton and Whistler on our way to Squamish. We slept in Cache Creek on the way; umm avoid Cache Creek. We got 2 climbs in the day we got there: 2 pitches up a route we thought was 5.8 but it was actually 10d. Then, trying to find that 5.8 6 pitch route again (Calculus Crack) we ended up sending the 6 pitch 5.9 St.Vitus' Dance. Absolutely one of the best granite jam cracks I have ever climbed. We hauled a couple of beers up with us and proceeded to drink them at the top of the climb on Memorial Ledge. While drinking and taking in the scenery, who should solo by but Alex Honnold himself! He asked us where he was; Is Alex Honnold really asking us where he is?! Well, he wasnt where he thought he was so he just climbed on, in his approach shoes. We were so star struck we only managed a couple of last minute photos. The next day we climbed the uber classic 6 pitch route Diedre 5.8. We had to move as fast as the slowest climber before us so needless to say it took a long time to top out. But we met a bunch of cool people while standing in line. Yup, we stood in line. Not something Lucas or I ever do but that climb was worth it! We got back down to the climber's paring lot, cracked a case a beer, turned up the block-rocker and drank the whole thing. A couple of different parties pulled up chairs and drank with us. We got a weather forecast that night; rain rain rain. Thats climbing on the ocean coast for you. So the next day we drove down to Vancouver and took a different route to Castlegar. We got to drive through the Okanagan valley which is the fruit capitol of Canada and we also found Sasquatch!

I think this route is called Rock On? There are multiple starts; We found and climbed the hardest one, not on purpose. 

Looking up at the Apron from the parking lot.

Lucas following the epic 5.9 jam crack pitch on St.Vitus'.

Taking it all in, or chewing on a lemon; I dont know what that face means. 

Throughout my climbing career, my helmet has Always been crooked.

Mt.Garibaldi.

The good die young. This is one of 5 plaques on memorial ledge.

This is a powerful, emotional place. Being surrounded by those plaques really hit home about how precious and short life is.

That is Alex Honnold climbing Memorial Crack after a brief chat.

Paul McCartney is my first man-crush, he is a close runner-up!

Are you kidding me?

We celebrated in the parking lot. Thats Honnold's van with the lights on.

Heading up Diedre.

Some friction slabs to our right and the ocean in the background.

Chillin real hard. Waiting for the slow climbers above us to carry on.

Textbook dihedral. 

Canadian Road Trip, 1st stop: Mt.Gimli in Valhalla Provincial Park

Wow! My first trip to Canada! I have never heard anything bad about Canada but no one ever told me how awesome it is! Everywhere we went there were beautiful mountains, the biggest lakes you have ever seen, fairies, nice people, Tim Hortons' (Canadian McDonalds?), and NO cops. I really feel like I saw most of British Colombia (see map below). The entire road trip was over 3,000 miles. Lucas and I used his Toyota pickup which never left us stranded and got decent gas mileage. Two essential items to any road trip are gas and beer and the Canadians know it. It was something like $5 a gallon for gas and 24 packs of beer were almost $50! Now I know you're saying "Oh but the exchange rate levels that out." Nope. Not when its only 7cents in our favor! Of the 12 days on the road, only 2 of them were pure drive days. Getting to Canada was an all day thing but I got to see the pan-handle of Idaho which I had never seen before. Very very pretty place. I could spend some serious time in Sand Point. We didnt go straight to the Bugaboos as planned cause Lucas thought he was getting sick. So we found ourselves sitting at the Black Rooster bar in Castlegar chatting with the bar tender. He suggested we head North to Valhalla Provincial Park and climb Gimli Peak. I had heard of Gimli peak from Fred Beckey's book so after sleeping in the parking lot, we took off. A VERY bumpy road got us to the TH where we could see the iconic, uniquely shaped mountain. 2 hours after leaving the car, we were on top via the East ridge. The SW ridge is the classic climb but since we didnt do any research on it and knew nothing about it, we just scrambled to the top. The beauty of this place was overwhelming. Everywhere we looked rocky peaks and beautiful glacier-carved valleys caught our eyes. Definitely not my last time there.

Our first glimpse of the mountains.

Gimli

The classic SW ridge climb is the obvious ridge just right of center in the photo. 

Some climbers.

Another look at the SW ridge climb.

The view when we got on top of the East ridge. 

Looking North-ish from the summit, waiting for Lucas. 

Summit Cairn or as the Canadians call them 'Inuksuk'

Here comes Lucas. 

Posing with the summit register.

The ice on this lake looks like fungus growing on the water. 

Hilgard Peak: Tallest peak outside of the Beartooths in MT

A last minute 4th of July trip found Sam, Eric, Manfred and myself backpacking in to the southern Madisons for some camping, fishing and peak bagging (amongst other things). I have wanted to climb Hilgard for a while now and I finally got it. With that summit, I can now claim Bozeman's 5 summits. But I have more than that: Bridgers-Sacajawea, Big Belts-Edith, Tobacco Roots-Hollow Top, Pioneers-Tweedy, Madisons-Hilgard, Gallatins-Electric, Absaroka-Cowen, Beartooths-Granite (x3) and Cascades-Rainier. 5 miles of easy hiking got us to Avalanche lake, a perfect base camp for the peak (even though we couldnt see it). Friday evening we got to listen to/experience thunderheads sound off for ATLEAST one hour with no wind and sporadic rain. The whole cirque just shook when the thunder boomed. I have been in loads of mountain storms and never really experienced a thunder lightning-less storm of that magnitude. Go figure, it wasnt on the forecast. Sam and I had a casual morning before we took off for the summit Saturday morning. Eric and Manfred stayed back at camp and caught dinner, did some widdling, built a sweet fireplace-oven-thing and sun bathed. Sam and I crested the ridge separating Avalanche lake basin from Lake Eglise basin and were not really sure which summit was Hilgard. There are 3 peaks up there with multiple summits. Even though the other two seemed like better mountaineering objectives (harder) Hilgard is clearly taller so we went that direction. Easy snow walking put us on the standard route East ridge quickly and easily. Looking up at the ridge was fairly daunting. Its a pile of rocks with exposure. We just meandered our way up and with some class 5 moves we summited with no hardships. I was kinda bummed that the summit register was gone but oh well. We took some selfies and were back at Avalanche lake within 2(?) hours. We saw one Billy goat the whole trip. Back at camp, we feasted on fresh cutthroat cooked on a hot stone with no seasoning; just the way mountain trout was meant to be eaten. They have all the flavor you need.

A McAlpine start.

Avalanche Lake

Wicked storm rolling in.

Das es Hilgard

Summit proper is on the right. 

The Madison valley from the summit.

The famous slabby finish is that unbroken chunk of rock over Sam's right shoulder. Or you can walk underneath to keep things class 4.

Looking across the basin to the south. Avalanche lake is on the other side of the far ridge.  We booted up the snow to the low spot in the ridge. 

Hey nice hat!

Hilgard is a massive pile of rocks. There really isnt any unbroken slabs besides the one on top close to the summit. 

It doesnt really look like it, but Sam is in a very high consequence fall zone. 

Looking up the East ridge. Summit is hidden. 

The fastest and funnest way to descend a couple hundred feet; rain coat glissading!

Hilgard in the background post summit. 

Looking down at Avalanche lake. Notice all the trees? Now look at the previous photo. One of the most striking changes in flora I have ever noticed. One side of the ridge is forest, the other is all Alpine. Hmm. 

Manfred gurading the fish.

Dont worry dad, I see em. They aint going anywhere. 

Da camp.

Cutthroat, backcountry style. 

Eric put some time in making this awesome chef-friendly fire ring.

Biscuits with your clam chowder anyone?