Ann and I were in Vancouver for a few days, before going skiing at Whistler and on to visit Ann's parents in Prince Rupert. Weather permitting, we had plans to climb in Squamish for a few days, and even made our friend go buy a headlamp for some of the longer climbs. I really wanted to do Diedre , a very popular six or seven pitch climb on The Apron. With three people, waking up late, and an unknown approach and descent, that spells headlamp. Turns out the approach is 5 minutes and the descent is 20 minutes at most, so we didn't need headlamps. But that was a moot point, because Ann and Vini never made it to the cliff. Less motivated, I guess.

So there I was, trotting up to the Neat and Cool cliff, in the Little Smoke Bluffs section. Lots of climbers were about, and I quickly ran into Aaron, who had been rope soloing. We roped up together, and I led Corn Flakes. I guess I looked at least somewhat competent, because Aaron proposed doing something longer, on the Apron. I jumped at the chance, and we were soon climbing the two dirty, wandering pitches to the Baseline ledge, on the left side of the Apron. A few good moves, but mostly pretty dirty. Aaron led the two pitches of Vector, and we exited on the last short pitch of St. Vitius Dance. This line used to be a dirty crack that someone took the time to clean, and the result is a stellar full rope length pitch. A couple of wider sections at the start give way to great jamming in the steeper section. It was quite worth the two dirty pitches up to the Baseline. The descent involves some exposed moves on a ledge at the top of the Apron, and walking down this pretty steep slab. I came back very, very happy with my first day.

The next day it rained, and I don't remember what we actually did (rented some movies, I think). Friday the girls again decided to stay in town, and so I was at Neat and Cool again, dropping my line down Cat Crack. After top-roping that with the Soloist, I hooked up with a couple from Norway, Tomas and Anke. We toproped several of the other lines at Neat and Cool. Flying Circus is an amazing finger crack. The grades at Squamish are pretty soft, but even so it would be a great accomplishment for me to lead that pitch. With various degrees of apprehension we watched this girl free solo, up Cat Crack and down Corn Flakes. She did three laps. Was in a rush, she said, and did not have time to rope up. I ran into her again the next day, when she was leading what looked like a pretty hard crack, this time with a rope and gear. I finished the day by leading Mosquito, followed by really nice exit pitch called Phlegmish Dance which was a Peter Croft solo FA back in the late 70s. Some physical laybacks were required on the first pitch, then some cool stemming in the exit corner. The gear is plentiful, if you can hang out and place it. I love granite !!!

I was back at the cliff on Saturday, this time climbing with my friend Dan, who actually used to climb with my dad in Romania. He's about midway between my dad and I age-wise. Aside from staying on the couch for the last two years and carrying some extra lbs as a result, he is very, very good. He still led a mixed 5.10b. Because the Apron was still pretty wet from the rain on Thu, we went to the Burgers and Fries cliff, again in the Little Smoke Bluffs section. I led Burgers and Fries, we toproped some slab routes, and then headed to the Penny Lane cliff. My last lead of the trip was Quarryman a really nice corner, followed by some pretty exposed, but well protected exit moves.

It was on to skiing from there. I was very happy to get some climbing in, and the weather turned out not to be such a factor. The Little Smoke Bluffs dry out very quickly, so it is possible to climb around the rain. Its a different story with the longer routes. The rock quality is either very bad (on the dirty "approach" pitches ) or very good (on most of the well traveled routes). The setting is spectacular, cliffs are overlooking Howe Sound and snow capped mountains can be seen all around. All in all, a fantastic climbing destination.

List of Climbs

• Corn Flakes (5.6)
• Cat Crack (5.6**)
• Burgers and Fries (5.7*)
• Quarryman (5.8***)
• Vector (5.8**)
• Mosquito (5.8**)
• Phlegmish Dance (5.8***)
• Flying Circus (5.10a***)