Ed_Seedhouse

I think you should always avoid a single failure point whenever possible. That's one reason rappelling is so relatively dangerous, since you can't avoid the single point of failure problem. You always want to be in situations where two things have to go badly wrong to cause disaster. Sometimes you can't do it and one point of failure is better than none. Maybe things have changed since I was climbing. These days the stairs are around 5.2 for me...

I still have fond memories of Slab Alley...

Well, on the other side of the Nomash valley you have the Haihte range with plenty of verticality, admittedly on volcanic rock. It's worth a trip up the Nomash main just to gawk at the face of Rugged mountain that glowers over it. But the area is not for those who want to step out of their cars onto the rock, that's for sure.

Not really. I was part of a few trips in the first half of the 2000's, but haven't been back for awhile. At 66 years and a buggered foot I'm not really up to climbing these days (not to mention the excessive weight). Not much going on up there these days, so if you are in a mood for some real exploration and new routing if you are young and would like to develop some untouched rock.

Google Earth has added some new high resolution coverage on Northern Vancouver Island recently, and for the first time this gives a good view of the Wapiti Valley area and Dale Earnhardt dome. Point your program to 49.990854 degrees north and -126.727756 deg. west, the approximate position of the foot of the big slab. Still not as detailed as I'd like, but individual trees are resolved quite nicely and the form of the dome is very clear. You'll know you are in the right area when you see the distinct keyhole shaped hanging lake at 848 meters on the coll between the dome and Bowhead peak. Also is shown a fair amount of steep territory to the west of Grayback peak, notably a steep wall on Bryde peak from about 850 to 1100 meters, and a large white slab on the south side of the ridge betwen Lukwa mountain and Greyback, extending from about 550 to 775 meters altitude, about 350 meters of slab according to the ruler tool. However the quality of the rock may not be so good as a similarly colored but much smaller slab on the east side of Grayback has been explored but was very rotten. Rather hard to get to this backside rock as none of the logging roads from the Nomash valley go close. There are roads up the Little Zebalos river valley but I don't think you can get a vehicle to that valley very easily.

Follow the bolts and chalk marks.

I was climbing in Squamish and knew nothing about it until I got home in Victoria when my dad told me.

Six legs is aid!

Mmmm... dog.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/calgary/story/2009/05/27/calgary-everest-climber-death.html Rest in peace.

Goes without saying.

Old, broken down, and ex.

Fleming Beach has top rope anchors set all along it, and lots of bouldering at a moderate standard. The landings are all on pavement, but at least it's flat. There are a number of other areas around the City and a guide which you should be able to pick up at the local MEC or Valhalla Pure outlets. There's also a climbing gym near the Point Ellice bridge. There is trad and sport multipitch climbining within a half hour of downtown. Tends to be a bit vegetated, though. The weather is much drier than at Squamish and Victoria proper gets less than 30 inches of rain per year. But it can still rain, of course, and it's been a cool winter and spring. Fleming Beach is granodiorite but with a lot of intrusions and very small crystals, quite unlike Squamish - lots of holds, though. At Fleming if you do a climb straight up, then step two feet left or right, there is another climb. Potential for new routes is pretty much zero, nearly everything worth doing was done decades ago, although there is no official guide so to you they can all be first ascents. Folks have been climbing there since the 1960's. It's a park so folks walk there dogs beneath the crags and some of them don't clean up the droppings - be aware! There are other small crags in the vicinity that are almost unvisited. Other crags range from Basalt to Gneiss to Gabbro at East Sooke Park. At East Sooke Park there are several miles (!) of sea cliffs ranging up to 80 feet that are virtually unexplored since you have to hike to get there.

Have a look here: http://islandclimbing.com/

Every pound you lose, I seem to find immediately.