jefffski

sorry but your post seeps with vitriol. while it does seem like squamish has youth problems, as the report says there are "areas of concern", but this is a far cry from "totally out of control". like many communities in the western world squamish is grappling with youth who feel alienated, poverty, teen violence and substance abuse. doesn't seem too out of the ordinary and no cause for particular alarm. I do not get any sense that anybody there is trying to sweep the matter under the carpet. your reactionary comments do not help in the least.

when i was young and foolish (now i'm old and foolish), i imagined that i would act heroically (ie like on tv) if i was involved in a violent situation. but one day i learned how REAL violence is. i was at the supermarket, pushing my buggy down aisle one, when i heard some noise at the front of the store. i returned to see. There were three men, one brandishing a big silver handgun, yelling at the cashiers to open the tills and for everyone else not to move. my feet stuck to the floor and my eyes followed the movement of the gun , like a puppy, as the robber waved it around. i could have backed down the aisle slowly without being noticed but i did not even move a toe. scarey as shiit. they left within 2 minutes and y'know, i couldn't even give a description except "there were three guys and one of them had a gun". not at all what i imagined it would be like. sure wasn't like tv. unless you're trained to deal with violence you're going to act like a moron if you try to do anything except nuthin'. that shannon had the presence of mind to call 911 (twice!) shows that he has balls.

if i was alone and i was attacked i would run like stink. better to be healthy and climb another day than risk getting hurt or worse. bravery is for the dead guy. again, please do not come here looking for a fight. go trash your own country.

just got my copy of the guide. WOW. even better,a route i climbed turns out to have been a first ascent. my first. thanks Don.

Shannon, sorry to hear about your incident. As a canadian i can tell you that violence is a fact of life here, as it is all over the world. squamish is not immune. tourists are not immune either. i am satisfied that you and your friends will get a fair hearing. the RCM police i am sure, will listen. our press will help ensure that. We are listening. I can tell you that although violence happens it is infrequent. Canada is a relatively peaceful place However statistics do show that people who live under the poverty line and aboriginals are more often involved with violence during their lives. Sad but true. Squamish has both. Squamish, as some of you may know, is a relatively poor place that relies heavily on logging for its economic health. The us softwood duties and lower world prices for lumber have not helped. as well, squamish is home to many aboriginal people So squamish is a real place with real people. Shannon et al learned that first hand, unfortunately, but thank goodness you are all okay. If you want to climb in a perfect place, squamish ain't it (and it rains too!). But it's pretty darn close. If you want to climb in a place where the climbing is amazing, the people are (usually) very friendly and your dollars make a difference (and you don't mind a rain day now and then and now), then squishizit. to those who feel that violence is best dealt with violence, please climb elsewhere. Shannon, please keep us posted.

unfortunately vandalism and theft happen everywhere, canada, us, europe, and developing countries. garibaldi park n of squamish is no exception. i have also heard of people having gear stolen in the us out of parked cars. by the same token i have been a recipient of and hospitality everywhere i've travelled. in short theft and vandalism is not a canadian problem, nor is hospitality exclusive to americans. re the authenticity of the story: squamish is a small town. if it were true i suspect it would have made the local news, not to mention vancouver's press. so i doubt it's true. groups of rowdies in squish have been known to attack campers but i've never heard of an indiscriminate attack as was described. come on up and don't forget to bring the sun with you!

a few years ago 07:45 Get out of bed 08:30 Arrive at work 15:30 Leave work 16:00 Meet climbing partner and leave North Van 17:00 Arrive in Squamish 17:30 Arrive at upper malamute. climb. 19:00 Watch sun set 19:30 Climb curly larry and moe by headlamp. watch steam train pass below. 20:30 climb again on top rope sans headlamp. 21:30 brew pub for beer and wings 23:30 home and bed

cerro torre about 2 climbers racing up cerro torre. starred al waxman. good climbing scenes. they were each soloing on different sides of the mountain but one scene shows one of the climbers on a steep snow wall, being belayed from above. he eventually falls and dies hanging in his harness. good film. http://us.imdb.com/Title?0102855

i know i am responding to a troll but, here are some stats from a quick look through the internet. In industrialized countries, mva's (motor vehicle accidents) are the leading cause of death for males aged 18-25. but since our friend is older,he will claim those stats don't pertain to him. so.. He's right about his chances of dying-the number of people dying in mva's has stayed steady or even gone down in some jurisdictions. The rates of death (per billion km driven) has dropped significantly since the 1970's. This reduction has nothing to do with our driving habits. There are 2-4 times as many people driving now as compared to 20 years ago. the reduction has more to do with road construction, car design, seat belts, airbags and post accident care including emergency response time and hospital care. So should we wear seat belts? Well i think so. but why? because the number of accidents is increasing. For example (the only stats i can find easily) in texas the economic loss from mva's doubled between 1979-1998 http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/administration/driver_licensing_control/accident_records/Page5.htm So although your chances of dying are the same or even less than they were 20 years ago, my guess is that the liklihood of getting into an accident have doubled. since a car accident means that your body will stop moving from the speed at which you were travelling to a stop in .7secs, i would not want my body to hit anything (like a window, a dashboard, or a roof) at that speed. i'll wear a seat belt which will stop me hitting something hard. make sure it fits correctly, with no twists. get the proper adjustments for children and have them sit in a proper child restraint for their age and when they're older have them sit in the back seat--lower risk of injury there. your injury costs me money--insurance rates go up, your loss of productivity and economic activity including your ability to contribute to taxes which, although not perfect,help run our countries. (ok another troll, let it go) so i do care that you choose not to wear a seatbelt. my .025 cents

looking for a partner to climb with tomorrow afternoon--Tuesday. i can be there by 1:30-2pm. i have a rack and rope and can lead to mid 10's. it's gonna be sunny!

oh lawdy lawdy. next time i'll try a camel.

2 years ago, in early july on a cloudles, warm summer day i went to climb shasta via the avalanche gulch route. My climb started in vancouver bc and would be a non-stop solo attempt. i left vancouver at noon, and drove almost non-stop to shasta (except for a 2 hour break in portland to visit powells bookstore where i picked up some hard to find mountaineering books), and arrived at the parking lot at 3am. As i left my car i met a fellow also heading up. I carried a couple of litres of water, some food, crampons, ice axe, and some warm clothes. we ran up to base camp, arriving at 6am. thre were loads of tents there, all empty. at this point i was so tired i could barely stand up--i had been awake for almost 24 hours. i 'borrowed' a tent for about half an hour of fitful rest while my 'parking lot partner' continued up. i awoke tired and cold and decided that if i wanted to get warm i had better head up. quickly i crossed the boulder field and made my way up the toe of the snow slope until i found sun. i sat in the sun for a while and relieved my hunger and thirst. i also noticed some nausea creeping up--early effect s of AMS. After about half an hour i felt much recovered, donned my crampons and continued up to the bench at 12,500ft (?), where i had another rest for about an hour. the time was almost noon. The nausea i felt earlier had returned but was now accompanied by a headache. eventually i staggered to my feet and continued up the hill to the large field at just below 13,800. My head felt like there was an axe buried in it and i could no longer walk a straight line--AMS was now in full swing! I sank to my knees and let my head drop to the ground. i lay that way for a few minutes until a passing hiker asked me if i was ok. i replied that yes, i was fine, only very very stooopid. At that point, i realized that i was putting not only my own safety at risk, but also that of my fellow climbers--even if all that remained was a 1500ft walk across the flat snow field and an easy 300ft scramble to the summit. A solo should start and end as a solo, i decided. i would not want to ask for help because i was too stubborn or stupid to turn around. With that, i rose to my feet and began the plod back down i had been defeatred by my own plan. I staggered back to 12,500 ft bench, sat down in the snow and bum slid down, past base camp to 9,000ft, and then had an easy, headache free walk back to my car. a few hours later i lay on a beach, sipping a beer and munching some chips. Another 14'er unclimbed. be safe out there.

i am planning a trip to waddington soon. this has been a low snow year and the issue of crossing the bravo glacier must be addressed. too early in the season and the summit pyramid may be full of ice feathers. too late and the crevasses on the bravo may be impassable (so i've heard). So the q is, for this year, how late would be too late. i would like to chat with anybody who has been in the area in the last 2-3 months or who has a considered opinion. thanks, jeff

i was involved in a minor but troubling accident on saturday and would like some advice. here are all the details. th question is: is there a place to put pro between the top of the crack and the corner at the end of the traverse on the 10b pitch of birds of prey on the squaw in squamish? here are the details: my partner and i went to climb birds of prey on the squaw saturday. he led the first pitches (we combined it to one long pitch), and i led the 10b. i struggled in the crack but made it to the ramp without falling or resting. i didn't know where to go at first, so i walked along the ramp, placed a large cam, then, with some beta from the party following us, downclimbed the ramp to the top of the crack, did the 5.9 step then traversed around the corner. At the corner i finally placed a piece to protect my second. i belayed from the tree. i don't remember any other place to put pro and the rope drag was already so bad from the cam up the ramp anyway. my second came up,removed the cam on the ramp and fell as he was getting up to the traverse. i heard a shout and the rope went tight as i saw him hit the vertical wall above the tree belay at the bottom of the pitch. he had fallen and taken a big pendulum swing. a moment passed and we were able to communicate. i ended up lowering him to the tree belay where i joined him a few minutes later. we rapped off, hiked out and went to the hospital. his injuries consisted of an injured hand and some minor scrapes. this morning he was x-rayed and the results were a broken scaphoid (small bone in the hand), requiring 8 weeks in a cast! so, if you're familiar with the route, you may know the answer. my memory is that there is a shallow crack that is reachable from the ramp,but that putting pro there would eliminate a handhold and that even if i had placed a piece there (if there is such a place) he would have removed it before making the move, and he would have pendulumed anyway. comments appreciated.

are you free for sat-mon? jeff

i wanna climb this week, but the weather looks gawdawful. any ideas, north of n ca? pardners welcome to join me. i live in the liquid sunshine capital (aka vancouver). jefffskiATyahoo.com

hi i'm looking for a partner to climb some moderate ice routes in the rockies--banff, jasper etc. from march 16-22. i lead to wi3+, have gear and vehicle antispamjefffski@yahoo.com remove "antispam" to email me. jeff