Location of route "Star Chek" on 99 in BC?

[scheissami]

Hey,

 

Headed to Squamish this weekend, hoping to climb Star Chek again but with the recent construction I doubt I'd be able to find it. Anybody got relatively specific directions for me (milepost markers, etc...)?

 

Cheers,

Erik

[loftypeaks]

I don't know the Km marker, but here's a description from when I was there 2 years ago.

 

You pass cheackamus canyon, view opens up to your left and the road starts descending down towards the cheakamus river.. if you look left you'll see a bridge railing but it doesn't look like a bridge your crossing.....that's where you come out and the start is straight down from this point. but, you need to drive a bit more downhill. On your left is a pullout with one of these wellcome to Squamish or something signs. It's paved and I think there's a picknik table. Park there. near the sign and behind the concrete car barriers you'll find a trail that goes down and in the direction of squamish. follow that one ..it takes you right there. You start going all the way down to the river at the spot where the Highway railing is above you ...a sandy rubbly slope to cross. There were handlines to help you going down to the river along the sstar check cliff. the start of start check is literrally inches above the water.

 

Star checks more or less blocks any further travel along the banks of the cheakamus.

 

make sure you bring a camera and take pics of partner ...the shots are super.

 

 

 

If you find yourself on the highway and the cheakamus river is right beside you (the river on your left , a cliff with some warning sign about slide hazzzard on your right) you have driven too far. turn around and head uphill a few hundred meters.

[scheissami]

Thanks! I'm stoked to do this again cuz like you say, the view and exposure is great!

 

 

[thelawgoddess]

Hmm ... I think I remember rapping down the route first; then climbing back up ...

 

Fun route!

[snoboy]

Yeah, TLG is right, it's better to rap in. The hike approach crosses the slide of death... and will dunk you right in the heavy duty whitewater below if not careful... Sorry, but I would have no idea how to find it now that the highway is changed. Ask at Valhalla Pure on your way up perhaps?

[G-spotter]

Here's whatcha do.

 

Drive past the Chek turnoff and you go through a pass just past the Rehabilitation Projects and start heading downhill.

 

There is a gravel pullout on the left you will probably miss.

Look for a paved pullout with a couple of green billboards just as you get near the bottom of the hill, again on the left side as you head north.

 

Park here and walk back uphill about 500m (5 minutes) along the shoulder of the highway. You walk at one point next to a guardrail with a deep chasm just over the concrete barricade. Immediately south (uphill) of this section look for cairns just off the road. This is the start of the trail (about 300m north of aforementioned gravel pullout) - follow cairned trail down to the top of the route in about 3 minutes. Rap to base (3-4 raps) and climb back out. Grades are soft - one move of 5.8/9 and the rest in the 5.7 range. The 10c left finish on the last pitch, however, is NOT soft and is a ton of fun.

Edited July 20, 2009 by G-spotter

[scheissami]

So, we did this route about 2 years ago by walking into the base and climbing up. Haven't done the raps from the top, so I can't say which approach is better, but I thought it was cool to climb it ground-up for the first time.

 

We tried to find the trail but without clear success. My friend from Vancouver was along, but it seems the new construction has changed a lot of the landmarks. I don't think the billboards were there anymore (?)--Dru, have you climbed it since the construction? I think they've taken the signs down. Also, there's a culvert built across the trail to the top of the climb. We felt sketched about climbing it (at the end of the day) without knowing for sure what kind of condition the walk-off trail was in.

 

Any more info would be appreciated, hopefully I'll get on this later in the summer on another trip.

 

Thanks!

Erik

[G-spotter]

I climberd it right after it reopened after highway construction and its in fine shape. But not since they reopened the lower pullout though.

[SethAdams]

Climbed it last week. Paved pullout, per what Drew says. Then walk back up the highway about 10 seconds to a cairn sitting on the concrete barrier. Vague, loose trail going down. Trend left, and follow an obvious trail and cairns. A fixed rope will get you to the base of the arete, which is obvious.

 

...it can't possibly be less hassle to rap in, since the walk is a breeze. Great route - good clean fun.

[scheissami]

Awesome, thanks guys!

[fern]

The approach across the talus field used to be death-defying. There was no real trail and the scree just rolled away under your feet trying to carry you into the river. The rap in was way way safer and easier and faster. During the highway construction a bunch of blast rock was chucked down the jumping jeep gully onto the talus cone and the whole thing apparently slid out into the river. I heard one story that the overall "ground level" of the talus field dropped by 3m. Sounds like it improved the ground-up approach.

[max]

On a related note...

 

I've found some online guides, but is there a paper published guide for Cheakamus Canyon?

 

 

[G-spotter]

It's in Whistler Rock (Elaho Press, out of print)