rock climbing

Out of Office: I’d Rather Be Climbing

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Squamish Chekamus Canyon

One that reckons accounts all the day passes not a happy moment. One that gladdens his heart all the day provides not for his house. The bowman hits the mark, as the steersman reaches land, by diversity of aim. He that obeys his heart shall command.
– Ptahhotep (Egyptian sage), 2400 B.C.

The modern version:
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
All play and no work makes Jack a mere toy.

Climbing is both play and hard work. So I’m headed to BC for the Squamish Mountain Festival. I will check email sporadically, but return calls after Monday.

Cheakamus Canyon, The Malamute, Shannon Falls, Smoke Bluffs, Star Chek…check out the climbing photos.

Out of Office

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It’s Rockfest!

Friday, I’ll be sending some multi-pitch trad climb somewhere around Leavenworth…maybe Givler’s Crack, or Groundhog’s Day, who knows. Saturday and Sunday, it’s on to the free climbing clinics and BBQ at Bridge Creek Campground.

I’ll return calls and emails Monday.

Return To Smith Rock

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Smith Rock
Return To Smith Rock is the sequel to the 2006 Climbing Adventures of Joel Meyers, Sean Smith, and Scott Marlow. The 2008 cast makes their base at Skull Hollow Campground, just a few miles north of the State Park.

Marlow headlines this second tour with all new team members from The Mountaineers Crag Course: Dan Azer, Jeff Meyers, and Adriana Moscatelli. Instructors include: Mark Candelaria, Julie Morris, and Kevin Piasecki.

Photographed against Smith Rock’s idyllic 600+ acre sport-route paradise, students test their trad(itional) climbing skills in stifling triple-digit temperatures against ominous cliffs – like the famous Dihedrals, Red Wall, and the West Side’s Spiderman Buttress.

Out of Harm’s Way, Moscow is visited, and SuperSlabs of huckleberry ice cream and Cinnamon Toast are consumed. Noone is hurt. Everyone comes home safe. Phone calls are returned Tuesday, May 20.

The Chip Wagon Capitol of Canada: Ottawa

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Scott and Jen send Bon Echo

Chips, crisps, french fries, freedom fries, pomme frites, spuds, patat,…you say potatoe, I say potato. Whatever you call them, fried potatoes are served fresh on almost every Ottawa block.

Is it just coincidence that Canada’s western coast claims Canada’s “Outdoor Recreational Capital” while its midwestern capitol claims the prize for the most chip trucks per capita?

What does all this have to do with marketing? Well, I think it may be a defensive marketing strategy developed by Ottawa citizens to block fast food companies, like McDonald’s, from staking a claim in the capitol city. I mean who needs McD’s when you can buy fresh-cut fries on every city block. Either that, or French-Canadians, embroiled over U.S. congressional representatives trying to rename the food “Freedom Fries,” are bitterly trying to reclaim “French Fries” as a national tradition.

Check out my and Jen’s recent Ottawa vacation photos.

Outdoor Recreation Capital of Canada?

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Neat and Cool
What is the “Outdoor Recreation Capital of Canada?” According to Google, you’ll find it’s Squamish, British Columbia. More than a motto. Squamish has successfully branded itself as a canoeing-fishing-hiking-kayaking-mountain biking-rafting-rock climbing-scuba diving-windsurfing mecca.

Jen and I recently joined our friends Lourdez Olanda and Erin McClelland for a few days of single-pitch trad climbing bliss at Murrin Park, and Smoke Bluffs, just below the Stawamus Chief – one of the largest granite walls in the world.

See our more climbing pictures