Squamish Access Society

The Sea to Sky Gondola rezoning application recently received the first two readings at Squamish Council.

The next step is a Public Hearing set for Tuesday November 8 at 7:00 pm in Squamish Council Chambers.

Please share your opinion at this important meeting and  pass on the details of the meeting to friends.

The SAS is holding their AGM on Sunday, October 23 at 7pm in the Garibaldi Room of the Howe Sound Inn and Brewing Company in Squamish.

Everyone, members and non-members, are welcome to attend.  There will be discussion and feedback regarding the Best Practices Guide for Rock Climbing Route Development for Squamish Area Parks.  Please come and voice your opinions!  There will also be some great door prizes…

See you on the 23rd!

The Falcon Closure on the Stawamus Chief has now been lifted and all routes are open to climbing.  For more information, please see the BC Parks website.

The annual Squamish Mountain Festival is almost here!  Join the 5-day celebration starting July 13: clinics, photo contests, trade fair, parties, films, speakers & more.  Check it out and sign up for events here!

A gondola has been proposed for the Squamish area, located between the Chief and Shannon Falls.  For more information, please see this article in the Squamish Chief newspaper and the proponent’s website.

The SAS has had communication with the proponents and has yet to formalize a position on the project.

Please let us know your thoughts by contacting us.

Click here to view a photo of the Chief depicting the closed areas.

OK to Climb

• Freeway
• Grand Wall
• Milk Road/Run
• Upper Black Dyke
• Arrowroot
• Rutabaga
• Warriors of the Wasteland
• Java Jive
• Moving to Montana
• Deadend Dihedral
• Sports Illustrated
• Planet Caravan

Do Not Climb

• Europa/Crap Crags above pitch 3
• Millenium Falcon pitches 4-10
• Lower Black Dyke above pitch 2
• The Gauntlet above pitch 3
• Negro Lesbian
• Zorro’s Last Ride

Closed until July 31, 2011 or until posted otherwise. Please report falcon sightings to BC Parks at 604-898-3678 x2232.

SAS is happy to announce completion of Phase 2 of our re-bolting efforts. In addition to the already announced efforts the following climbs have been re-bolted and/or equipped with Permadraws.

Grand Wall

• Cruel Shoes: suspect lead and belay station bolts and ring/chain anchors installed on all pitches and many old holes patched
• Belly Good Ledge: New chain anchor on belay station
• Sail Flake: New chain anchor on belay station
• Flats: New chain anchor and belay station bolts replaced
• Perry’s Layback: Lead and belay station bolts replaced, patching of old holes
• Split Pillar: Lots of old holes patched, belay bolt hanger replaced

Quartz Pillar

• Silver Surfer: Lead and anchor bolts replaced

Chek/Rogues

At the Forgotten Wall, Permadraws were hung on From Beneath it Devours and Rug Munchers. On MEC, 4 rusty lead bolts were replaced as well as 1 anchor bolt. Creepy Crawlers’ first bolt was replaced. Low Impact’s lower off carabiners were replaced with a steel biner. Sanctuary will have permadraws hung by the end of May.

A full report from the contractors can be found here. As before, every effort was made to minimize visual damage to the rock including pulling existing hardware (rather than chopping), use of existing holes for new bolts when possible or camouflaging the old holes with epoxy, and overdrilling the new holes to facilitate future replacement. In addition, SAS would like to gratefully acknowledge the efforts of Squamish Rock Guides and Westcoast Mountain Guides for their contribution to this work.

Please note that filming will occur on Clean Corner from 26 to 29 April.  TSBD Productions have requested no climbing below Clean Corner during that time.

The SAS received notice that filming is happening at Pet Wall and surrounding area.  The SAS is investigating the short notice  and nature of these filming activities.  Below is an exerpt of the notice:

“Most of our filming activities will be on and around the Petrifying Wall at the south end of the park, with some filming will being done on the rock bluff adjacent to the parking lot.  For workplace safety reasons, these areas must be closed to climbing while we are working in the park.  These closures are scheduled to begin on March 16th and will continue until approximately April 2nd. Our filming is scheduled for only two days, with set up, rehearsals and wrap out taking up the rest of the time.  Our work is also subject to weather conditions, and these dates may be forced to shift a bit.

We are also doing some filming on the trail that leads to the Petrifying wall, and on the trail beside Murrin Lake.

All of our film vehicles will be parked in the main lot on our film days, and leave once filming is completed.”

Two Vancouver area climbers Donn Cann & Andre Lechner have advised SAS of their efforts to develop a completely new climbing area fifteen minutes north of Squamish.  At this time they have developed approximately forty sport climbs mostly in the sub 5.11 range.

Please check Marc Bourdon’s Quickdraw Publications website (click Area 44) for more information.