Squamish Access Society

The Squamish Climbing Strategy report of November 2008 was presented to Squamish Council on November 24th by Kevin McLane and Todd Gerhart for the SAS. The 30 minute slide show highlighting key aspects of the report’s findings and recommendations was very well received.  This resulted in Council approving a package of actions on January 12th that will impact on climbing around Squamish in many ways. Council gave unanimous approval to the 12 staff recommendations.

These 12 action recommendations are well worth reading, and although the wheels of government move slowly, the District of Squamish seems set on a course that will steadily improve and secure rock climbing and alpine access in the Squamish area.

The staff report can be read online here [PDF, 2.3MB].

Due to some very close calls over the last few months, route cleaning (in particular on the Chief) has become a matter of deep concern for the SAS and BC parks.  There have been instances of intentionally trundled debris coming very close to hitting people at the base of the Chief.  The SAS urges extreme caution by anyone retro-cleaning or establishing new lines anywhere in Squamish, but especially in Stawamus, Shannon Falls and Murrin provincial parks.  To date climbers have had the liberty to self-govern their actions, and cleaning routes is a vital part of a sustainable climbing environment.  However, the SAS strongly suggests any cleaners think long and hard about the merits of their activity and follow logical steps of communicating and carrying out their intentions, the most obvious one being to ensure by all means necessary that no one is below the cleaning area.

Death or injury to anyone would obviously be a tragic result of any cleaning activity, but as well prove to have huge implications for climbing and new route activity in the parks and most likely other jurisdictions in the Squamish area and province wide.

Route cleaning has come up as part of the discussion taking place at the newly formed Squamish Climbers’ Advisory Group, a group of climbers and BC Parks staff tackling immediate and strategic issues related to climbing matters.

The CRAG is a group of climbers who comprise a committee to represent the greater Squamish climbing public in assisting BC Parks and possibly other agencies in policy regarding management of climbs and climbing affairs.

It was established in late 2009 under coordination by the Squamish Access Society in partnership with BC Parks (BCP) and follows and builds upon recommendation #2 to BC Parks of the Squamish Climbing Strategy Report which we released in early 2009.

The SAS approached several members of the climbing community.  The following people volunteered their time and energy to be included in the start-up of the group:  Andre Ike, Andrew Boyd, Colin Moorhead, Craig McGee, Jasmin Caton, Charlie Harrison, John Howe, Jeremy Frimer, Jeremy Smith, Kevin McLane, Marc Bourdon and Peter Winter.

The group’s make-up is evolving, but what is critical is that it adequately reflects the needs of the climbing community in the broadest sense.

A rough indication of the work envisioned into 2010 and beyond includes:

• Developing a vision of how Squamish climbing can be its best 10 years from now.
• Working with BCP on issues of immediate concern, including a revision of the 1999 Rock Climbing Strategy
• Developing principles by which climbers should try to conduct themselves regarding cleaning, new route development, retro-management and other related matters
• Developing a database of climbs based on pitch attributes to provide a baseline of our climbing resources, showing how many of each type of climb and pitch we have
• Developing a long term plan to address issues regarding climbing in the parks specifically, and potentially other venues, especially as regards balancing capacity (having enough available climbs to absorb growth) and values (the things that make Squamish climbing what it is)

Four meetings of the group have been held, initially just among the climbers, and the last two with BC Parks.  On pressing substantive matters the group has spent some time discussing route cleaning as this issue has become acute with several close calls over the last few months, as well as issues around the annual falcon closure.  Terms of reference are being developed and the group is tackling how best to move forward with regard to process and procedure.  A means by which to keep the public informed of the progress of the group and to receive community feedback is also being worked on.

It is exciting to have a group of dedicated, passionate climbers help forge the future of a sustainable climbing experience in Squamish.