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Climbing Strategy Report
The SAS has recently received a contract by the Ministry of Environment, District of Squamish, and the Sea to Sky Highway Improvement Project to produce a report on climbing in the Squamish region. It will present a comprehensive portrait of current activity, stewardship and management across Stawamus Chief Provincial Park, Shannon Falls Provincial Park, Murrin Provincial Park and Smoke Bluffs Municipal Park. It will also recommend steps to improve the climbing environment.
The SAS will form a peer review group to ensure both the report and the recommendations reflect the views of the Squamish climbing public.
The report will cover the full range of climbing activity, listing the crags, climbs, and boulders, within the historical context of how climbing has evolved. Vegetation growth and its consequences, trail and trail head status, long route cleaning policies and strategies of how to open up more climbs will all be addressed. A significant aspect of the report will be strategies for how to plan for future scenarios while maintaining the highest possible experiential values.
Please check back with us here at squamishaccess.ca as we'll be looking for information and feedback from climbers in order to prepare the best possible report and action time-line for Squamish's climbing future.
Falcon Closure
The falcon closure at the chief is now in effect. The usual climbs in the Dihedrals area are affected. While the window of closure is March 15th to July 31st, signage in the Park was first posted during the week of May 5th. It merits mentioning that the recently completed new route Europa is included within the closure boundaries. Please look at the recent posted signs before starting your day.
Join Online Now
You can now join and/or renew your membership with the Squamish Access Society on our Join Us page. The cost to renew is $CDN 5 and the renewal lasts for two years. Your renewal is important for us as it establishes credibility when discussing access issues with government decision makers and private sector contributors. We have kept the memberships' financial commitment level to a minimum as we try constantly to engage government and the corporate private sector to assist financially in keeping rockclimbing in Squamish a positive experience. We need your engagement however, to indicate our support level and thus be more effective at representing climbers' interests. Please consider joining the SAS or renewing your membership.
Squamish Mountain Festival 2008!
The dates of the Squamish Mountain Festival have been changed to Wednesday July 16th -Sunday 20th 2008. Building on last years success this promises to be a blast! There is a superb line up of speakers, films, slideshows, clinics and, of course, parties! Check out the following link for the latest: www.squamishmountainfest.com. The Squamish Access Society and the Climbers Access Society of BC will be hosting a trail work day on Friday the 18th. Details will be forthcoming on where to meet, what to bring and the shwag up for grabs!
Murrin Finally Open
The Murrin Park parking lot is now open. What was to have lasted for a few weeks turned into an almost three month closure of the parking facilities. BC Parks informed the Squamish Access Society on April 25th that the park would be open for the weekend of the 26th-27th, closed again for the 28th-30th and then open for good. Unfortunately this information was incorrect and intermittent closures persisted. This was in part to the gate not being able to close and open properly because of the new grade of paving. Now, however, the normal park hours are in effect.
Papoose New Approach Roughed-In
The original sloped access-point to the Papoose was destroyed by road access improvements to Shannon Falls Provincial Park. The SAS lobbied for remediation, and with the recent opening of the Papoose, we have succeeded in having a new ramp roughed in to generally gain the level of the main access path (there is still a dog-leg up to the trail that needs to be cleared). We are in communication with BC Parks and the highway improvement contractor to optimize this access point.
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