Rockfall Closures June 2022

**EDIT** Most recent update (March 2023):

Closures have been significantly reduced. The current closures can always be viewed on the BC Parks website. Angel’s Crest, the Grand Wall and the majority of the boulders in the North Walls have now been open since August 2022. Remaining closures are:

• Black Dyke area - routes between Teenage Wasteland and Deadend Dihedral, and boulders in the debris field

• North Walls - routes between Parallel Universe and Polaris, and boulders in the debris field

We want to give the climbing community an update on the current closures. At this time there is no change to the restrictions that were put in place after the Grand Wall, Black Dyke, North Walls, and Slhanay rock falls. The current restrictions can be seen on the Stawamus Chief page of the BC Parks website.

BC Parks told us this week they are still working on danger trees and arranging rock scaling in affected areas. They have also indicated that rangers will be enforcing the closures and issuing fines.

SAS is advocating on behalf of the climbing community for the safe reopening of areas. Given the current situation, our priority is the reduction of closures within the Grand Wall boulders. Some of the current bouldering closures extend well beyond the debris field and damaged trees.

Part of the reopening process is going to involve making sure local and visiting climbers are aware of the risks of rockfall. Closures are less necessary when climbers are making an informed decision about rockfall. As we saw last year, extreme weather events appeared to be triggers, and consideration ought to be given to these factors when we expose ourselves to overhead hazard. We were happy to see a page dedicated to this issue in Marc Bourdon’s new Squamish Bouldering guide.

Alex Tucker from our Board Of Directors recently spoke to the Squamish Chief newspaper about the closures. Have a read here.