Squamish & Whistler, BC



Tree huggin'

We kept driving west and stopped in Squamish, BC to have lunch in town and coffee at the information center. I was looking forward to climbing here. Squamish is known for quality climbs on granite. We used the internet at the info center to look up the forecast. It was supposed to rain for the next week. Too long for us to sit around and hope for good weather. We drove up to Whistler, BC to visit our cousin. It rained constantly while we were there with the occasional break. To avoid getting too rusty we visited the small indoor climbing gym in town and went for a run around town. On the 27^th we crossed the US/Canada border to meet a friend in Seattle, WA. We had met him in the Bugaboos and had pair of sunglasses he had left. He had good suggestions and information on where we should go climb. He even had an older guidebook on the climbs around Leavenworth, WA which he gave us. He told us that there was a great alpine climb on Mt. Stuart’s North Ridge which was on the way to Leavenworth. According to the local guidebook written by the great Fred Beckey: “Certainly its northern and eastern faces are the alpine climax of the Wenatchee Mountains”. We drove that night towards Mt. Stuart and found a quiet spot along the road to sleep.