chris volkart mountain life: April 2011

Well im back from penticton...a bit earlier than i thought but plans change! I headed down at the end of march with a few friends and spent almost four weeks climbing at one of canada's little jewels (well at least for rock climbers) the Skaha bluffs! Skaha bluffs is a collection of crags that tower over the town of penticton and contains over 1000 routes with less than an hour to get to the furthest crag. The area contains mostly single pitch climbs and a mix of sport climbs and traditional climbs. There are many routes that can be accessed from above for easy top rope set up. With climbs ranging from 5.4 to 5.13 and harder there is something for everyone from the novice to experts. The area see less precipitation than alot of other climbing destinations in canada and thus provides an amazing place to shake off the cobwebs at the beginning of the season!

We rolled into penticton at the end of march and negotiated a good deal on camping fees with the owners of the only open campground (i stayed for free!). If looking for a great campground check out wrights beach early in the season(they seem open to negotiate prices with climbers). Getting back into the swing of outdoor climbing started out great with four days of climbing before the Thompson rivers university(TRU) group showed up for the Rock 1 Course which some of our members were in and I assisted on. Another TRU group showed up on the first weekend on a very intro to climbing course and along with them was guide Dave Edgar (my guide on ice climbing). It was a nice little reunion and great to talk to dave again and hear about his stories from doing rope rigging work for hollywood!

As the first TRU group left the first section of Rock 1 showed up! I had a great week assisting a group of 6 of my peers that will be joining me on my rock expedition in a couple weeks time. I was assisting under Iain Stewart-Patterson (or ISP as he has become known to our class). It was a really great opportunity to help Iain and hear his stories, he has been climbing for many years and is a big name in the canadian climbing scene!

After a week of sitting at the top or bottom of the crag instructing i was a bit out of climbing shape but made the mistake of jumping back on the climbing wagon by trying to push my limits right off the bat...well i learned a valuable lesson on easing into things when i heard a tearing sound in my shoulder on my second warm up climb of the day. I took it easy for the next couple of days by working on my footwork and using my arm as little as possible. After a few days of foot training i slowly eased my arm back to climbing by concentrating on easier traditional climbs (Using removable protection to connect my climbing rope into for safety). By tuesday i wasnt climbing at the same level i left off at the beginning of last season, but my arm was feeling better and i ended off by climbing a route that was near my limits last october and it felt really solid this time around!

Overall the trip was great and im in really good condition to start off the season and getting very stoked on heading down to the states to climb for 19 days starting may 1st. I am heading out to vancouver to visit relatives but zipping off to squamish for a couple days after to squeeze in some more trad climbing on different rock before the trip! In other news, I was accepted into the Association of Canadian Mountain Guides (www.acmg.ca) Top Rope Climbing Instructor course that starts at the end of may which will be my first step towards my ultimate goal of becoming a fully certified mountain guide! Very exciting news for me! Well enough words, here are some photos to wet your appetite for the rock climbing season...The season has started!!!!!! Get out to Skaha now!!!!!!!