Went to Riley Park across from Nat Bailey Stadium last night to do a little bouldering on the big fat boulder in the back of the park. It was nice to catch some sun, some drinks, climbing and a little slack-line action with most of my good climber friends.

Thanks for the laughs guys.

Got quite a bruise on my left thigh from the slack-line whipping me...over...and over as I attempted to just stand on it.

I'll get the hang of it eventually.

-=drj

Well it was a beautiful weekend in Squamish. On Saturday I managed to climb "Rock On" 5.10a/b.
I camped out in Squamish overnight at an undisclosed ditch at 1:30am after probably one too many beer. The party camping next to us woke at about 5:00am in order to complete "Angels Crest" 5.10b (12 pitches). We were out for an equally long escapade, but only got up at 6:00am.

Packed camp and at *$ for a coffee by 6:30. Breakfast till 7. Hike in for about 30 minutes. Quick tutorial and gear swap. Then the old paper rock scissors game. ..to which... i lose....again!

Pitches are 5.9, 5.8, 5.9, 5.10a/b, 5.7

Ray did pitch 1 and 3; 25 metres each.
I did pitch 2 and 4; 25 and 50 metres respectively
Cam did pitch 5. He was feeling a little gun-shy after his tumble last weekend. ;)

That was probably one of the hardest and scariest climbs I've done to date. The exposure intense...the crack...varied...

You could hear your voice echo on the SSW wall. Amazing. ;)

I did run-out the later bit of the long pitch as I was getting tired, scared and feared if I stopped in the fissure to place gear I would add more rope drag to an already really long route. I put in two pieces before the final crux and hauled my tired corpse onto the belay ledge.

AWESOME, but mentally very draining.

I just watched two movies recently...both oddly enough contain a common element of "break-ups" and "huffing gasoline"...peculiar i must admit.

The first is a nice piece staring Philip Seymour Hoffman and Kathy Bates entitled: Love Liza The movie was well done for the budget. Mr Hoffman was simply BRILLIANT.

The second is a Canadian production detailing the lives of several 20-somethings on the route between Quebec City and Montreal called Quebec-Montreal

In general I found this to be a very true to life movie and could relate to many of the characters even if some of it was a bit outrageous.

-=drj=-

For all my biker friends. Here's one you'll get a kick out of...
So, I was on my way out of work last night and was in a bit of a hurry to meet a friend down-town. I had practically run from my building to the bus-stop only to be caught on the wrong side of Marine Drive in North Vancouver as I heard what could only be described as someone doing a wheelie. I turned to see who it was only to see a large red bike with a rider on it.

Coincidentally enough, a bus passed by right in front of the rider so I didn't get a good look at the bike which appeared to be a nice new all red Ducati or a ZXR ...something nice, red, going quite fast, and big in comparison to the rider on board.

Now that you've got this nice bike in your head...picture this:

Female rider. (I don't want to sound like a sexist pervert...but rider girls are hot)
Long blonde hair flowing from helmet. (so far, so good)
Must weigh in at 100lbs (carrying a load of door-knobs)
Wearing one of those J-Lo semi-terry cloth sport/track suits. ALL WHITE.
Donning a pink see-through "hello-kitty-ish" nap-sack.

Wearing no gloves, no gear, no boots, just the full helmet folks.

I proceed to cross the street and contemplate my missing the bus by just minutes.
As time draws on, an ambulance approaches from the Vancouver direction up Marine Drive. I see some cars pull over, but all for not: The ambulances sirens fade as it apparently turns a corner. The bus arrives as another ambulance approaches from the capilano mall direction. I figure an accident must have taken place near-by as I board the bus.

As I get on the bus I can see a bunch of flashing lights not more than 2 blocks away. Figuring I'll now be late for my meeting down-town.... I slouch into my seat on a full bus and await the 30 minutes into the city.

Lo and behold we stop to pick up a few chatty women right at the scene of the accident and as the bus drives by all the commotion I notice none other than J-Lo smack down on the pavement white legs flailing in the air as the fire-department/ambulance people look her over.

The women on the bus proceeded to describe what had just happened. J-Lo was apparently attempting another wheelie, but wheelied right off the back of her bike...2 blocks from where she whipped by me. HA! The women mentioned she was on a bike way too powerful for her, but I don't know...really couldn't get a glimpse of the bike... I was more distracted by the outfit she was wearing. :)

Let that be a lesson to all of you: "Wear your gear".

Apparently J-Lo wasn't hurt, just a little shaken up... please ride safe out there guys...and gals... it is a dangerous land full of cagers. :)

-drj

I went to a little climbing gathering at Tony's place last night. A mutual friend was giving a slide presentation of some of the trips he's been on in the recent past.

Introducing Rich Wheater one of the coolest climber peeps I know. Not only that, but an amazing photographer. I've seen his stuff all over the place (Rock & Ice / Gripped ). Anyway, check out the pics on his site.

I also got to ride my friends 2002 SV650 last night. A really NICE bike. Very comparable to my CBR in weight and HP except his power-band is at a much lower RPM than mine and it handles like a dream. Nice bike. Thanks again Calvin.

-=drj

Well, it seems that like a lot of people here, I have severely neglected my log for the past little while. So some updates are in order:

I'm still working in North Vancouver and still enjoying my job . I have been climbing a lot and recently ascended "The Chief" for the first time. I'm quite proud of this as it has been a goal of mine ever since I started climbing outdoors in Vancouver a few years ago. There is still one part that I need some help with, but hopefully that will come out in the wash soon enough.

Some more recent climbing pics can be found on my gallery.

I have been busy trying to fix up my computer network as my ADSL modem decided that to live any longer than 9 months in a closet was too much to ask for. My 19" monitor gave up its last electron blast 3 days prior to this incident. Oh, and hang on remember the rule of threes: Yup, the heads on the hard-disk of my firewall are probably fused to the surface of the platters. :) OH JOY!

Got the modem replaced after much delay and confusion. Still working on a firewall replacement. ;)

I went to my friends wedding party after a session of bouldering in Squamish. Did lots of fun stuff while I was there and will put up the pics of "The Birth Canal" (V0+) when I get them. Did some other classics like "Titanic" (V3), "Out of the Depths", (V2/3), "Titanic Dyno/Mantle" (V3) ... in my hiking boots... "Titanic Traverse" (V4)....didn't quite finish that one though!

Anyway I'm really enjoying my summer, although I should really get back swimming again, start drinking less beer...and smoking fewer cigarettes. I also have plans to rid myself of my motorcycle... any takers? :)

-drj