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As always, I was keen to organise the annual rock refresher program for the Alpine Club of Canada - for me this is, returning the favour for the North Face Leadership program I attended in 1998 - doesn't time fly!
So with that in mind I listed the refresher program and waited - it wasn't long before the first e-mail arrived and it was an offer of assistance, no less. Howard Price was kind enough to offer ahead of time, so we waited for the program to fill.
Eventually I had about the right number of attendees and it was time to turn a few folks away. Unfortunately I had two "no shows" that - perhaps unknown to them - excluded some folks. I'll be clearer next year, if a person can't come, I need to know so I can use the space. On a positive note Lawrence McIntosh and Linda Bily volunteered to assist, so with competent climbers in league with me, I knew it would be a good weekend - assuming the weather co-operated. As always in June, it's a bit of a 50-50 chance of rain and sun.
Our first meeting was on Thursday. This was the time for everyone to meet, plan some direction, go over the necessary equipment and touch on the basic skills such as knots and anchors.
Saturday's weather looked doubtful but, knowing Squamish might be dry and Vancouver raining, I told the team it was worth going and besides we could work on skill sets under shelter if we had to.
We started out at Ferret's Folly under the tower - it's very handy for demonstrating anchors and the do's and don'ts of extending an anchor. For example, girth-hitched slings create a "reef knot" and weakens the material at that point by almost 50%. Clipping a carabiner between them is the simple solution. Later on we moved to Fatty Bolger as it's an ideal area for rapelles. The set up and practice can be done on level ground to the relief of all, especially the organizers! As you can see from the pictures everyone grasped the skill sets and we were able to get some climbing in as well.
Sunday was overcast and the rock was damp from overnight rain so we set up at Pixie's corner as it's a good location for easy and moderate climbs and a mixture of anchoring considerations. We certainly didn't have to be concerned about "hogging the routes" as the wet rock kept away the morning crowds.
As luck would have it, the wind came up, the rain kept away (until we were leaving) and the rock started to dry out. Everyone had the easy routes figured out but Joe's Crack was still damp in the crackline which made it very challenging. I hope everyone goes back now it's dry - I'm sure you'll find in more to your liking.
Thanks to all attendees Dave, Derek, Svetlana, Katheryn, Ilze, Howard, Cynthia, Winifred, Antje and Kevin. You were great company and made the refresher program enjoyable. Thanks to Linda for sharing her photos with us.
My particular thanks to Howard and Linda who offered thoughtful, patient advice through the mire of ambiguities that climbers deal with every time a question arises. Also Lawrence who helped out on Saturday.
Kit Griffin
ACC Rock Refresher Program Co-ordinator June 2004