Million Dollar Hole This hole in the ground represents different things to different people. For some, it is a future home to rest one's head and raise a family. For another, it is a money making venture, a temporary job, an opportunity to brand, sell, design or build. For others, it is a scar and damage done to a place where trees and birds once flourished where anyone could openly enjoy. For me, it is a symptom of an economic system that takes at any cost with questionable benefits to society as a whole. Developments encroaching into green spaces only accessible for the affluent, …
squamish
Encroachment
Encroachment. On both sides of the water. Nothing holds them back. Nature had attempted a comeback from previous industry but commerce quickly stepped in and stopped that. As usual, the almighty dollar thinking it knows better. Echoing: Green is gold. Green is gold. Common sense fails. The sounds of progress and a quick buck got to them. Just another former wasteland they say. Better than into the forest just past they say… But it is going into the forest just past. Encroachment is on all sides. The Stawamus Chief looks down and sees past the fools gold. He sees the forest being …
Chïïwas, Skwxwú7mesh
Old story: Words too often abused come from the masses… The damage is done. Patch it up, build over it. Hide it’s former disgrace. What could possibly go wrong? The machine continues. Many blinded. Gullible to their offerings of all things shiny. Something “sustainable,” “mutually beneficial,” “contemporary.” A place where you too, could “belong…” Comes with various price tags of course. Some, more damaging than others.This same story, manipulated in different ways spreads like a virus. To suit one's own. Creeping, embedding itself into our so-called logic and reasoning.Until …
Hey Climbers!
I live in a van and have for over 20 years. But who cares right? Well! Some do! The District of Squamish is working on a by-law that will outlaw sleeping in your tent, vehicle or RV for all people, within the entire district (the one exempt area is 20 min from town, requires 4x4 and lacks toilets). WHY? Due to the rising number of complaints regarding irresponsible wild campers, to those uncomfortable with people who sleep in vehicles or tents, the District considers wild camping 'an environmental and social hazard.’ However, many residents live in vehicles due to socio-economic factors, …
Chipped Off
It was one of those projects which I am sure you can relate. The kind that keeps you up at night as you imagine and feel yourself doing the moves. If given the chance, you would drop everything to travel across the world just to have another try. For Randy Puro and a few others, that line was the low start to Lesson Six. Randy recently made the voyage from California to Squamish, specifically to revisit this old project of his. He mentioned that the holds felt different, larger even. He thought it might have been chipped. Later confirmed by locals, the work is obvious as seen in the photo. So …
A Squamish Summer
When it finally came, it was one of those summers you didn’t want to end. The days were of the sort that reminded me of childhood; the sun felt strong and the days were so long it seemed the moon would never show itself. It felt as close to normal summer weather as we can get these days; it wasn’t over the top hot and almost daily, the wind blew strong, bringing with it psyched people who came to share the same obsession as myself. For the observer, it wasn’t hard to tell from the crowded parking lots and a quick glance up the Stawamus Chief, that climbing happened daily and lasted long …
1 year, 3 weeks & 5 days
As if under a spell, the idea of staying anchored in one place for the duration of an entire year, attached itself to me like a starved leech. It was an idea that wouldn’t budge or compromise; leaving a strong sense of obligation before even starting. That if I didn’t follow through, something dire would happen… That if I left the said vicinity, some horrid curse would be laid down… Maybe it is the slight OCD in me but I followed through. Through thick and thin, the spell, felt curse at times, swallowed and bound me to a land which I both loved and despised. Through two cold and snowy …
Adventuring into the Unknown
There is a confession wanting to come forth. Holding onto the idea of van dweller of 20 plus years, there is currently a slight untruth to that. Exploration has taken hold into areas taken for granted to most western people but with my own free will and desire, I became unfamiliar with. The confession isn’t large. It is merely that our dwelling situation has expanded. To be clear, it is not a mansion in which we reside though it certainly feels like one. The place is more of a small box; bigger than the comforts of my van, but lacking the freedom of wheels. There are no amenities like a …
Breakthroughs. Part One
January was like this… a whirlwind of excitement, adventure, nervousness, and apprehension; emotional turmoil twisted itself into moments of empowerment and disbelief. Eye opening realizations and instants of complete disappointment wrestled with my core beliefs. While ancient hardwiring aimed themselves down pathways of comfort, something followed; challenging and provoking another way, showing other possibilities. It’s like this; you need to do something different to make progress. Usually it is something simple; like relaxing or taking conscious breaths. Yet, when found in a situation …
Magical magic part two
It must have been the influence of Squamish that built up the endurance in me to stay throughout the rains. The granite was similar, talused, sloping with crimps situated randomly. The dense forest surrounding the boulders was tall, green and hid us from the outside world. Even the water from the old wooden bathtub with a sign above it saying non-potable, tasted just as good as the water springing from any of the fine household faucets in the sea to sky corridor. And of course the rain. I knew it would stop eventually. It fell upon and touched all of the rocks, drowning the moss so that they …
Magical magic woods. Part 1.
Wendy welcomed us on our first day of arrival in Magic Woods. We pulled in to find her sitting on her crash pad in all the glory of the sun. Her long hair was tied back in a bun with a pencil keeping it together. She was hard at work in the middle of a dirt parking lot surrounded by tents, live-in vans and gigantic evergreens towering on every side. My psych was surrounded by new rocks, good friends and blue sky. The surrounding mountains were big, steep and had an unwelcoming feel to them. They said to keep to the grounds, stay low where the boulders are. So of course, we did. We ate a …