Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Labor Day and The End of Summer

Labor Day Weekend marked the end of my summer in Squamish. And after 3 days of rain, I was excited to get back on the rocks when Kurt arrived Friday night.

Saturday, the chief was too wet to climb on, so we headed over to The Bluffs to do some cragging for the day. No new routes, but a fun day anyway.

Sunday, we were hoping to get on St Vitus' Dance, but it still looked pretty wet. So we spent the morning at the Upper Malamute and then headed to the base of The Grand in the afternoon. We only had time for one climb and Kurt put up Seasoned in the Sun -- a pretty hard 10a or a reasonably rated 10b depending on which guide book you read. Either way, really awesome crack! I got some decent pictures of Kurt on that -- I'll try to get them off his camera and post them soon.

Sunday evening we went to see the movies at the Reel Rock Tour. There were several short films and excepts from films that were interesting, but the main feature was The Sharp End -- the new movie by Peter Mortimer (of Sender Films). I was super excited to see the new film since I've loved (and own) both Return to Sender and First Ascent. I enjoyed the movie and found it really interesting to see the section on climbing in the Czech Republic after seeing Cedar Wright talk about his experience there during the Squamish Mountain Festival. And my respect for Vera Schulte-Pelkum grows every time I see her talk or climb. My favorite part of course was the watching Steph Davis free solo the Diamond. From watching the movie I learned that climbing ability really has nothing to do with the climbers I respect, admire, and look up too. For me, it's all about attitude. Many of the climbers in the film were talking about how they get off on and are motivated by fear. The climbers I respect and admire find a way to relax and enjoy the experience of climbing rather than trying to get high on an adrenaline rush. It's pretty clear which climbers are which in the film.



And a slight side note -- Kurt and I had the unfortunate experience of sitting next to a couple of people who would not shut up for the entire movie! It was mostly the girl, but her friend was joining in on the conversation as well. And we're not talking whispering here, we're talking full on conversation volume talking. And if the movie got louder, she just raised the volume of her voice. Nonstop. Everyone was turning and giving her dirty looks, but she was completely oblivious. Finally, we couldn't take it anymore and Kurt asked them to keep it down. We got to enjoy the rest of the short films until intermission in peace and quiet.

We come back from intermission, and took our seats. Only after sitting down, I popped right up again because my ass was soaking wet. There was a puddle of beer in my chair. We're not talking like beer from an accidental spill, we're talking a puddle someone obviously purposely poured into my chair. The asshole and the blond chatterbox are both holding cups of beer and they're pretty much the only ones in the room who are. WTF? What is this revenge for having the gaul to actually want to watch a movie without your constant and loud chatter? Grow up!

Then they asked the guy who was part of the talkative couple up to introduce the movie. Turns out he's buddies with Peter Mortimer and had been part of the trip to the Czech Republic. I really wish I could remember his name, but it's escaping me. So he thinks he thinks he's a somebody. He wasn't featured in the film -- in fact, I didn't even see him climbing anything. Just drinking a lot of beer in pure fratboy style. But he was in the film. So he's sort of famous. Great, we're sitting next to a sort of famous asshole. Now that he's told everyone who he is, apparently him and the annoying girl he was with decided they didn't have to keep it down and they started up with the talking talking talking again. I wanted to move, but Kurt didn't want to give them the satisfaction. He asked them to keep it down again. So they laughed and started talking even louder. I couldn't take it anymore -- I got up and moved -- which set them off in another fit of laughter. But I didn't care about their satisfaction, I care about mine and I wanted to enjoy the movie. Kurt moved with me and after that, we could only hear when famous asshole-fratboy shouted out drunken comments like "woo-hoo," whenever he saw himself in the film "respect," whenever someone did something ballsy in the movie (and it's a movie about ballsy climbing, so we heard that one a lot) and "represent" when Boulder was mentioned. What a dumbass.

On a positive note, I got an awesome bi-pattern Maxim 9.9 60 meter beautiful blue new climbing rope for a really good deal in the silent auction. I love my new rope!

And Kurt ended our long weekend (and my summer in Squamish) on the Grand Wall. He led both Apron Strings (10b) and Merci Me (5.7). We both had a hard time with the first pitch of Apron Strings. I actually struggled quite a bit on top-rope which was odd because I've climbed it before and just walked right up it last time! I guess I need a rest. So rest I will do -- all week. And then, Kurt and I are off to Yosemite for a week of climbing and then a relaxing weekend down there with my family. Weeeeeee!

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