Climbers Access Society Of BC

Win free tickets to VIMFF!

for Lower Mainland

written by Peter Winter

ATTENTION MEMBERS! WE ARE GIVING AWAY 2 FREE TICKETS FOR EACH OF THE NIGHTS BELOW! NAMES WILL BE DRAWN FROM ALL ELIGIBLE ENTRIES RECEIVED PRIOR TO MONDAY, JANUARY 25TH. WITH PRIORITY GIVEN TO THOSE THAT GET A FRIEND TO BECOME A CASBC MEMBER. SEND YOUR NAME TO INFO@ACCESS-SOCIETY.CA. YOU’RE MEMBERSHIP MUST CURRENT, THE FASTEST WAY TO CHECK IS VIA WWW.ACCESS-SOCIETY.CA.

The Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival, now in its 13th year, is coming back to town this year on January 22-29, 2010 and gearing up for another incredible showcase of the most exciting films and adventure seekers. The mix of local and international adventurers spans the spectrum of white knuckle excitement with tales from the far corners of the globe.

www.vimff.org

Wed Jan 27th
7:30 pm (doors at 6:30 pm)
VIMFF “Mountain Biking Evening, presented by Norco” – “Ride and Reach with Ryan Leech” combining a live, on-stage, trials demonstration, video clips from Ryan’s best films and a reflective speech about his progression as a world class trials rider; Bjorn Enga alive with “Radical Films - 12 Years of Making Kranked” sharing some insight from being at the forefront of mountain bike film making; and screening of other festival biking films: Bro vs. Mnt (the encounters of a “bro” riding his bike on the mountainous trails across BC through the Interior, the Lower Mainland and the North Shore of Vancouver, hitting all of his favourite riding spots along the way); Freedom Riders (story of a small, core group of riders who evolved from covertly building rough and unsustainable trails to building some of the best freeride trails in the US); The Argentine Project (3 friends taking a trip and hoping to create a mountain bike flick with one bike, 2 cameras… and a little Spanish).

Thurs Jan 28th
7:30 pm (doors at 6:30 pm)
VIMFF “Great World Adventures” with Cedar Wright’s “Vertical Carnival” - a multimedia show on climbing, high-lining and surviving in Yosemite and other places; Baffin Babes – “80 days on skis in the arctic” live show with four Scandinavian girls experiencing a fabulous winter 1200 km long adventure on Baffin Island in the Canadian Arctic; and other festival films: Continuum Project – Zion (Rob Pizem and Mike Anderson crush brawny off-widths and delicate face climbing in Zion); Samsara (Conrad Anker, Jimmy Chin and Renan Ozturk set out to attempt a first ascent of a 2200 m rock and ice route in the heart of the lofty, knife-sharp Vindhya Mountains in India); Unfinished Business (follow Jeremy Samson, Chief Mountain Architect, as he consults with Cape Town’s extreme athletes in action who use and are affected by the Table Mountain in a quest to build a true peak on the top of it); Tim Emmett - Under the Eye of the Jackdaw (Britain’s Tim Emmett and a fellow climber make a desperate first free ascent of a 300 m overhanging ice wall in Fressiniere in the French Alps, and try to BASE jump off the top).

Fri Jan 29th
7:30 pm (doors at 6:30 pm)
VIMFF “Finale, presented by Petzl” with VIMFF 2010 Film Awards; Sonnie Trotter’s live presentation of “Letting Go of Control” multimedia show on climbing dangerous trad ascents; Will Stanhope live in “Youthful Exuberance - freeclimbing from Squamish to Patagonia” highlighting Will’s recent bold climbs; and other VIMFF films: Hey Presto (world class climber Sonnie Trotter teams up with world class belayer Cory Richards to take on the Squamish classic, ‘Presto’); Waypoint Namibia (a small team of rock climbers headed by Majka Burhardt depart for Namibia to find a way up an unexplored face, and to find a way into a deeper understanding of Southern Africa); Welsh Connection – Tim Emmett (British hot shot Timmy Emmett tries and climbs hair raising R routes on the Pembroke cliff in Wales); Slate Monkeys (climbers Matt Segal, Hazel Findlay and Johnny Dawes take it in turn to crimp, palm, squirm and wriggle their way up the esoteric route, Gin Palace, in the disused Welsh slate quarries).

Route Cleaning Dangers Stawamus Chief

for Squamish

written by Peter Winter

Route Cleaning Dangers Stawamus Chief

Over the past few months, there have been a few extremely close calls where people walking at the base of the Chief were almost hit by debris from above. Climbers, developing new routes, had intentionally dropped the debris, but had not flagged the trails leading up the base with caution tape and signs. At of yet, BC Parks has no official policy regarding route cleaning. At this time, CASBC strongly suggests that route developers think carefully through the process prior to cleaning, regardless of the time of year or weather. Assume that people will be walking below unless they are specifically cautioned not to. To increase safety in the Park, CASBC suggests posting unambiguous signage and flagging tape on all the trails that lead to the fall zone.

These near misses are of great concern to CASBC and to BC Parks. Human life and the future of route development in Stawamus Chief Park are at stake; your cooperation is appreciated.

Genesis Wall

for Murrin Park

written by Jeremy Frimer

Genesis Wall is located just 50m from the parking lot, located below MilkMan Wall. Jeremy Frimer cleaned and added routes to Genesis Wall in 2009. The wall now has a mix of trad and sport routes: Genesis (10a), Geneside (10b), Keen & Able (5.8), Pseudo Buddhists (10b/c), and Original Thin (10c).

More info is available at http://www.squamishclimbing.com/squamish_climbing_bb/viewtopic.php?t=2409

Photos: Mandy on 'Geneside' and Nick on 'Original Thin'.

Lantzville Foothills: The Steppes, Mt Copley and area.

for Vancouver Island - North

written by Greg Sorensen

There is some concern at present that access to these areas will become a concern in the very near future. There has been one report of a confrontation between a young man and a security guard and that all gates are locked and the public has now been denied access to this well known recreational area. This area is frequented by hikers climbers and dog walkers for many years and was in the process of being developed with the future looking promising for all, as proposed on their website (http://www.thefoothills.ca/) the developers constituted a sustainable eco friendly development. Apparently over the last few days the property has changed hands or is in the process of doing so!
At present all info is hearsay and more info will be available shortly.

CASBC Bugaboo Report

for Bugaboo Provincial Park

written by Jeremy Frimer

Several months ago, CASBC asked members to complete 6 open-ended questions about the future of the Bugaboos, focused on the issues of a user cap and a via ferrata. Forty-five members responded; The results have now been compiled into an 11 page report. In short, CASBC members were generally against both a user cap and a via ferrata, offering alternatives such as education/informational campaigns and increasing camping capacity in the Park. download the CASBC Bugaboo Survey.

The Report has been submitted to the staff of Bugaboo Provincial Park. We will keep members informed of any decisions, as they become publicly known.

- Jeremy Frimer, Director