Rock Climbing Waterline Walls – A Retrospecive

/in /by

A retrospective on the early days of development at Waterline Walls in Castlegar, British Columbia.

Ron Perrier, the author of “Where to Hike and Climb in the West Kootenay,” recently reminded me of an article I did for the Kootenay Mountaineering Club’s newsletter “Kootenay Mountaineer” in 2009. It describes the early days of development at Waterline Walls, one of the most popular rock climbing areas in the Kootenay region of British Columbia. It was fun to look back, especially considering the drama that ensued the past few years when the property that Waterline is located on went up for sale, was closed to climbing, and the eventual success of the purchase of the crag by The Association of West Kootenay Rock Climbers.

Here is the article in its entirety as it appeared in the Sept/Oct 2007 edition of the Kootenay Mountaineer.

FOR THOSE ABOUT TO ROCK

Forty Six New Routes, Two Minutes From Downtown
By Vince Hempsall

Ask long time locals, newcomers from across Canada or those who travel here from other parts of the world – Interior B.C.’s rock climbing scene, well, rocks. And it just got better. To the Slocan Bluffs, Kinnaird and Penticton’s Skaha you can add Castlegar’s Waterline Wall.

With the help of Kootenay climbing veteran Hamish Mutch, the new climbing area has been bolted and mapped, with more routes to come… t’s 7:30 in the morning and Neil Ives and I are at the new Waterline Wall climbing area watching a family of wild turkeys forage in the field next to us. I mention that it’s hard to believe we’re a mere two-minute drive from downtown Castlegar and he replies, “That’s what sets this area apart from others in the Kootenays – the access is really easy but it’s got a sort of remote feel to it.”

A copy of the second edition of the Waterline Walls guidebook created by Neil Ives and Aaron Kristiansen. The latter went on to create the West Kootenay Rock Guide with Vince Hempsall.

The newsletter this story originally appeared in.

Ives is one of four developers who have been busy this past year putting up new routes at the Wall, which is named for the utility water line that runs under the access trail. This gravel trail is actually a city “right of way” and it links the two halves of 14th Avenue, just west of Castlegar’s Columbia Street. In years past it has been a popular destination for birdwatchers, dog walkers and cross-country skiers but it wasn’t until the fall of 2006 that climbers began to visit regularly. That year, three Selkirk College students (Aaron Kristiansen, Kyle Ridge and Ives) and Hamish Mutch, a Kootenay climbing veteran, began developing in earnest, cleaning vegetation off the cliff, which is located on property owned by a Salmon Arm holding company, and bolting sport climbs. The area had seen some ascents decades earlier when mountaineers practiced placing pitons in the more obvious cracks, but it wasn’t until Kristiansen was introduced to the cliff by an aviation student, who spotted it while on a flight, that interest really took off. “We couldn’t believe this area hadn’t been developed already, considering the quality of rock and the easy access”, says Ives.

There are now 46 routes on six walls that range from easy traditional crack climbs to harder sport projects in the 5.12 range. The variety of climbing at Waterline is only partly responsible for the exponential increase of climber visitations in the past few months, however. “Since we put out the guide book to help offset the cost of bolting, this place has gone off”, Ives says. The 24-page guide costs $10 and the proceeds go towards hardware, which, given the cost of bolts, hangers, chains and drill bits, averages out to $85 per route. There are still many more lines to be developed at Waterline Wall and Ives says the increase in popularity will only spur him and the others to create more. “This place is fresh out of the oven”, he says, “and we still have a lot more to do.”

WATERLINE WHEREABOUTS Drive West from Castlegar on Hwy 3 toward Grand Forks. Turn left on 14th Ave and drive to the end past the baseball diamond. Follow the dirt road and park on the left. The first wall is 200 metres past the gate. Guidebooks are available at The Powderhound in Rossland, the Chamber of Commerce in Castlegar and Valhalla Pure Outfitters in Nelson.

This Is Why Mountain Bikers Love Whitefish, Montana

/in /by

There are many reasons why Whitefish, Montana is suddenly on every mountain biker’s radar and a 3,800-foot descent is one of them.

There’s something refreshing about the town of Whitefish, Montana. Perhaps it’s the clean mountain air. Or maybe it’s the expansive sky. Or it could be the refreshing simplicity of the place: Central Avenue is located in the middle of downtown, which is a short walk from City Beach, and from all these spots you’re offered an incredible view of the aptly named Big Mountain, home to Whitefish Mountain Resort.

Whitefish sprang up over a century ago when a railway station was built in the Flathead Valley, about an hour’s drive south of the Canadian border. It was inhabited by loggers, farmers and railway workers back then, but that changed in the 1940s with the development of the ski resort on Big Mountain. Soon athletes and travellers were visiting the area and many stayed.

This is the beginning to an article I did about mountain biking in Whitefish, Montana. To read it in its entirety, visit mountainculturegroup.com.

Good News In The Time Of Covid

/in /by

We’ve all seen the bad news. But what good news stories are happening out there during the Covid-19 global pandemic?

I was getting tired of the bad news barrage and we were only one week into the global shut-down due to Covid-19. So I decided to turn the tables and dedicate all the Kootenay Mountain Culture and Coast Mountain Culture social media channels to good news. It was therapeutic and inspiring. This is how I started off the blog that tracked all the good news items:

Hello beautiful readers. By now many of us have undergone a barrage of recent news and social media posts that are doomy and gloomy. So we’ve decided to change the channel. For the foreseeable future we’ve dedicating all our social media posts to sharing the good news happening locally, as well as all the good local businesses out there and how we can continue to support them to help them stay afloat. We’ve also decided to collect them here so we have one resource for all the goodness out there.

Remember, we are all neighbours. We are all each other’s support network. We are all locals. #localsforlocals

To see all the good news items, visit mountainculturegroup.com.

Meet Her Highness Mia Noblet – The World’s Best Highliner

/in /by

From Brazil to China to Norway, British Columbia highliner Mia Noblet has spent this past year walking her way into the record books.

“I never really cared much about records,” says Mia Noblet who, despite her nonchalance, has had an epic year highlining around the world. In April 2018, she set a new female world record, with a 614-metre-long highline walk in Brazil. The next month, she walked a highline in China in high heels. And in August, she set another female highlining record in Norway: she walked a full kilometre in the sky.

So begins a story I did about Mia Noblet for Kootenay Mountain Culture magazine that appeared in the summer 2019 issue. Mia has always fascinated me because of her humble beginnings, her calm personality and, above all, her skill. I can barely hold my composure on a slackline that’s a foot off the ground never mind commit to walking a strip of webbing between two mountain peaks. The amount of strength, balance, and mental serenity required is staggering (excuse the pun).

UPDATE: I had the good fortune to see Mia in action in July 2020 while on a canoe excursion with my son and father on Cottonwood Lake, a regional park near Mia’s hometown of Nelson, BC, that’s threatened by logging. I took the above photo and video of her while there and after she walked the line without incident she told me it was one of the harder ones she’d done because there wasn’t a safety line, which typically helps stabilize things.

To read the KMC story about Mia in its entirety, visit mountainculturegroup.com.

Canada’s Only Rock Climbing Pub

/1 Comment/in /by

The Lion’s Head Smoke and Brew Pub has a special place in my heart…and belly. Not only does it have dozens of amazing brew pub beers on tap, it also serves delicious BBQ and smoked food. And it’s located close to rock climbs. Really close! In fact, it’s the only pub in Canada with rock climbing in its backyard.

I recently did a story for Destinations Castlegar about the the Lion’s Head that involved a really fun photo and video shoot with Castlegar photographer Lee Orr. The pub is located on Broadwater Road about a five-minute drive from downtown Castlegar, and “is a decades-old, tudor-style institution that’s renowned for it’s craft beer offerings,” I wrote in the piece. “The business was established in 1986 and Troy Pyett and Carly Hadfield purchased it in 2009. It wasn’t long after that local rock climbers approached them for permission to establish new, bolted, sport climbing routes on the impressive rock face located in the bar’s backyard.”

To read the story in its entirety, log on to www.destinationcastlegar.com/2017/06/20/only-rock-climbing-pub-in-canada.

For a topo of the routes, visit the Pub Wall updates page on this site.

Kootenay Inspired Book Launches

/in /by

Paul Saso’s new book Kootenay Inspired – Stories and Photos of Extraordinary Kootenay Lives will be launched tomorrow in Nelson at Touchstones. I sat down with the author to learn about the impetus for this book and what inspires him.

Most people who know Paul Saso appreciate he’s a storied character who deserves to have a book written about his life. Instead, Paul has written one about others. December 7 marks the official launch of “Kootenay Inspired,” a 192-page, full-colour book in which are tales, photos and insights from 12 remarkable individuals who call the Kootenay region of British Columbia home. They include such people as organic farmer and ski lodge owner Brian Cross (seen above), Oso Negro Café founder Jon Meyer, actor Lucas Meyers, nursing instructor and activist Mary Ann Morris and photographer Ricardo Hubbs.

This has been a passion project for Paul over the past eight years in between his regular work in Nelson as an environmental consultant and shiatsu massage therapist. I caught up with him to learn more about his life, his book and what inspires him and published the interview on Mountain Culture Group. You can read the entire transcript here: mountainculturegroup.com/kootenay-inspired-book-launches-tomorrow.

Castlegar Man Catches the World’s Largest Kokanee…and Eats it

/in /by

In the summer 2017 issue of Kootenay Mountain Culture magazine I wrote about the strange story of Castlegar, British Columbia, angler Denis Woodcox who landed a huge salmon on Lower Arrow Lake. He promptly ate the fish and then realized he might have just consumed the world’s largest Kokanee salmon. He took the carcass to the government for DNA testing and the results came in a month after the story ran. You won’t believe the results. Here’s the tale.

The staff at Mountain Culture Group just heard from fish biologist Matt Neufeld of BC’s Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations regarding the DNA test of a fish that was landed on Lower Arrow Lakes. The results confirmed that the fish in question was indeed a Kokanee salmon. Other testing revealed the Kokanee was seven years old and weighed 12.1 pounds (5.4 kg). That’s almost three pounds bigger than the Kokanee caught by Ron Campbell of Pendleton, Oregon, on Wallowa Lake in 2010, which is the official world record according to the International Game Fish Association.

Despite the DNA confirmation, Denis will never be awarded with an official designation because, well, he ate the results. To read the story in its entirety, visit: mountainculturegroup.com/castlegar-man-catches-the-worlds-largest-kokanee-and-eats-it.

Recap – Kootenay Climbing Festival 2015

/in /by

It’s amazing to think the Kootenay Climbing Festival has entered its fourth year. This past Sunday, September 20, the TAWKROC directors again returned to the natural rock climbing wall behind the Lions Head Pub in Robson, BC, and set up a zipline for the kids, slackline, door prize draw, silent auction, and the always popular Tower of Power competition, which sees competitors try to stack the most number of milk crates… while standing on them! New for this year was the kid climbing wall (affectionately referred to as the route “Underage Drinking,” as well as the story-telling competition at the end of the night in which competitors told tales based on the theme “Epic” and were awarded prizes.

The Kootenay Climbing Festival 2015 also included an excellent presentation by guest speaker Ian Welsted who talked about his various mountaineering adventures around the world and described what it took to win the prestigious Piolet D’Or award.

Over 200 moms, dads, kids and climbers visited the festival that lasted from 2pm until 9pm. The event is hosted by TAWKROC, a chapter of the Access Society of BC, and its mandate is to promote outdoor climbing and raise funds for new route development in the region.

Huge thanks go out to this year’s sponsors: CASBC, Vpo Nelson, Powderhound, ROAM, Snowpack, High Country Sports, Summit Mountain Guides, Black Diamond and Kootenay Meadows.

kootenay-climbing-festival-2015-01-1

kootenay-climbing-festival-2015-19

kootenay-climbing-festival-2015-13-1

kootenay-climbing-festival-2015-18

kootenay-climbing-festival-2015-17

kootenay-climbing-festival-2015-16-1

kootenay-climbing-festival-2015-15-1

kootenay-climbing-festival-2015-15

kootenay-climbing-festival-2015-14

kootenay-climbing-festival-2015-12

kootenay-climbing-festival-2015-11

kootenay-climbing-festival-2015-9

kootenay-climbing-festival-2015-8

kootenay-climbing-festival-2015-7

kootenay-climbing-festival-2015-6

kootenay-climbing-festival-2015-5

kootenay-climbing-festival-2015-4

kootenay-climbing-festival-2015-3

kootenay-climbing-festival-2015-2

kootenay-climbing-festival-2015-0

kootenay-climbing-festival-2015-10

kootenay-climbing-festival-2015-1

3 Things That Will Make You Climb a Grade Harder This Year

/in /by

A few years ago, while on a trip to the climbing paradise of Kalymnos, Greece, I was loaned a copy of Arno Ilgner’s The Rock Warrior’s Way. It immediately made an impression because, unlike other training manuals I had read with their “do finger pull-ups until you weep” advice, Arno’s book dealt with the mental aspect of climbing.

In my opinion The Rock Warrior’s Way (Desiderata Institute, 2003) is a must read for any rock climber, if for no other reason than the practical tips it provides. Granted the start of the book can get a bit “new-agey” with its talk of “becoming conscious” and “manifested energy” but after Chapter 2 there’s a wealth of knowledge that will help improve your mental fitness for climbing.

I’m living proof the techniques suggested in Ilgner’s book work. During that trip to Kalymnos I went from struggling up 6c to confidently leading 7c by incorporating the three things listed below into every one of my climbs. Today, I still use these techniques and I promise that if you do too, you’ll climb a grade harder this season. (Of course, you need to get out and climb too. Sitting on the couch and ruminating about these points will not levitate you up the walls.) Happy climbing!

#1. Smile before every climb

Whether it’s a warm-up jaunt on a 5.7 slab or a 5.12 offwidth project, take a moment before beginning any route to smile. The idea is to get into a headspace that is relaxed but conscious. Sure that 15-foot roof looks daunting but if you pause to smile, you’ll remember just how much you love this sport. Alternatively, that 5.5 you’re putting up for your punter friend might seem boring but if you smile beforehand, guaranteed you’ll enjoy it more. Oh, and you look better when you smile. (And climbing’s all about how good you look anyway.)

#2. Exhale

You hear belayers shouting to their trembling rope guns all the time: “Keep breathing man!” What you don’t hear is specific advice about how to breathe. So here it is: Breathing is a two-way process and in order to benefit from a great intake of fresh oxygen, you must expel all the air in your lungs first. If you’re nervous on a route, or you’re about to tackle that crux section, exhale all the breath out of your lungs – blow out through your mouth and then use your diaphragm to push out the last puffs of air. After that you’ll be forced to fully inflate your lungs and all that sweet oxygen will help calm you and feed your gunned forearms. Remember: when your belayer yells “breathe” what he’s really saying is “exhale everything man!”

What would you name this hold?

#3. Name it. Don’t judge it.

As climbers we do this all the time when offering beta: “So you crimp off that nasty edge and then throw for the heinous sloper before reaching the ‘thank Jesus’ hold.” Wonderfully descriptive? Yes. Technically accurate? Not in the slightest. What we focus on in statements such as that one are the judgments – “nasty,” “heinous” and “thank Jesus” holds. Try this instead: the next time you’re scoping a route, offering beta or contemplating the next 10 feet of a climb, name the holds for what they are: “Reach for the three-finger crimp with your left hand, bump your right to the palm-sized sloper and then deadpoint for the large ledge.” By sticking to the technical descriptions of what you observe, you’re no longer obstructed by judgment. Instead you’re concentrating on exactly which areas of your hands and feet are going to be making contact with the rock at certain times. (Or, in the case of the route “Max Headroom” in Skaha, what part of your head is going to be shoved into the rock at what times.)

Rotten Dreads – An Extra Foods Memorial

/in /by

Two places in Nelson have a special place in my heart – or, more accurately, my stomach. First there’s the Kootenay Co-op grocery store where you’ll find healthy dreadlocked hippies crammed into tiny aisles filled with chaste consumables and $5 carrots.

And then there was the former Extra Foods store, a vast warehouse where you’d find hippies with rotten dreads purchasing $1 cans of carrots with day-glo yellow labels.

“Rotten dreads,” you say? “Isn’t that a bit harsh!” Well, hear me out. When I first moved to Nelson eight years ago, I went to Extra Foods and stood in line behind a guy with 16-inch-long dirty blond dreadlocks spraying out from underneath his knitted Rasta toque. I didn’t really pay much attention to him or his hair until he grabbed his grocery bag and as he turned to leave, one tendril of dread literally fell off his head and onto the check-out’s conveyor belt.

Amazingly, the hippie didn’t even notice part of his head had just fallen off. He just ambled out the door while the sales clerk and I stood there in disgust. Eventually, she took a piece of paper towel, picked up the dread and looked at me for a second, almost as if she was pleading for advice or, worse, wanting to know if I was interested in keeping it. Finally she dumped it into the garbage can.

Then she disinfected the shit out of that conveyor belt.

Today I watched as the old Extra Foods building was demolished, making way for the  Nelson Commons and the new home of the Kootenay Food Co-op. Part of me mourns the loss of Extra Foods but, like a scraggly, unwashed chunk of hair, I believe the time has come to sweep it aside and make way for more wholesome groceries.