Sunday, July 1, 2012

The Dreaded First Blog Post...

So after two years of living and climbing in Squamish I have decided to start a blog sharing some of my thoughts and adventures. I am new to this so bear with me, I will try and keep things interesting and entertaining but I can't make any promises. Anyhow I will try and get things going here...

So right now I am living in a house with three of my best friends and climbing buddies where I rent the stairwell and front entrance space for 180$/month. My bed at the moment is a queen size air mattress inflated inside a 3ft/8ft room that folds up on each side and swallows you whole when you lay down on it. It may not be the most glamorous sleeping arrangement however rent is cheap and I use my money for more important things such as beer, ice cream, cookies, and sometimes rock climbing.

 Here is a shot of my stairwell below, as you can see I did not bother cleaning it before sharing a photo. I want this blog to accurately portray who I am... I am not a person who keeps his stairwell tidy.



Living with you best friends is pretty rad. Sometimes there are minor disagreements about who is responsible for the dishes in the sink, or why I have my entire wardrobe strewn about on the living room floor, but all around I think we get on pretty well here. Here's a shot of my roomies and myself hanging out in Smith Rock, Oregon. We look pretty fly for Canadians eh?

Right to left... Richie, Tyler, Luke and myself.


As far as actual climbing goes, things have been pretty damp around Squamish so far this year, but this is about to change... I hope. There actually have been many dry days and climbing has been going well. My project I have been working on the North Walls of the Chief for a while is approx 5/6 complete. Every pitch goes free, I just need a solid dry weekend day to climb the route from the ground. It's a beautiful line and I can't wait to finish it, more on this soon hopefully.

I managed to squeeze out a couple amazing after work sessions on the Chief last week as well. This time trying a possibly unrepeated line on the Grand Wall called 'Genius Loci'. Hamish Fraser and friends put up this testpiece route in 1991 in ground up style, drilling the protection bolts on lead. The route is of amazing quality, with fun and varied climbing ranging from desperate friction to steep pumpy crack climbing. The climb has a lot of character and you certainly have to 'go for it' through most of the crux sections which makes for an engaging climbing experience. Again, more on this soon I hope...

Here's a shot of me heading up pitch 1. I found myself dealing with missing bolt hangers and some dirty holds on this pitch, which kept things interesting.

Jason Kruk photo.


That's it for now, hopefully the weather will change for the better so I can get back on these routes and have something to follow this post up with. Ciao!


4 comments:

  1. Marc-Andre,
    I am so surprised no one has made a comment on your first blog post ever. Inspiration tends to inspire when moments than bring us inspiration are at peak performance. However, we should never forget that inspiration starts small and it grows. It requires practice and nurturing it with strength from within and from our support system.

    Sadly, I know you will not be able to read this and that loss - your loss - is a great loss to the world. You may not have cared much that you were someone who made a difference to everyone you met (and in this case many people you never met), but you certainly lived life as someone who did care about kindness to others. Your adventures and life of happiness is inspiration we all need. There are people who really, really miss you. Then there are the rest of us who didn't know much about you until you were gone. To that, Marc-Andre, I can still say we miss you. Thank you for being you.

    -David Waller
    Vancouver, WA

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  2. Marc-Andre, we who couldn't know you up close were blessed to have basked in your warmth as your sun set... May you be reborn with the same spirit so that others can be similarly ignited.

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