The Chief

We got a car:



So now we can drive ourselves up to the front of the hotel:



And drive to mountains.

We decided to walk/hike/climb up the Stawamus Chief, known as The Chief. Research told us there were three peaks, the first was pretty easy, the second a bit harder and the third - nails.

Off we set, happy as happy people.

There was a waterfall:



There were also many many steps and stairs to climb. I was very impressed that the BC parks people had gone to such an effort to make the mountain accessible, it's great. But by bloody hell, it was hard work, stepping up and up and up, seemingly endlessly. Who needs a stairmaster when you can walk up a mountain?



See the stairs. They were huge!

I had to do lots of stopping and huffing and puffing.

At first, as you ascend, you're in your own little bubble but then, as the going gets tough, you enter a strange camaraderie with everyone else on the mountain. We came across Etil (evil taskmaster lady) who was with her kids and trying to inspire them up by saying "Chop chop!" a lot. She also had a stick so I decided to try to stay ahead of her. But we kept overtaking each other and said hi every time. It was nice.

Near the peak/summit, the mountain just becomes rock and they've put ladders and chains in to help you. It was a bit scary, but Rob was really helpful and we just did it. Here is an example:



So, we did that, and walked up the granite and got to the top of peak one. Hurrah!

Here's Rob:



Here's me & Rob:



I think this is me on the way on #1, not sure. Looks good though:



(am small yellow speck, bottom left).

So, we chatted with Etil a little and her family and then went down. There was a fork from #1 peak to #2 so we decided to go for #2. Whoo hoo!

This felt a bit easier going up, although still pretty tough, and the climbing/scrambling sections were definitely a lot more scary, as you will see. I was quite slow so we had to let a few people past, including a man with a dog in a bag.

We got to the top and looked down on #1 peak, in the middle ground of this picture:



Snowy the dog had made it in her bag:



Us:



And we chatted to the Canadians a bit, who were very lovely:



Then we had to go down. Bloody hell, bits of it were scary! On one occasion I just said, "I don't know how to do this!" particularly as granite is quite slidey after several thousand people have walked on it. I'm so glad it was a dry day!

Here's me negotiating a gully. This looks like a massive pose, but I was actually going down it like this. Slow progress!



But we made it back down, all the steps and steps and steps. I was a bit tired by this point, and after all the squatting, stepping, twisting and bending I broke a bit. It took me AGES to do the last couple of hundred metres. Other people were more or less just running past us, but I was properly tired and my legs and feet HURT.

I eventually got down and got back and then we went out for dinner, where I treated myself to a beautiful chocolate cheesecake. It was amazing. And we met someone in the restaurant whose mother was from Fishponds. Small world.



Today I am properly broken, I can hardly walk! We were going to do a zip wire thing across the Whistler Valley, but I couldn't manage the "trek" part of that so we just pootled round Whistler for a bit and then came back to Squamish where I bought some wood carvings. I am now surrounded by Canadian souvenirs and have NO IDEA how to pack them in my case which seems to have shrunk. Wish me luck. Home tomorrow.