This is Tony making his way up a 5.12 in Skaha. I forget what it’s called.

It’s climbing season, and Skaha was packed for the long weekend where I spent two hot days touring the rock and getting some much needed, confidence boosting climbs.

Leading is a mind clearing exercise that’s really helping me focus and forget the chaff that I burden myself with over the week engrossed in work and surrounded by the teeming city life. I am becoming hooked into the possibilities discovered over two climb days at Skaha.

We had a couple early starts, ate a whole chicken, downed a bottle of Glenlivet and caught rays on the beach too. It was rad.

March already, and I can barely believe it. The first two months of the year were pretty jam packed with ski touring adventures, bivouacking on the snow, waking up to midnight snowmobiles charging by camp, and even a few days climbing out in Squamish. Unbelievable. It’s not even Spring yet.

Even though today started with a snowstorm, the next few days have sunny forecasts so I’m hoping for another foray to the Squamish boulders for some after work climbing. In the meantime, above I’ve posted the results from a recent outing on a rainy day.

What I’ve learned post-video production? I’d rather be taking stills. Or even better, just enjoying the climbing.

Two weekends and two epic trips out to Squamish for some wandering in the woods, searching for pockets, jugs, flakes and cracks to jam my fingers and toes into. I am in love with this climbing thing. The peacefulness. The wilderness. The solitude (if you so seek it). The test of body and mind against something solid, unyielding and uncaring. I have left a few layers of skin and some blood too on the rocks, but the lessons learned have transcended the stones.

I am, of course, still taking photos through all this scamping around, and you can see the results here, in my “Hands on stone” set on my flickr site. It’s been an enjoyable challenge to try and capture the quick movements often under the dark forest canopy — it’s something else I’m still learning. Check back every so often, as I’m hoping to add more to the set if the weather cooperates.