Trouble in Threes

It is often said that good things come in threes, but the events over the past weekend seemed to indicate otherwise. With a short workweek in order, and an extra long weekend planned for myself, I was excited at the opportunity to get out to the Crowsnest Pass for relaxing weekend of climbing and relaxation. So following my 11am Skype call, I quickly tossed my climbing gear in the car and was on my way down highway 2, on pace for a record time for my usual commute to the slide (2 hrs!).

What's the saying about best laid plans...? Little did I know that my fun, apres-work adventure would be soon thereafter steamrollered by my singular greatest cause of anxiety: automobile problems.

Now I am no stranger to car troubles, and driving an 08 Subaru with > 100 000 km's on it, I fully expect there will be things that need fixing. It just so happens that I have a bit of a, shall we say, long term relationship with car troubles and the Crowsnest Pass. I couldn't help but feel uneasy as I pulled my (un) trusty Forester into the Spiderweb Right parking and noticed a bit of an off odor emanating from under the hood.

With coolant leaking and rampant overheating, I quickly weighed my options:

- Do I salvage some still available sunshine and get some bouldering in?

- Should I abandon all hopes of climbing and sort out my car troubles.

Admittedly, I considered the former option a great deal more seriously than a more rational person might, and eventually succumbed to reason, and the realization that something was gravely wrong with my car. I slowly worked my way into Blairmore, where the local mechanic promptly recognized my troubled face and dusty Subaru. Leaving the vehicle in his capable hands, I grabbed a snack from the grocery, and started on the 45+ minute walk to the family cabin.

I've owned 2 identical Subarus now, both which have broken down on me in the CNP.

With this being the 3rd vehicle to break down in the CNP, I was familiar with the senses of trepidation and worry that come from unknown car troubles. Is it fixable? How long will I be stranded for? How much will the repairs cost? How will I get back home?....The list goes on. With an overnight part coming in for the repair I stayed the night at the cabin, and tried to enjoy my time in the mountains. Like the impending rain that littered the weekend forecast, the call from the mechanic the next day only served to impart more dismay. The classic Subaru head gasket issue had come for my dear Forester. With COVID transport limitations in the AMA towing, my (gracious) girlfriend Emilee was kind enough to come rescue me as we escorted my broken car home. 

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Despite the unfortunate last two days, I was determined to salvage my weekend and get my bouldering fix in. Luckily, the ever-positive Loic F. was also psyched enough to gamble on a suspect forecast, and with pads packed we made our way down highway 22 to see what the day would bring. As we pulled up to the Pass we noticed more cars than typical, and I think that slowly but surely, the Slide is growing in popularity (for better or for worse). 

I had a couple things on my mind which I wanted to tick that day, and first off was one of the two 666 list problems (The 6+6+6 most accessible/quality/popular sixes of the slide, link here)  which I have not tried. Giddy Up (V6), is an older Josh B line which goes straight up a good sized block through crimpy edges in the Farm sector of Frank Slide. Before getting to Giddy Up, we briefly stopped at a Man of Science, Man of Faith (V6), an classically steep lip/arete line Kyle and I did some years back. After grabbing a few photo's and doing some warm up laps, and trying the extremely nails hard project in the cave, we quickly moved on to our first main objective.

Myself on MOSMOF (do people pronounce this moss-moff?, thats how i always think of it in my head). Loic wanted me to mention that he pressed the shutter button, after I set up the tripod and camera... Ryan Frecka was a huge help with a weird color correction thing, as my lens seems to have a green tint all the time (I didn't even notice till he pointed it out!). Ryan is a photo guru.

Giddy Up proved to be fairly straightforward, with a sharp crux down low, leading to some good incut crimps and a hero topout. Loic and I made quick work of it, and I climbed it 3 or 4 more times for good measure. With everything that's going on, its been hard to discern the relative strengths and weaknesses I have right now, but I suspect climbing in the steep garage wall has given way to some gains in finger strength. Specifically I feel stronger in the half crimp position, which is likely due to most of the edges in the garage being half-to-full pad edges, just like Frank (although this might have to do with the fact that I made most of the holds ;) ).

Loic entering the (somewhat) cruisy top section of Giddy Up. There is actually quite a large cave under this boulder, which is perfect if you are waiting out the rain like we did!

A great shot of the last business move on Giddy Up. Loic did take this photo, and there was no tripod, so full credit to him :) . I especially like it since Turtle Mt. is captured beautifully. Photos in the slide are tricky, as they often turn out very grey and bleak, but when you get a nice one its hard not to admire it.

With a good warm-up in the Farm sector out of the way, and some rain persuading us to stay closer to the car, we opted for some close to the road projects. While I've done nearly all the lines along the old Frank road, I was happy to show Loic the classic V6, Fender.  I've done it a handful of times now, and was more than happy to throw a quick lap on it and shoot some more photos and video. After showing Loic the beta and repeating the problem, I snapped some video and photo of Loic's send. Partially through the impromptu photo-shoot, we ran into my good friend (and now full time guidebook author!) Trent Hoover. 

Loic bearing down before the dynamic crux of Fender. A notoriously tricky problem due to a very condition dependent throw to a sloper, Fender is one of the closest approaches you can find in Canadian Bouldering. 

Trent is an absolute legend. If you've been around the Canadian bouldering scene long enough, you'll have come across his name in countless guidebooks, nabbing some of the best first ascents in all of Canada (maybe you've heard of a famous Squamish boulder called Mantra?). Besides being a very talented climber, artist, and professor, Trent is now in the final stages of completing the (seemingly insurmountable) task of writing a comprehensive guidebook to Frank Slide. Definitely buy him a coffee and thank him if you run into him out here, as he has put in countless hours cleaning, trail building, writing, and promoting bouldering in the Slide. 

Trent on Wind War on a frigid January day. Fun fact, this was the first time we had climbed outside together! I've never met somebody who loves bouldering as much as Trent. Photo Dave Cassidy.

After we had a good chat with Trent,catching up, chatting bouldering, and reminiscing of the more undeveloped days in Frank Slide, Loic and I decided the weather would hold out for a few more climbs. With that in mind, we made our way into the City of Giants, where Josh B had recently (a few days prior) established a new V11ish compression problem deep in the heart of the City. Before making our way to Cocoon , we spotted a cool small leaning block with some interesting looking cave moves to a technical exit.

Loic on what would become Triaphilia.

After one or two tries I sent utilizing some funky toehooks and a dynamic exit, and Loic shortly followed suit. I decided to name it Triaphilia, a great V6ish line with unique movement for the slide, named after my trio of car breakdowns in the CNP. Afterwords we made our way to Cocoon (V8ish), a cool line which unfortunately has a HUGE dab factor. If you can look beyond it, its actually a pretty fun line, but the difficulty unfortunately results from avoiding the block at your back. After navigating our way around the dab block, Loic and i both sent in between rain showers, and decided to check out one last objective before calling it a day.

Chi Sao (V9) is probably one of the best 9's in the slide, and Loic was keen to hop on it as we were in the vicinity. As I had done Chi Sao previously, I decided to rap off a tall highball traverse on the same boulder to suss out some of the moves. As i was busy rappelling and poking holds with a brush, Loic managed to employ some classic Loic beta (he heelhooks anything!!!) to squeak out a end of the day send. as the snow started to fall, my hopes of hopping on my project quickly vanished, and we decided to pack up and end our day. All in all, a great day in the slide which definitely lifted my spirits.
As we made the drive home, Loic and I discussed some of the more perplexing aspects of Frank Slide Bouldering when it comes to beta. It is seemingly beneficial to be tall (like Josh B and myself), or short (like Loic) due to where holds are...formation of the rock...etc. We mused that a medium height individual typically has no specific advantages when climbing in the slide. While some people may dislike the long drive from the slide, I find it gives me ample time to sit and meditate on the climbing, my day out in the mountains, and other thoughts which pop into my head.

Weather is looking prime for this long weekend, and with 2 great garage sessions, I feel ready to test myself of some projects this weekend. Maybe see some of you out there!

-Mark