This week's column acts as a symbol of life itself; on the one hand we have the success of our local bouldering club at the middle school.
This past Sunday, March 11, club members took down, washed and reset all the hundreds of holds splattering their cave's overhung walls; an act of renewal or rebirth.
On the other hand, we have a 麻豆社国产climbing community member, Marc-Andre LeClerc. His trail has been dark since Wednesday, March 7th when he was and reported missing and is now presumed dead in Alaska; the final act in a life of adventure, humor, and curiosity.
On March 11, the Don Ross Middle School "Cave Dwellers" took part in one of the most exciting, arduous and motivating acts a boulderer can experience. This school bouldering club came together on a bluebird Sunday for eight hours and stripped, washed and reset their beloved bouldering cave. To give everyone some perspective on this event, the cave has approximately 1,000 holds. Over time, the holds get grimy, as leagues of sweaty hands grasp for purchase and throngs of chalky hands clutch for a little more power.
Our first step was to take all the holds off with Allen key T-wrenches and impact drills and blast them in the school courtyard with a pressure washer.
Once completed, we lay each hold out on the sun-warmed pavement to dry. Next came the fun part 鈥� resetting the cave. Myself, three parents and six student club members sieged the cave for the next eight straight hours getting all this done.
At one point a student muttered, "My shoulders are wasted! It's so much work, how does a climbing gym get all this done, over and over?" I commiserated with him and ordered some pizza to squeeze a few more hours out of the gang.
Overall, the exhausting day of volunteer labour was a huge success, and it wouldn't have been possible without the support of the parents and students, a huge thank you to all. A big shout out to Climb On downtown for donating some swag to give away to our young, motivated boulderers.
This column sadly ends with a goodbye to young climbing phenomenon and local community member, Marc-Andre Leclerc. Leclerc and his partner, Ryan Johnson of Juneau Alaska, were climbing the Mendenhall Towers, summiting on March 5th. When they failed to return on March 7 friends reported them missing. Juneau Mountain Rescue as well as the Alaskan Army National Guard co-ordinated searches but ultimately found only rappel ropes down the north side of the mountain and in a crevasse, after being hampered by bad weather almost every day of searching.
Marc was a unique member of the coastal climbing scene and the 麻豆社国产climbing community. Rarely will you meet a climber who performs at a genuinely visionary level, doing cutting-edge alpine climbing while simultaneously being so humble and able to relate to any recreational climber top roping in the Smoke Bluffs or anywhere else, doing anything else, for that matter. He had a unique, deep feel for the mountains and for risk; the balance of ego, self-confidence, reverence and respect for everything and everyone around him. His superpower, on top of all this, was his humor, the ability to see the lightness in any situation.
As a parting image, imagine this scene. I'm guiding Freeway in the Western Dihedrals area of the Stawamus Chief. Waiting at the base of the final insecure 5.10d pitch, my buddy Gary and I have a final swig of water before we finish our day and hike down. All of a sudden, from the opposite side of The Crescent Tower, pops Marc's head. "Hi, guys! Mind if I scoot up this pitch before you lead it?" Gary and I exchange glances as a ropeless Marc glides up to our perch, high fives us, comments on the amazing fun of the day and 鈥� while still talking about the fun moves he'd climbed below 鈥� climbs the pitch above us and disappears. We hear his laughter even after he's out of sight and over the top.
Marc, you will be greatly missed and always admired.
Our hearts go out to Marc's family and his partner Brette. The 麻豆社国产climbing community gives our condolences.
