Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Club Trip 2012 - Kamou

Somewhere in Kamouraska...

... a man (we'll fictitiously call him William Wallace) is waiting at the door of a washroom. Suffering from a night before of heavy drinking William is reaching the point of desperation. He thinks to himself... I hope this won't be long. After nearly an hour a local fellow finally emerges, and upon seeing William hobble towards the door, he drops his newspaper on the ground and shakes his head side to side. 

With a completely strait face he says: "Ah... no... I'm sorry but my friends are next. They've asked me to save their spot". Puzzled and frantic, paper in hand, William says: "Where are they? I don't see anyone but me". The local dude explains that they are just finishing somewhere else but they'll be along shortly... and oh yes... they are a party of 5! William pleads "Trust me, I'll be fast! I'm ready to go right now and I'll be done before they even get here". Disappointed, the local says "I'm sorry... but that's just not the way things work here". He makes sure that the newspaper is clearly in the way of the door and walks away. 

Near desirous, William Wallace finds some other old rickety outhouse and makes do with it. Did I mention that this story takes place at the nicest bathroom in Kamouraska on the May long weekend? 

Now... if that doesn't make sense for a toilet it probably doesn't make sense for a route either!

Anyway... aside from a few line-up frustrations the Rock & Ice club trip to Kamou was great. No bugs... hot weather... friends... good routes... and a trip to the Boulangerie. Got on many good routes, came within a fall of a few 5.11's, hatched some moonshinin' plans, and even found a pirate teepee in the woods on the way back!

Camilla forgoes the helmet to sport a Fidel-Castro style sun-hat. Hipster!
Pete working on a nice 5.11 we found in the shade of the Cerveau area.

This is obviously Pete's game-face!

But the best entertainment on the weekend was delivered by Franca. Having been shut down at the roof of Moby Dick on her last visit, this time she was determined to send!

The steep moves to the lip of the roof. 
Mid way through a whipper. She took a few of these at this spot. 
Finding the secret hidden pocket on the slab. Her expression is priceless!
Pulling over the bulge! The rest of the route is in the bag. Nice work!

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

The Business End of the Lens

A few weeks back I spent a day in Cochrane lane climbing hard stuff with Aaron. During all of this, his buddy Joe Crawford was playing with a new camera rig he'd been set up to work with this summer. Joe's previously worked on a cool film project that was screened at Fredericton's Banff Film Festival last year! Since I'm seldom on the business end of the lens I thought I'd share a few he sent along to me. All of the shots below are his: 

Jai Voile Ta Blonde - 5.10+
I almost hit that bolt with my knee!
Nice spring day.
I like this shot! Phil O. on 'Ride a Cock Horse'
Sticky Fingers - 5.10b. Yay for offset brassies! (Do I really look like this?)
And the best for last... a video of my fail at the crux! (Sorry for the language... keep in mind that I was already waaay pumped... this is at the end of the pitch)