Skaha climbing0
Carrie posted in Recreation on April 14th, 2009
Ryan and I just got home from an 11-day road trip to Penticton, B.C. where we climbing on the popular Skaha bluffs. On our way down we picked up some friends (Gary and Brianne) from Calgary and then the 4 of us had 5 days to climb in this mecca. The trip down was a little hairy as Ryan and I were forced to pull over to the side the of the road and spend the night in the car in a blizzard just outside of Watson Lake, but it worked for the best. In the morning it was clear and beautiful and we drove a couple of hours to the Liard Hotsprings were we made some coffee and breakfast while soaking in the gorgeous natural pools. Because arrived at 6 am on a weekday, we had it to ourselves and it was like our own private getaway. It was really cool to walk down the boardwalk with snow piled up on either side (whatever you do, don’t step off the boardwalk or you’ll never get out) and there was fresh snow on the trees and beautiful sun on the mountains around us. That day we made it as far as Jasper when ANOTHER snowstorm forced us to find a hotel for the night. After finally making it to Calgary we bought a roof rack (Gary and Bri need to look up the definition of “pack light”), bought new tires for the car (apparently we almost died), and then took off to BC.
Penticton is a smallish summer tourist town famous for its lakes and vineyards locatedin the Okanagan. The waterfront streets are lined with motel after motel charging exorbitant rates waiting for the summer tourists who will pay it. I can’t imagine the city in the summer: it would be so congested and so hot…We find a sleezy motel though that was still charging off-season rates and set up of camp for the week (the campground wanted $50/night!…for an extra 20 we took the motel).
The Skaha bluffs however are just a 10 minute drive out of town and overlook the 2 lakes. The scenery was fantastic and weather, once again, just perfect. It was ideal for us because were climbing mid-week when there was no one else around and essentially had the place to ourselves. I mean, by Yukon standards it was crowded (meaning we actually saw someone else somewhere in the crag) but compared the normal capacity of the mountain, it was deserted. We explored the crags for 5 days using a really horribly put together guide book and managed to figure out a few good places to climb. We also chatted with some other climbers out there and shared favourite routes and made recommendations to each other. We were so fortunate with the weather and glad to get out of the on Friday, as the holiday weekend was expecting 200 cars a day in the tiny little parking lot. It was insanely full of people on Friday and somewhat like a climbing gym with people lined up for every route. We got in, did what we wanted to do, and got out quickly. We had been climbing for the whole week already and were pretty tired.
On the Friday night we drove north to Logan Lake where Gary’s parents live in the summer. They prepared a fantastic Easter dinner for us and were so excited to have both Gary and her sister home for Easter for a change.  They fed us until we exploded and we rolled into bed that night full of potatoes, broccoli, moose roast, homemade bread, and lots of alcohol. The next day we got a late start (after another HUGE breakfast) and drove north to Fort Nelson. The weather home was a bit better though there was some conflict on music choices, but we made it home safe and sound with one day left to spare. Just long enough to clean out our basement that flooded with melt water while we were gone.
As usual, pics are available from this link.