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No Regrets?
Leaving Whistler was not so tough, for if I had
stayed, I would have been broke within a very short
period of time, and I wasn't going easy on the ice
cream waffle cones either. Belinda, who had just
returned from a tour to Calgary and back and, offering
her place for the night in Whistler, she said it was
her turn to be the giver. I thanked her and her
roommate, Janine for their generosity and was on my
way to Squamish.
I was told by climber and friend, Brad (aka Bradical),
to be sure to camp at the Stawamus Chief Provincial
Park at the base of the Grand Wall - "You'll know it
when you see it" he said. Yosemite has The Captain,
Squamish has The Chief. It is a climbing mecca, with
people from all over the world here to climb anywhere
from a few days to 5 to 8 weeks. I was doing well with
my time, I was due to meet Tom Griga in Bellingham the
night of the 26th and I only had about
135 km to go.
Brad told me to walk the Grand Wall Trail to its base
and look up. He also told me to look for a climber
etched into one of the rocks on that trail. I followed
the orders, always with a bit of worry about hurting
myself while doing something other than biking. I had
just learned a few days before, that Tamara, from
Stephan and Tamara, had broken her fibula just a day
or so after we split up when they went to hike the
Chilkoot trail and I went to Juneau. As I was hopping
over the rocks and scrambling up the base, I thought
about this.
As you may have gathered, I believe I am safer on my
bike because I seem to hurt myself whenever I get off -
strained hamstring, cut fingers from a bungee cord,
bump on the head from a
little-too-high-but-not-high-enough flower box, burnt
knuckles, stubbed toes,... Hence, I was especially
cognizant of each step on the trail.
So, after chatting with two friends from Salt Lake
City and watching the woman, Kristy, climb The
Exasperator, a 5.10c climb(1), I found myself
struggling with an offer to get up there myself.
Kristy asked if I wanted to borrow her shoes and my
mind said "Yes!!!!", my body said "Whoa whoa- I only
cycle" and something else said "What if you get hurt?"
I just stared up at her, my neck a full 90 degrees
from my spine with all of this going through my head.
I couldn't believe I was going to say no. I said
"thanks, but I'd probably make a fool of myself" and
there was my answer. I couldn't believe I passed up an
offer to climb in
Squamish, B.C.
As I walked back down, my eye caught the climber
etched into the rock. It was a woman. I felt regret. I
thought about decisions one has to make that at times
may not be in their best interest, due to the idea of
having no regrets. But, wasn't I doing this because,
at the end of my life, I wanted no regrets?
I fought with myself that I would have felt more
regret if I got hurt and had to postpone or even
cancel this trip. This trip is my job for a year. My
goal is Chile by bike, environmental awareness by
campaign. This wasn't just a bike ride where I was
going to lollygag in a place, hoping to fall in love
with a man or a location and never leave. I have a
job. I'll go climbing with Bradical when I'm done my
work here. The regret was slowly dissipating... ever
so slowly.
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(1) Climbs/routes are rated anywhere from 4.0, a
scramble up some rocks, to about 5.12 with sublevels
of 'a' through 'd' from 5.10 on. At this point,
specific training is necessary to be able to climb
these routes.
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