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Stawamus Chief
Tuesday, 15 May 2007
If you ever drove from Whistler, BC to Vancouver, you couldn’t possibly have missed the gigantic rocky wall facing you as you pass the town of Squamish.  I was always captivated by this mountain.   Its name is The Chief.  Stawamus Chief to be exact.  One day I learned that this vertical cliff is actually one of the favorite locations for rock climbers...   How crazy is that?!  Later a friend of mine told me that there is also a hiking trail to the top of the mountain for all those average souls that have no need for adrenaline-pumping climbing of the vertical cliff.   So I decided to try the easy route on my own. 
 
According to Russ Sawdon, the owner of Vancouver Hiking website, the hike to the top of Stawamus Chief is "a wonderful work-out for legs & lungs". Actually there are three peaks at the top of the Chief, peak one being the lowest, peak three the highest of them.  I decided to try my luck on one sunny April Sunday.  Since the mountain isn't actually that high -- from a little over 500m for the first peak, to about 700m in case of the third peak -- I decided to climb all three peaks.  Unfortunately I missed a turn to the left that lead to the first peak and I landed at the second peak, missing the first one.  Only then I realized that I would have to go back to reach the first peak, so I decided to leave it for the next time, took a beautiful photograph (see below) and proceeded to the third peak.  I took an alternate, direct route down from the top of the third peak. 

 
The climb to the top of the Chief is rather steep and reminds me in its nature very much of Grouse Mountain Grind in North Vancouver, except that it is about 30% shorter than Grouse. But still, it's like constant climbing stairs over 500 meters high…  Similar like Grouse Mountain the Stawamus Chief trail is very well maintained and marked.  It is also very popular and well attended especially in the weekends.

On the way from second to the third peak the trail leads very close to the edge of the cliff.  I laid myself down on my belly to have a peek down…  It must have been at the place of some kind of an overhang as there was nothing for several hundred meters below…  My imagination started running and I backed off without even taking a picture of it…

On my way down to the parking lot I looked again at the cliff.  There were indeed two rock climbers teams climbing the vertical wall.  I felt like shouting out to them that they don't need to take the shortcut as there is a longer but much faster and easier way around…  I talked to a few rock climbers at the bottom of the wall.  According to them it takes most of the day for an average team to climb to the top.  Supposedly the record is set at about three hours…  Well, I decided for the longer route but it took me only a little over one hour... :-)

 
Posted by Jan Koncewicz
 

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