When you’re at the crag and someone is working a route or boulder, and giving all they have on the problem, couple of passers-by might congregate to watch. But when climbers like Chris Sharma, Lisa Rands, Lynn Hill and Dave Graham come together to climb, crowds gather in silence and awe. Welcome to the 2005 RocTrip in Squamish, British Columbia.

This year’s RocTrip, was the third of its kind in North America. Held the first time in Bishop, California in 2002 and then the Shawangunks, New York in 2003, the RocTrip is a community event that brings together some of the world’s best rock climbers and the climbing public to celebrate climbing. The previous destinations have lended themselves well to the fun, laid-back atmosphere of the event, while raising money for local climbing area conservation efforts and Squamish was no different.
Just north of Vancouver lays the little town of Squamish. From anywhere here, you can see the rising wall of the Squamish Chief, providing a stunning backdrop to the weekend’s events. Even with all that vertical rock, most of the climbing took place near the base of the main wall on boulders that ranged from the size of cars to buildings.

In an area with weather as fickle as British Columbia, the elements were kind. During the entire week the weather forecast threatened to dampen the weekend’s festivities, but all said and done, it was some of the best weather the region had in weeks. Often wet weather means lush, green forest and woods and Squamish is just that. If it’s sunny in the parking lot, leave your shades in the car - as you enter the forest, the dense canopy provides the sensation that you’re entering some place special, like on the planet Endore searching for Ewoks.

To take place in the mossy forest were the Climbing Competition on Saturday and the Bouldering Competition on Sunday. For each competition, there were two categories - Open and Elite. However, with the community vibe flowing, hundreds of people were expected to show up in an area that’s used to accommodating a fraction of that number on any given day.

Some of the locals were a bit hesitant having such a high impact weekend caused by competitors, volunteers, and spectators. However, the long-term impact from the Roc Trip far outweighed the weekend’s foot traffic and sloper slapping. Early Friday morning, trail volunteers met Anders Ourem and others from the Climber’s Access Society of BC at the Squamish Station Mall. Anders is the organization’s Executive Director and they planned the initiative for the day. Volunteers were dispatched to trail areas around the Grand Wall to help maintain the system that connects the main bouldering areas. Some shoveled, while others pushed wheelbarrows and even others built steps, all in an effort to closing social trails, fixing soft ones, and improving wet, uneven or hilly areas. About half of the 50+ volunteers were local climbers, looking after their “pet rock,” and this was only one of several events that the Access Society has planned for Squamish this year. “Part of rock climbing is community and respect for yourself and the places you like. It’s about looking after places,” said Anders. In addition to the trail cleanup and raising awareness of the local conservation issues, money raised from the event went directly to the Access Society.

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