So today decided it, the bow valley needs a redo of the bouldering guide. Now I will admit I am thrilled that we have any kind of guide book, and I am well aware that the author and his team put together the entire book in a matter of days. So this is in no way a comment on that, more a thought that there are some excellent spots in the area that are obviously being over-looked. I am not saying I have discovered ‘Font’ a thirty minute drive from Calgary, but there are definitely a couple decent locations in the area, and some excellent problems if you know where to look. The first issue for me has always been finding the boulders themselves. The directions to find the areas, and especially the boulders themselves have left me lost a number of times. In the case of Bonsai, I would say that the routes themselves are difficult to find on the mossy boulders, and it would seem that the grades and associated sit starts conflict with the beta that the guide gives.
Now given my interest in drastically increasing my bouldering grades this summer, as well as aiming to finish a couple of projects in squish I am thinking this is a good time to really explore the bouldering in the Bow Valley. So is born “Project: Pebble Wrestling”, I am going to go in and set a decent GPS track to each of these areas, take some photos so people know where the boulders are, and perhaps if the occasion calls for it comment on some of the climbs. I have no interest in rewriting the guide, but I am thinking a hit list of my favorite climbs, the grade I would give them, and the grade listed might be good. Toss in some actual photos, with perhaps some highly advanced “photo-shop” red lines to give some idea of the climbs and we should be good to go.
So for the time being I am going to toss up the track of me getting lost today looking for Bonsai. This will give people a track to follow to exactly where the boulders are, and has some images embedded in it so you can have an idea of what you are getting into and where the boulders are.
Bonsai Rocks.kmz
Other than that I will just say that Bonsai needs a good brushing, and a couple days of people seeing what kind of fun they can come up with. As a last note, not saying I would recommend a fire in K Country, but if someone burnt all the dead wood lying around the boulders than kids from the YMCA camp could no longer cover up some of the best climbs with their attempts to build forts.
-The Carny