Stawamus Chief

Given its size, I was expecting something vaguely resembling one of the buttresses in Yosemite, however as the dome comes into view it's actually quite disappointing - the surrounding mountains dwarf the dome (which is located right down near sea level) and you start off looking down onto it, which always reduces the apparent size of a cliff (for an excellent demonstration of this effect, compare looking down into the Grose Valley from standing at the bottom looking up - the difference is amazing!). Thankfully as you get closer the domes massive dimensions become apparent, and the incredibly steep nature of the wall also becomes obvious.

While there are numerous free and aid routes on the Chief (although few continuous free routes), it was the bouldering that I checked out when I was there. Over the course of time the Chief has shed a huge amount of rock, and a lot of it has come to rest as boulders down amongst the forest at the base. These boulders vary in size from scree right through to large house sized, and offer an excellent and extensive series of boulder problems. What makes the bouldering particularly good is the shattered nature of much of the rock - it's surprisingly featured for granite, with lots of incut edges, horizontal breaks etc. The texture varies amazingly for granite too - some of the rock there is incredibly coarse and crystally, with excellent friction but a slightly friable surface, while some other sections are unusually fine grained, with very smooth rock (almost resembling some fine form of sandstone, only a lot harder). All up these characteristics makes for truly superb boulder problems, with everything from steep jug hauls to desperate slabs to heinous steep problems.

Unfortunately there are some down sides to the crag as well. Generally speaking the landings vary from bad to atricious, with numerous small blocks, tree roots and logs scattered around most of the boulders. A bouldering mat is virtually mandatory if you entertain any thoughts of jumping or falling off - if you want to push yourself I would highly recommend bringing along several mats plus a team of crack spotters. The area also receives a huge amount of rainfall, so most of the exposed ground (in between the partially buried blocks and gnarled tree roots) is a swampy morass of pine needles and mud (bring a towel to dry your shoes!). This also means many of the boulders are festooned with thick mats of moss, lichen and unidenitifiable green spooge. Thankfully most of the problems are kept clear of this by passing traffic, but you're pretty much guaranteed to hit some damp and mossy holds at some point.

Despite all this, it's definitely an excellent place to boulder - the forest is thick and luxurious, the boulder field extensive and easily accessible, and the sight of the Chief looming up above the trees damn inspiring.