What's happening with Graham and Kim?: Skaha Bluffs Sport Climbing

Penticton, BC is beautiful in April. There are new leaves on the trees, flowers are in bloom, bird spring migration is in full swing, and the wineries are all opening for the season. Mmmmm…

Graham and I spent the month exploring the quality Okanagan sport climbing in the Skaha Bluffs, joined by many of our climbing friends from Victoria and Vancouver. Skaha has good diversity of grades, climbing styles, and terrain, which makes it an awesome playground and also a great place to work on projects. We climbed loads of fun routes during the month but still we feel like we hardly scratched the surface in terms of the volume of climbing in the area. We will definitely be coming back soon!

We both spent a good chunk of our time working on a couple special projects. Graham set his sights on “The Replicant” (5.13d) before we arrived, and after a few days I focused in on “Wings of Steel” (5.12d) as my goal for the month.

Graham climbing "The Replicant" (5.13d)

Kim climbing "Wings of Steel" (5.12d)

After multiple days of dragging friends back to The Belfry and The Great White Wall over and over again, we finished the trip by both sending just in the nick of time! These were the hardest routes we have climbed to date, so they were super exciting sends for both of us. Squamish Magazine even gave us a little shout-out! http://squamishclimbingmagazine.ca/local-news-mcgrenere-on-the-replicant/. Graham also got his first 5.13a onsight, on a route called "12-Step Derailer". Yay!

The memories you make when climbing with friends are always the best part about trips. Needless to say, this month was gold. Here are a just few of the April moments that really make us smile!