Let’s decide, once and for all, if it’s more important to vote on Nov. 15 to decide our town’s next mayor and council or go rock climbing instead while the weather’s absolutely splitter.
On the one hand, how does this municipal election affect climbing? Well, the right, carefully chosen town council could, in theory, change the way funds are directed and add value to an area usually frequented only by climbers. The council could build a better trail network, add signage and publicize these facts. Bingo, we have the Smoke Bluff Park. The wrong town council could choose to develop land around, beneath or on top of existing formations, cliffs and crags; there would be condos on top of the Malamute, townhouses above all the walls in the Smoke Bluffs and a casino at the foot of the Chief.
In each of these extreme examples that show the ends of the spectrum, is climbing really affected? Not really. The rock would still remain and climbers would find a way to get there, regardless of whether there was a great trail running underneath with signs of the cliff’s name or a chain-link fence that had to be passed to get to the wall. What would change would be how local people perceive climbing. If climbing is allowed to flourish and is even encouraged, more people will be drawn into the activity.
And why wouldn’t they want to get into it? It’s the coolest thing out there, hands down. People would be empowering themselves by learning how to gauge and control their exposure to adverse risks in the vertical environment. They would be facing challenges both physical and mental, and adding value to their lives by appreciating their home environment more intimately and getting exercise in the process. I’d go so far as to say a town council that encouraged the growth of climbing would be putting its citizens first, adding value to their lives and laying the blueprint for a healthier, happier populace. Not a word of hyperbole or of exaggeration.
On the other hand, how does climbing affect this upcoming municipal election? To be honest, it doesn’t, really. What with LNG, fiscal transparency, housing issues and development for the future, climbing is just too esoteric and too small to affect the candidate’s agendas.
Or does it? Hang on, each year more people choose to move here, pay rent, buy real estate, pay taxes and spend their hard-earned dollars in town just so they’re closer to the climbing. People are literally dropping everything and driving here, parking their vans by the river and becoming de facto residents. These people stay a few years, upgrade to a rental house, vote, meet a partner, vote, fall in love, have a child, vote, buy a small condo and suddenly our municipality grows, strengthens and benefits from their lives. Climbing could very well have an impact on this municipal election after all.
In the end, this is a decision in which an individual’s core philosophy shines through. Climbing needs a fair and just Squamish just as much as Squamish needs fair and just climbers. Do you do what makes you happy and in doing so make the world a better place, or do you change the world around you, and in doing so gain happiness from that? Are you the citizen who votes after careful research, forgoing that dry, sunny climbing day even though you know winter is around the corner with its endless days of rain and this might be our last climbable day for ages? Or, are you the citizen who shoulders a pack bright and early, misses out on the vote but has an incredible day out on the rock, a day which reminds you why you moved here, that this is truly the best place on Earth and why you never want to leave?
Either way, Squamish wins.
