Guy's Last Email
From: Guy Edwards
Subject: MB pro/go?
If you're an engineer, or similar professional, you will suffer a lot if you're convicted for BUILDERING in canadian courts. With a criminal conviction - you're not allowed to be a professional! Thus - I'll turn the circle around - ha - I no longer want to be an engineer!! Lets try it.
Thus - MB. Simul? I was just thinking of a long pipe (like a big bro - but no spring needed), and just for a hang if needed, or rapelling. The weather's good now. Ardarvin must be a worker - he's not home during the days.
Ornery Eddie
We had been planning to simul-climb the MacMillan Bloedel building for some time. It's a 35 story skyscraper located in the heart of downtown Vancouver, with a beautiful chimney going straight up the side. It is perhaps the greatest unclimbed jewel in Vancouver.
A few days after receiving this email, we hooked up to give it a try. We had made custom protection out of 2x4s, since the 40" chimney was too big for the biggest Big Bro. My 2x4 was precisely measured and crafted with a hole in one end to attach 5 mm cord and a 'biner. Guy's 2x4 was cut with a hatchet to the approximately correct length, with cord wrapped around one end which would've most likely slid past the midpoint in the event of a fall, countering the camming motion.
Guy wasn't being sketchy with his lack of care in fabricating this crucial piece of gear, it's just that to him it was less crucial. He was a much more talented and confident climber than I was. Guy simul-climbed The Grand Wall + The Roman Chimneys (14 pitches, 5.11a) in 1 hr 44 min, whereas my greatest simul-climbing accomplishment was Banana Peel (7 pitches, 5.7 - most of which you can literally walk up).
He never intended to use this gear at all, in fact he probably made the gear just to humor my insistence that we have a piece between us at all times. Looking back, I was the ridiculous one, putting faith in a 2x4 jammed sideways in a chimney to protect a +30 m lead fall.
Anyway, upon seeing Guy's 2x4 I politely declined on the objective, and we went and climbed the Radical building instead - a pleasant 7 story, well protected romp.
Thinking back, now almost 5 years later, I can't think of any single event which I regret bailing out on more. In 2003 I was at the height of my climbing abilities. I've never been better prepared both physically and mentally than I was then. When Guy died, I lost that opportunity forever.
Since that time, I've had a couple offers to climb the MacBlo building with close, trusted friends. But these days, as I sit at my office desk now 20 pounds heavier, my most often used mantra is, "when I get in shape...". I've got a list two pages long of objectives to climb "when I get in shape", I just hope that when I get there I've got the mental confidence to go through with it.
