Author Christie Dionne’s climbing guidebook Powell River Rocks was recently released, much to the delight of the local climbing community, according to local climber and Friends of Stillwater Bluffs Society member Jason Addy.
Addy wrote the section in Dionne’s book focusing on Stillwater Bluffs and is enthusiastic about all the new information contained in the guide.
“It’s awesome to have a massively updated new guide book,” said Addy. “It’s exciting for me, and it’s exciting because it’s going to attract more climbers to town.”
The book has been a years-long, exhaustive project that Dionne started in the months following her husband Colin’s tragic death in a helicopter accident in 2011. Colin was an experienced and avid climber with great knowledge of local climbing, said Dionne.
“Colin was the keeper of climbing history in Powell River,” she added. “I realized with his loss that we lost a lot of history and it was going to be really important to save it.”
Dionne said the book began as a way to immortalize Colin and deal with her grief, and that she is proud of the finished product.
“At first it was really hard but it got easier as I went and now it’s really exciting to see it released,” she said.
The book covers completely new climbing areas, said Addy, including the Daniels Valley, a region just north of Powell Lake. This is an area climbers have talked about for some 40 years but has only recently been explored, he added.
“Just last summer two climbs were put up there,” he said. “There are massive 3,000 foot walls.”
Dionne’s involvement in the climbing community extends beyond her book. She recently started a climbing access and development group.
“Our focus is access to climbing areas, keeping that access, keeping good relationships with landowners, building trails, and upkeep and care of the climbing routes that are already there,” she said.
In addition to the book, Dionne is a major contributor to the climbing community, said Addy.
“She’s done a lot of work besides the guide book,” he said. “She’s helped build the profile of climbing in Powell River.”
Powell River Rocks is available at Tourism Powell River, Base Camp, Westcoast Thick and Terracentric Coastal Adventures in Lund.
