Thrifty Skaha Sends - Halloween 2025
Click Here for the Skaha Trip Report on the VOC Website
Skaha Lake, and Skaha Bluffs Provincial Park are absolutely stunning destinations surrounded by mountains, hills, beautiful trees and wildlife, and housing tons of top-notch sport climbing on Gneiss rock. A few minutes south of Penticton, and (approximately) a 5-hour drive from Vancouver, the VOC hosted their annual Thrifty Skaha Sends trip over Halloween of 2025.
The gameplan was to buy some fun costumes at a thrift store, and do some awesome climbing in fantastic fashion.
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Day 0: The Commute
I was scheduled to join the first car to Skaha on Thursday at 5:00 PM with Mo, Fabian, Livio, and our driver, Paul. We met an hour earlier at the Salvation Army thrift store to look for costumes, each finding a few items to stash for later. Afterward, Livio and Fabian picked up groceries, and we returned to pick up Mo and load everyone’s gear.
Isaac, the trip organizer, had lent Paul his truck, giving us plenty of room for food, camping gear, climbing gear, and costumes. We made good progress until about 20 minutes before Hope, BC, when traffic came to a standstill. Paul slowed the car as we approached, eventually joining the gridlock and stopping altogether. At first, we sat still, but as the minutes turned to hours, we got restless, spending time walking, getting out food for snacking, and trying to nap.
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Unfortunately, as we learned from a crash report online, there was a multi-vehicle with fatalities, leading to both stretches of the highway being completely closed while the crash was investigated.
Just before midnight cars began to move. Paul was keen on getting in that night, so after a 4 hour delay, we had a quick stop in Hope for gas and food, and drove the rest of the night. We arrived at the campsite at 3:00 AM on Friday, pitched our tents and went straight to sleep.
Day 1: The Arrivals
Friday was the day that most people arrived. That morning, we woke up at around 9:00 AM, made breakfast and prepared to head to the crag. We saw a message from Isaac, who had set out so early, that he was going to reach the crag around the same time as us, so it looked like leaving a day early wasn’t doing us any favours so far.
Upon reaching the crag, it was still cold (around 6°C) and also windy. As I am very susceptible to the cold, this meant that instead of crushing 5.10s, I was struggling on 5.7s feeling like my fingers were icicles ready to shatter at any moment!
Others fared much better. Fabian got up to a 2-pitch multi, and once other cars began arriving people split off on other climbs. I stayed with Paul, Mo, and some others, moving down to Another Buttress, which was a bit warmer, out of the wind, and featured some easy trad climbs.
Once the sun started to set, we wrapped up, satisfied with our climbs, headed back to camp, and joined up with more cars that were arriving to have dinner around a campfire. Since I don’t camp often I had some simple meals that just needed hot water. On the other end of the spectrum, I was quite impressed by some camping experts who were cooking pasta sauces, and stir frys.
People slowly filtered out from the campfire, layered up, and went to bed for the night.
Day 2: Rain or Shine we Climb
Saturday morning marked November 1st. Everyone awoke around 8:00 AM and huddled around the picnic table making breakfast and planning which crags to hit. The radar called for some rain in the afternoon, so we wanted to squeeze in what we could before then.
I returned to the same crag with Paul and Mo, and we were joined by Isaac, Lillian, Yuze, and some others. We only got to climbing one or two routes before the rain picked up so we cleaned the remaining routes and retreated to the car.
A few groups were over at Doctor’s Wall, a hard wall featuring 5.11s and 5.12s with a wicked overhang. So while it was still windy, they were well sheltered from the rain, and got to continue climbing.
Not wanting to hang out in the wet and cold, Paul and Isaac drove our groups into Penticton. We went for ice cream (Tickleberry’s Downtown, delicious btw) while waiting for the rain to pass. Once the sun came out, we went for a walk to see the metal dinosaur and got a great view of the town and the Okanagan Lake.
Finally, before returning to camp, we all stopped at the local thrift store for anyone who was still missing a costume. The weather said clouds were blowing over so we planned to sport our costumes on Sunday while climbing. Lillian and I set out to get Isaac a dinosaur costume thinking we could make a play on words with his last name: Isaac Borrego would become Isaac the Borregosaurus.
Day 3: Clear Skies and Sending
Sunday morning, we awoke to clear and sunny skies and knew that it would be a solid day of climbing. Stoke was high. No one wasted time, instead scarfing down food in a scramble to get to the crags as early as possible.
Climbing with the same group we went to Red Tail Wall, and started with some 5.9s and easy 5.10s. With the sun out, and a light breeze, the conditions were perfect. I put on my costume of a clubber from Hawaii, Lillian put on her matching costume, Paul put on his cheetah costume, Isaac put on his Borregosaurus outfit, and Mo wore his dancer costume.
While Isaac was mostly taking pictures (which were fantastic!!), Paul and I climbed some awesome moderate routes, switching with Mo and Lillian. Two of my favourites were Hiking With Howie, and Preface. Both showcased the amazing crimpy Gneiss of Skaha, with Hiking with Howie featuring comitting moves over a fantastic roof, and Preface challenging us with various thin feet.
In the afternoon, we moved over to the Seven Dwarfs Wall for some more easy trad. It featured some short cracks, and slabby climbs on small features. With an easy hike to the top Isaac managed to capture some great (and goofy) angles from above. We had a blast, rotating trad leads, and setting top ropes on the harder climbs.
Paul, Isaac, and I took a break before the sun set and hiked to the top of the Fortress, the overlooking mountain behind the Seven Dwarfs Wall. Looking out from the top, we saw the bluffs glowing in the low sun and Skaha Lake stretched beneath them as the whole valley settled. We finally returned, took our group photo in costume, and packed up.
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On the way out we met up with other groups, got to see their costumes, and lastly packed the car for the drive home.
Special thanks to Isaac Borrego (the Borregosaurus 🦖) for many beautiful photos.