Brian Bartow

I was shocked to hear of the recent and unexpected passing of the world class speed climber Brian Bartow.  I’ve been photographing the annual Squamish Days Logger Sports show for the Squamish Chief newspaper for the last ten years, and Bartow had been the dominant competitor the whole time.  He was a specialist in what’s known as speed climbing, flying up the ninety foot high spar trees and hand sawing off a section at the top.

Bartow’s father had been one of the founders of the Squamish loggers sports and had developed what was known as the Tree Act, where a drunken logger climbs the spar tree, then kicks off his climbing gear so he can’t climb down, then gets shot off the top of the tree by a mob of angry townies.  The final part of the tree act was an explosive charge in the seat of his pants and a zip line ride over the audience.  Brian had inherited the act after his father retired, and even after photographing it over ten years, it always amazed me.

He was an incredibly strong guy.  One time I was walking through the fairground looking at something and I guess Brian was doing the same because we ran right into each other.  The man was solid muscle, as hard and solid as a coastal Douglas Fir tree.  It’s hard to believe that anything could stop him.

Brian’s family has set up a GoFund Me page for family, please think about donating.

I remember this time that the climber on the opposite tree was struggling to make the cut at the top of the spar tree during one of the heats.  I could hear somebody talking quietly and looked up to see that Brian had climbed up on top of the tree and was quietly giving the guy some coaching and encouragement.  He was big mentor for younger competitors.

Brian wasn’t just a climber, here he is in the tree bucking contest, where he had to cut the end off a log while balancing six feet in the air.

The Chokerman’s Race where you have drag a twenty foot long one inch steel choker cable (used for hooking up logs to yarders and skidders in logging operations) across a log floating in a pond, then climb over these large logs, then hook up the cable to the last log, and then race back to the start.  Brian would vault those logs without even touching them, and they’re chest high on me, so probably five feet high or so.  That cable he’s dragging must weigh 60 or 70 pounds.

The last four shots are from this years loggers sports on the BC Day long weekend.  Two and bit months ago.  Hard to believe he’s gone.