>> February - March 2001
Alberta
News
Mixed Mania Continues in Rockies
Friendly
competition
and
a new mixed climbing guide book have prompted a frenzy of development. Classics
like Amadeus (III M5 WI4+) and Red Man Soars (III M5+ WI4+) came in with the
first freeze but the ice on these and many other routes was thin and brittle.
Numerous attempts were made on big mixed lines in Kananaskis Country and the
Icefields Parkway but warm temperatures meant that by the time the mercury
dipped below freezing for good, locals were honed and ready for action.
One of the first new mixed lines to go was Bus Pass, located on a small cliff
at the base of Mt Athabasca, by Eamonn Walsh, Josh Briggs and Aaron Beardmore.
Walsh fired the M6 WI5 R pitch on marginal gear.
The Spray Lakes area of Kananaskis Country received most of the early season
attention. In late September Walsh and Rob Owens did a new mixed line on the
remote northeast face of Mt Betty. Wild Bunch (WI6 R/X 5.7) is a 400m long
alpine route sporting sustained thin ice with no gear which leads all the
way to the summit. Mt Warspite produced two new traditional lines by Owens,
Walsh and Raphael Slawinski. Imaginary Goat (IV 5.7 WI5 R, 150m) and Spite
(IV M4 WI4, 80 m). Both boast a reasonable walking-to-climbing ratio. On nearby
Mt Indefatigable, Super Squash (M6+) was gang climbed by Walsh, Steve Holeczi,
Todd Learn, Eric Hoogstraten and Graham McLean. On the other extreme, with
a very unreasonable walking-to-climbing ratio, Will Gadd, Kim Csizmazia and
Holeczi found Shut Up and Walk (IV WI5+ R) which requires a five-hour approach
up the back side of the Big Sister in Canmore.
The ice smears of Ranger Creek on the Smith-Dorrien Spray Trail in Kananaskis
Country are always the first to form. Eric Dumerac's 1997 Thin Universe (M6)
saw many repeats and he returned this winter to add two bolted routes: Astro
Turf (M7+) with Shawn King on the right and Atmospheric Burn-Up (M8-) on the
left. In the Ghost, Dumerac drilled DSB AKA Dangerous Sperm Buildup (M7) right
up the middle of GBU (WI4-5+). A five-minute walk left of GBU and just left
of the entrance to the Valley of the Birds, Shawn Huisman, in conjunction
with Shelly Huisman and Sean Isaac, put up two short but steep mixed lines:
Freebird (M6+) and Dodo Bird (M8-). Walsh, Dumerac and Holeczi teamed up for
the obvious hanging dagger above Red Commie Star in Boom Valley. After climbing
the grade 4 ice of Red Commie Star, their Brown Star Cosmonaut works up steep
quartzite past 10 bolts (M7) to the icicle. It is destined to become a classic.
In the same valley, Chris Fink and Quinton Tigchelaar made the first ascent
of the two pitch Jedi Mind Tricks (M7, 45m) which climbs thin grade 3 ice
past an anemic dagger, clipping five bolts.
In the past few years, Isaac and Dave Thomson have made the Stanley Headwall
in Kootenay National Park a multi-pitch mixed climbing destination. They returned
this fall to open Thriller (IV M8+/M9- WI5), a mixed version of the usually
unformed ice route, Killer Pillar (IV WI5+). The crux first pitch thugs out
a 5m horizontal roof past six bolts to gain the ice blob in the middle. Pitch
two dry tools up an M8- corner before hopping on the brittle upper pillar.
Within a week of the first ascent, it saw at least five repeats. As Will Gadd
says, “Everybody around here is getting really good, really fast.”
Correspondent: Sean Isaac
Canada’s Biggest, Slowest
Expedition Ever: ACCJACMA75X
Never mind fast and light.
Alpine speed is a crutch for attention-deficit types who can’t understand
an activity without specs or box scores. It’s a lowbrow ethic that appeals
to the nervous, the insecure, and the arrogantly friendless. Not to say that
Peter Croft traversing the Sierras in trainers, or that Mark Twight climbing
sleepless for 60 hours in Alaska isn’t impressive. It’s just that
these kind of trips don’t look like they’re much fun. Why do mountain
endeavours plotted on the back of an envelope deserve the most style points?
Let’s make a case for slow and heavy. There is virtue in major expeditions
to modest mountains. And when I say expeditions, I mean the full calliope
travelling circuses, long-throw climbing projects with the production values
of an Olympic bid and the guest lists of royal weddings. Take ACCJACMA75X,
the 75th Anniversary Expedition to climb Mt. Alberta.
Imagine a mountain hut wired to the rock on the northern fringe of the Columbia
Icefields. The date is August 13, 2000, and the latest in a series of storms
is covering the mountains in snow. Inside, in a room designed to sleep four,
huddle 11 people. They share space with two weeks’ worth of food and
fuel, camera and optical equipment, satellite telephones, battery chargers,
40 pairs of chopsticks, power tools, paint, a circular saw, and several pairs
of white linen gloves. There are two custom-built museum cases protecting
segments of a 75 year-old ice axe. A day’s travel away, more than 100
supporters, sponsors, and associate members of the expedition await news of
their success. What do you do in a situation like this? You push everyone
into each other’s laps, open the whiskey, and fire up the stove to melt
more snow. After all, there’s enough fuel in camp to put a shuttle in
orbit.
Perhaps because of its remote location, Mt Alberta remained untouched long
after more approachable summits in the area had all been climbed. Why Yuko
Maki brought a team from Japan in 1925 to tackle it is open to speculation.
But he did, and on July 21, 1925, nine people sat on Mt. Alberta’s summit.
His team left an ice axe in the summit cairn.
Our expedition was born in 1995 when a Canadian Pacific historian and a Canmore
hiking guide saw a great marketing hook hidden in the Japanese ascent. The
climb’s 75th Anniversary would occur in the year 2000. The two men got
in touch with the Japanese Alpine Club to ask what they thought about a joint
celebratory ascent. Trekking groups could be associated with the climb, and
everyone could attend ceremonies and a formal dinner at the hotel in Jasper
afterward.
By the summer of 2000, the idea had swollen into a blizzard of paper. There
would be a book. An art exhibit opened. There was global media involvement.
Perhaps there would be a parade. There were dignitaries and speeches. The
Alpine Club of Canada, CP Air, the Jasper-Yellowhead Museum, Canadian Pacific
Hotels, Parks Canada, the ACMG, The Edmonton Journal, and Alberta Tourism
all became stakeholders. Logos were made, menus circulated for approval, and
volunteers were put in charge of volunteers overseeing volunteers.
Four trekking groups and one climbing group were staged out of Canmore, each
comprising about 15 visitors and at least five guides, interpreters, translators
and cooks. None of these people went anywhere near Mount Alberta, but they
visited locations throughout the Rockies before reassembling in Jasper for
shopping and the big celebration. The six climbers (three Canadians and three
Japanese) were labelled “Group F” on the schedule, which gives you
some idea of their place in the grand scheme of things. The Canadians shared
associations with previous summiters, the ACC, the ACMG, Parks Canada, CP
Hotels, the Jasper-Yellowhead Museum and the Town of Jasper. The process employed
by the Japanese Alpine Club to select their national delegates was too arcane
to comprehend.
I was with “Group F,” which was given a one week head start and
told to be back in Jasper, victorious, showered, and ready for civic presentation
by 2:30 p.m. on the afternoon of August 18th. We were told not to mind the
presence of the HDTV crew, or the reporters from Sankai Media, or the visits
from the President of the Alpine Club of Canada, travelling with the wife
of the Japanese team leader, or the helicopters, or the fixed-wing fly-bys
of the mountain by VIPs.
Once beneath our objective, it became apparent that it was going to take every
bit of our collective mountain sense not to climb the peak. Inclement weather
and a horizontal mile of summit cornice capping rotting ice, and waterfalls
in the access gully were all saying “down.” But five years of planning
and fund raising, sponsors, government involvement, history, tradition, 50
volunteers, 100 paying participants and cultural hubris combined to place
a powerful hand on our backs. Keeping the actual climb in sight was like chasing
a rogue clown doing a headstand on the handlebars of a hinged, asymmetric
bicycle.
By the time we packed it all out, nine days after we had hiked in, the atmosphere
surrounding the expedition was even more elaborate. White stretch vans crept
through Jasper streets like they were carrying Central American death squads.
Banners fluttered from every lightpost. Our team was introduced to the public
in the town park to the tune of bad ethnic drumming from both sides of the
Pacific. There were horses, wardens in Stetsons, and enough flash photographs
to raise skin blisters. The following day, Ralph Klein, Alberta’s Provincial
Premier, finally wrenched the runaway into the ditch. Prior to the hotel dinner
that would acknowledge the reunited ice axe and the formal finish of ACCJACMA75X,
the local chamber of commerce plied the Premier with municipal agendas and
drink. The Premier’s subsequent keynote speech, and the story in the
papers the next Monday didn’t have a lot to do with anything.
I believe that the Mt Alberta 75th Anniversary celebration was this country’s
biggest climbing expedition ever. No expedition was ever larger, slower moving
or more elaborately planned. It had romance and popular appeal. What could
be more poster-friendly than reuniting the halves of a legendary lost ice
axe on the summit of a mountain 75 years after the first ascent? Our new friends
proved to be great fun, the sponsor booty was plentiful, and all expenses
were covered. Slow and heavy. Perhaps not exactly conquerors, but winners
for sure.
Dave Dornian lives in Calgary and writes frequently in Gripped and other mountain publications.
BC News
Fraser Valley
Boulderers Develop Awesome New Areas
Boulderers in the Fraser Valley sent new problems at the established
areas and developed three new spots. Nate Woods, Chelsea Neufeldt and Marc
Lefebvre have seen to it that there are now some 340 problems and more than
60 projects ranging in difficulty from VB- to V10. At the Gold Rush boulders
off of Highway 1, Woods sent the desperate Gollum, a V8 series of slaps on
a steep bulge. He also harpooned Leviathan (V9/10), which starts on pockets
and edges and finishes with an airy mantel. Marc Lefebvre defeated Five Armies
(V5/6) and the slopey and reachy Powerline (V8). When the summer brought hotter
weather, locals moved to the boulders beside Elbow Lake. Nate sent classics
like Moment of Inertia (V7) and the appropriately named Decepticon (V7). Lefebvre
also battled fall-out on Atomic (V8) and the very technical Evolution of Power
(V9), a classic which follows a very thin rail. At Lake of the Woods, Woods
overthrew Revolution (V9) which has a series of deadpoints in a corner leading
to a 7 m traverse. Woods also climbed Gigolo (V8), which has very long moves.
The best problem of the summer was Blade of Lightning (V9/10) at the Gold
Rush Area. Woods finally succeeded on this high-powered classic which follows
a thin rail to a highball mantelshelf.
Another area is being developed at Hunter Creek , but at this time, only a
few problems have been done. A guidebook and website will be ready sometime
this winter, and locals hope to see more climbers out there next spring
Correspondent: Marc Lefebvre
Turbidite Renaissance Hits Salt
Spring Island
Claiming inspiration from Gripped Magazine, some
Salt Spring Island climbers have been new routing on the ultra-chossy turbidite
cliffs of Mount Maxwell Provincial Park, overlooking Samson Narrows. A variety
of new climbs up to five pitches long have been established in excellent ground-up
style. The longest climb to date is As Good as it Gets, (5.10+) on Bayneís
Peak. It was completed over a nine month period by Mike Levy, Sam Ellison
and Peter PYP Mede.
Correspondent: Michael Levy
Québec News
Legalize Limestone in Québec
Bic Provincial Park in Québec may be the
best summer limestone sea cliff in North America. There are amazing futuristic
sport climbs to be done here, not to mention the best bouldering in Québec.
The Fédération québécoise de la montagne et de
l'escalade and the Climbing Club of the Lower St. Lawrence have petitioned
for the past seven years to legalize climbing here. During this time, studies
have demonstrated that climbing would not endanger any rare plant or bird
species. Moreover, the cliffs in question represent a mere 2% of the cliffs
that lie within the boundaries of the park. Despite this situation, the issue
of access to the cliffs for climbing has not yet been resolved. There is no
question that a rapid resolution of the access problem would benefit the Park
as well as the surrounding area. Were climbing permitted on these steep limestone
walls, the Bic would surely rank among the top sport climbing destinations
in Canada. In conjunction with the many other activities that the Lower St.
Lawrence offers, such as kayaking and mountain biking, climbing would help
attract outdoor enthusiasts to the region from across North America and around
the world. We urge you to write in support of climbing access to:
Directeur adjoint des parcs, Sépaq
801, chemin Saint-Louis
Québec, QC G1S 1C1
Correspondent: Stéphane Lapierre
Nova Scotia News
Another New Bouldering
Area
In late fall, while most of Canada was already stuck bouldering inside, Halifax
continued to offer prime conditions on real rock. In early fall, Nick Sagar
added more testpieces, but this time at a new area conveniently located in
his own backyard. This vast, undulating field of tundra littered with hundreds
of granite boulders, but with only a select few big enough to play on, is
reminiscent of the landscape at the Land of Confusion. Beginners won’t
find much to do here since half the problems are harder than V5. Nick’s
hardest creation to date is Pushed (V9), a vertical power problem which was
later repeated by Ghislain Losier after many attempts. Just around the corner,
Inbangyang (V8) slaps out of a steep belly, ending with an all-out throw to
a wide pinch. If power isn’t your forte, why not give Bar fight (V8/9?)
a try? This sloper traverse is a true hand-foot shuffle match but the real
fight comes at the end. While hanging with a right heel hook above your head,
you desperately slap up the arête. Finally, Resurrection (V10) saw its
first repeat by Losier after three days of work. Clearly, the energy level
in Halifax is higher than ever.
Correspondent: Ghislain Losier
Foreign Affairs
Too Illegit to Quit:
Canadian Soldiers Climb Bosnia
Climbing and the military have always been synonymous for me. I was
first exposed to rock while on a military French language course in Québec,
at the age of 17. Climbing became a respite from the confines of that organization,
and a passionate obsession. Although at times, a career in Her Majesty’s
Canadian Forces can be restrictive, I should not complain. It has allowed
me to climb from coast-to-coast in North America and in Europe.
When I was informed that I was slated to go on tour in Bosnia, I embraced
the order with both excitement and reservation. As a new lieutenant, I would
have the opportunity to command my troop in real world operations. But what
about the threat level? And, more importantly, what about the climbing? Imagine
my surprise when I arrived at my camp in Zgon, Bosnia and found beautiful
limestone cliffs only kilometres away.
Getting permission to climb was not without its trials. In the CF, there are
trained Mountain Operations Instructors (MOIs). Their cadre guards their qualification
with jealous pride, as they are the only personnel that can take legal responsibility
for CF members conducting mountaineering activities while on duty. Despite
my lack of MOI qualifications. I made a reconnaissance of the cliffs, and
thus caused an investigation of my activities. After putting my heels together
in front of the Colonel and accepting my warning, I was able to negotiate
a suitable policy for the Zgon Climbing Club. Lieutenant-Colonel Dave Barr,
commander of the Canadian 3PPCLI Battle Group in Bosnia, has been very supportive
of sporting activities. In fact, he has approved the certification of experienced
climbers to be approved as site supervisors by the senior MOI for the duration
of the tour.
A problem with climbing in Bosnia is land mines. Mountains are a land feature
that funnels movements of soldiers and civilians alike. These natural obstacles
have often been reinforced by destructive explosives. As a result, any movement
from hard surface roads may only be safely done after the area has been cleared
by a mine-detecting team. On a lighter note, another challenge is the heat.
Temperatures are routinely in the high forties.
The Kljuc Castle area was cleared by the 2nd Engineering Regiment to conduct
military rappelling activities, therefore access routes were already safe.
The belay ledge at the base of the crag became known as the Officers’
Terrace, as it is a well-known fact that officers seldom work, but would rather
relax and let the soldiers do their jobs for them. The route names have an
anti-military slant, such as The Illegitimate Officer, and Too Illegit to
Quit! As for bouldering, the castle walls offer long challenging traverses.
One sunny afternoon I was climbing a delightful pocketed face named Frog’s
Eyes. The climb ends at the Frog Belay. As I clipped into the station, I peered
into another large pocket where my pet frog lives. I had met him there four
times. I spent a few moments pondering his predicament. He lives 20 m off
the ground, in the middle of the rock face. It certainly hasn’t cramped
his style, and he is still alive. I realize that this frog is kind of like
me. I have been restricted by a way of life, but I am still pursuing my passion.
Lieutenant Peters is now back in Alberta where his proximity to the Rockies poses a greater danger to him than landmines ever did.
