Gripped: The Climbing Magazine April - May 2016

Spring is the time of year that many Canadians shift from indoor plastic routes to the great outdoors. Longer days, warm air and melting snow signal the beginning of the five- to eight-month rock climbing season north of the border. Weather sources all agree that this spring is going to be unseasonably warm. That means more mosquitoes, earlier floods, faster drying rock and big storms. If you’re new to climbing outdoors, be sure to read Evan Hau’s five tips to transitioning from indoors to outdoors on page 16. There are a number of points to remember for spring rock climbing. The first is that more things can go wrong outside. Breaking holds can cause dangerous falls. The freeze-thaw cycles of winter might have dislodged once-solid blocks that can become deadly…

Tony McLane is one of Canada’s leading alpine climbers. From a one day rope-solo of All Along the Watchtower on North Howser Tower in the Bugaboos, to first ascents in the Rockies and new hard free routes on The Chief. This winter, McLane and Jorge Ackermann made the first one-day ascent and fourth overall of the 1,250-metre El Corazón 5.11 A3 on Fitz Roy. Gripped touched base with McLane after he returned to Canada. 1 What were some of your goals last year? Last year, my biggest climbing goals involved escaping the Squamish bubble of sensible approaches to solid rock for more distant mountains in the Rockies. Samples were had, but there’s always unfinished business. Working on the Sheriff’s Badge became an obsession during the summer. 2 Had you roped…

Scotland In February, Michelle Kadatz, Paul McSorley, Raphael Slawinski, Marc Andre Leclerc, Ian Welsted and Paul Bride spent two weeks climbing in Scotland. Kadatz and Walsh climbed Knuckleduster, Scottish grade VII 9, of which Walsh said, “It was so plastered in rime and verglas that route finding was really difficult as there are many small precarious holds and not very obvious gear through the crux.” Welsted and Tom Livingstone climbed The Gathering VIII 9. Leclerc onsighted Happy Tyrolean’s X 10, in howling winds and snow, with Walsh. Slawinski made an ascent of The Secret XIII 9. Colin Haley Pushes Patagonia Standards In early January, Colin Haley and Andy Wyatt made the first one-day ascent of Fitz Roy via the Supercanaleta in 21 hours. It was Haley’s 10th ascent of the…

New Quebec Route Matt Maddaloni established Jessica 4 Ever, a new M8 mixed route at Quebec’s Sainte Adele in January. Big New Ice/Mixed Route at Helmcken Falls Tim Emmett and Klemen Premrl climbed Interstellar Spice at B.C.’s Helmcken Falls. It could be the longest and most difficult pitch of its kind in North America. New Squamish Route Stu Smith made the first ascent of Magic Crystals 5.12b at a new wall in the Smoke Bluffs. It climbs a blunt arête and small crystals. Big Patagonia Push Squamish climber Tony McLane and Vancouver-based Argentine Jorge Ackermann made the first one-day ascent of the 1,250-metre El Corazon 5.10 A3 on Fitz Roy. New Colorado M15 Czech climber Lucie Hrozova climbed Saphira M15, a 55-metre route in Vail, which is the hardest graded…

Back in 2003, I did my first world cup with my coach Mike Doyle. Little did I know that world cup would be the first of more than 100 by the end of 2015. After my first world cup, I was hooked; the competitors, the atmosphere and the competition was everything I wanted. The competition in 2003 gave me enough motivation to train and in 2008 I committed myself to the circuit. As the years progressed, my results improved. I swapped between lead, boulder and speed, which is something I still do today. I’ve always enjoyed the diversity of the different disciplines and I’ve never wanted to be labelled as a specific type of climber. I love climbing and competing, so if there is a different format, I’ll try it…

As a climber, you need to know how to rappel. Sometimes you can walk off the back of a mountain or wall, but often you have to rappel back down the route. So, after several outdoor climbing trips together, my climbing “tribe” decides it’s time, and they take me to an area called Cosumnes River Gorge (CRG), where Mark, one of my climbing mentors, is going to show us newbies how to rappel. I’m jazzed. I have mental images of me gliding easily down a big wall somewhere, one hand controlling my rope, the other waving to the camera. CRG is a beautiful gorge cut by the Cosumnes River, about an hour from Sacramento, Calif. A gigantic jumble of white granite boulders line the river there, creating pools and waterfalls…