Gripped: The Climbing Magazine April & May 2019 / Vol 21 Issue 2

I remember being a new climber in 1997. My first session was in the bouldering area of Joe Rockhead’s in Toronto. I didn’t have a clue about what I was doing, what the climbers were talking about or how to move on the wall. There was no Instagram where climbers shared stories and photos, there were only magazines and journals. With no hashtags or social media, the world of climbing felt much smaller than it does today. I climbed regularly at gyms and went to Mount Nemo and Rattlesnake to toprope, but I didn’t invest much time into learning about the history of climbing or advanced rope techniques. I had a few posters on my wall with climbers hanging from the edges of tall walls by their fingertips and I…

Mike Penney has been climbing on Ontario’s steep limestone cliffs for the past decade, establishing new routes and photographing top climbers during rock season. He first tried climbing at the age of 14, at the end of a long competitive swimming career. As a director of the Ontario Alliance of Climbers (oac), Penney has been active in a number of initiatives, including hardware replacement efforts and route development. 1 Did your competitive swimming career help you as a climber? Yes, it definitely did. Competitive swimming and climbing are not all that different. Similar muscles are needed, and the prevailing elements in success are technique, persistence and mental fortitude. 2 What’s the most photographic crag in Ontario? High above the turquoise water of Georgian Bay, Lion’s Head is certainly extremely photogenic.…

New Icefields Parkway Alpine Ian Welsted returned in January 2019 to complete a route he’d first attempted in 2018 above Bow Lake on the Icefields Parkway, Alta. Welsted was joined by Alik Berg for the first ascent. “Jesse Bouliane and I started the route last spring,” said Welsted. “This year, Berg and I shimmied, chimneyed and enjoyed the short approach across Bow Lake from Num-ti-jah lodge.” They called their route C-Train M5 WI3+. Welsted explained the name as follows: “The C-train, is Calgary’s public transit. Could be riding the C-train or skiing across Bow Lake in a train of people, or alpine scrambling on Crowfoot Mountain. Moderate alpine route open to all not just the elite double-M drytooler, sort of like public transit, open to all. More tongue in cheek,…

Sasha Sends in Mexico Sasha DiGiulian has made the third free ascent, onsight, of Samadhi, a 13-pitch 5.13 in Mexico on the Shaman Wall in El Salto. Molly Mitchell supported her ascent and repeated the pitches on second. Hueco Rock Rodeo Michaela Kirsch and Keenan Takahashi won the Hueco Rock Rodeo annual festival. Big V16 Send Toshi Takeuchi sent his V15 in 12 months with Spray of Light in Rocklands. “Mental battle was over because of bad weather,” he said about his four-day send. New Patagonia 5.12 Brothers Iker and Eneko Pou have made the first ascent of the new 550-metre Haizea V 5.12c on Aguja de la S in the Fitz Roy range of Patagonia. Sean McColl Silver at Climbing Works Sean McColl, 12-time Canadian champion, missed the bouldering…

Hub Climbing’s new Mississauga location is one of the most impressive new indoor climbing gyms in the Greater Toronto Area. We caught up with Steven Brown, one of the owners of Hub Climbing, shortly after the grand opening of the 30,000-square-foot facility. The location promises to be popular with new and old climbers alike. “We used to climb at True North and fell in love with climbing,” said Brown. “Then we thought, we need a gym in Markham, so we made a gym in Markham. Then we thought, we need one in Mississauga, so we made one.” The Markham location has been a booming bouldering gym since the doors opened a few years ago. The new location has 50-foot walls that make it one of the largest gyms in eastern…

I lived in a van and I’d do it again. I spent most of my nights parked along the Bow River in one of the many places to park. Years before I lived in a van, I lived in a 1988 Chevy S10 pickup with white racing stripes and a moose skull quick-tied to the grill. The topper window had stickers from places, beers and brands. I slept on a Therm-a-Rest and empty beer bottles and soup cans would roll next to me. I’d use one of the bottles to prop my once-lofty pillow, so I could better angle my headlamp. I parked next to rivers, at friend’s and behind the Canmore library, the old one downtown. I would lay low and time my morning unfurling to when the fewest…