Gripped: The Climbing Magazine April/May 2022 Vol. 24 Issue 2

On the few occasions when I’ve found myself staring up at a falling piece of rock that could kill me, I’ve been lucky enough to move in the direction it wasn’t. On the east face of Mount Chephren close to the Columbia Icefield, my partner’s rope caught on a microwave-sized flake that came loose when he hauled up. I fell away to the left making sure not to weight the slung block I had for an anchor. While I was lucky to escape a sure-bet pummelling, my sling was not and it was left cut to pieces. That was not long after climbing the north face of Edith Cavell near Jasper where my partner and I spent hours dodging rocks released from a rapidly melting snow slope slammed by a…

Cousin Dura Dura 9.5 $250 New to the market, this perfect-for-cragging 70-metre rope flows through the belay device with ease. The treatment on this light and robust rope is created to give it a long lifespan. The middle-marker is easy to spot for rappels and when belaying long pitches. Scarpa Rabid Approach Shoe $189 Climbers need a good shoe to get to climbs, and the Rapid is one of the best. Built as a hybrid of a trail runner and approach shoe to get you over big talus, up rock slabs and through deep scree. Great for hot days thanks to the meshed upper. There’s no bulk when you tighten the laces, and it fits so snug around your foot that it feels more like a sock. A great option…

Brent Nixon is one of the West Coast’s leading route developers, with a focus on long moderate rock lines and difficult steep winter ice/mixed climbs. He founded the Vancouver Climbers Association (VCA) and is hoping to complete what will be the longest bolted route in Canada this summer. When did you start climbing? Started climbing at 13 years old with my sister as a couple of delinquent teenagers at the old Rockhouse Gym in Richmond, B.C. I’ve been climbing for 33 years. The first trad route that I climbed was Witchdoctors Apprentice 5.9 in the Smoke Bluffs. I ran out the crux with huge ground-fall potential and scared myself. What is the VCA? I started the VCA last summer. We are the access group for local Metro Vancouver climbers. Our…

Alex Huber’s New 5.14 German climbing legend Alex Huber has made the first ascent of La Bavarese at Punta Giraldili in Sardinia. The 53-year-old is one of the world’s most accomplished big wall climbers. La Bavarese climbs up and out on the biggest roof on Punta Giraldili at V, 5.13c, 5.14a, 5.13d, 5.14a and 5.12. “Right through the centre of this overhang leads the new route, which I opened from the ground up one year ago,” said Huber. “In October I came back with the intention to free climb its six pitches, but too much rain made a completely free ascent impossible—I had to come back and that’s exactly what I did.” New Vancouver Island Alpine Climbs Five climbers visited Strathcona Provincial Park on Vancouver Island in February and climbed…

Jean-Philippe Bélanger, Yan Mongrain and Charles Roberge established three new routes up to 170 metres using a helicopter around 120 kilometres north of Sept-Îles at Haute-Moisie not far from the border of Quebec and N.L. Their first objective was a three-pitch climb 500 metres south of camp. On the last pitch, they spotted four wolves that had noticed the noise of the climbers. They called the 180-metre route Patte Blanche WI5. The following day, they climbed a new route they called La Tanière, a 170-metre WI5. On their fourth day, they climbed the most intimidating route, which followed three pitches of steep, three-dimensional ice through roofs and along pillars. Bélanger, Mongrain and Roberge called it Maïkan, which means to wolf in local Indigenous languages, a 150-metre WI6+.—Gripped…

Kentucky Derby Western Canada-based Matt Hendsbee made a quick repeat of Kentucky Derby V10 in Red Rock’s Ash Canyon, which was first climbed by Taylor McNeill in February. Yuji Hirayama At the start of March, Yuji Hirayama, one of the world’s greatest all-time climbers, made the first ascent of Peaceful Mountain 5.14d at Mount Futago’s Futagoyama in Japan. Magic Line 5.14c Trad Carlo Traversi, 33, made the fourth ascent of the 35-metre Magic Line 5.14c near Vernal Falls in Yosemite in early March. He spent some time over the winter working on the technical thin crack with Tommy Caldwell. Huge Matterhorn Climb Starting on Feb. 27 and ending on March 1, Italians Francesco Ratti, François Cazzanelli and Emrik Favre climbed Padre Pio Prega Per Noi and Echelle Ver le Ciel,…