Gripped: The Climbing Magazine August/September 2022 Vol. 24 Issue 4

“What did you think was going to happen?” legendary climber Tim Auger asked me after an epic in the Canadian Rockies alpine. I had just returned from taking a relatively new climber, Matt, up the East Ridge of Mount Temple in snowy, early-season conditions. Hoping to climb it in a single push to be back to the car by dusk, I’d underestimated the poor conditions and overestimated how fast Matt and I could climb together. We ended up benighted on the summit in a snowstorm with no shelter, food or water. I knew it was the summit because the knife-edge glacier ridge ended, and we found rocks. Trying to descend in zero visibility might have killed us, so I made the call that we should hunker down until sunrise. As…

The North Face Pride Pullover Hoodie $85 The Pride Pullover Hoodie is a must-have at the crag and in the coffee shop. It’s made with a durable 100 per cent recycled material and celebrates an inclusive climbing community. Wild Country Session Screw $14 From one of the most reliable brands in climbing comes this compact, simple and easy-handling locking carabiner. It has a keylock nose for snag-free clipping at anchors. A great piece for your multi-pitch kit. Metolius Big Nuts $22 While camming devices work in most cracks, some placements are still best utilized with stoppers, like nuts and hexes. Sometimes the most secure piece you can get is a big nut in a tapered feature. The Big Nuts range in size from 28 mm to 53 mm and come…

Long-time west coast climber Michelle LeBlanc has been busy organizing the first Project Pride event, which will take place this fall in Squamish. The first-of-its-kind experience aims to bring a community of climbers together to celebrate the sport, inclusion and diversity. We touched base with LeBlanc at the beginning of summer. What is Project Pride? Project Pride is a day-long outdoor bouldering event that will take place at the beautiful boulders in Squamish. It’s an opportunity for 2SLGBTQ+ individuals to connect, build community, crush boulders and pick up some new skills with workshops happening both in the morning and afternoon. Registration ($80) for the event includes food and snacks throughout the day (breakfast, lunch, dinner), workshops, swag bag, prizes, mini “scramble” comp, more prizes, and an after party. What motivated…

Prow Wall Repeated Sqamish-based climber Stu Smith has made the second ascent of the eight-pitch Prow Wall on The Chief. About the send, Smith said, “It went quick. Good route that.” The Prow Wall was freed in 2016 by Sonnie Trotter, who was belayed by Tom Wright.” Trotter gave the crux 5.14a, which Smith agrees with. The Prow Wall is around 200 metres and goes at 5.10c, 5.10b, 5.12a, 5.14a, 5.11c, 5.13a, 5.12b and 5.12a. The Chief’s New 5.13 On The Chief, Jacob Cook and Drew Marshall completed a new four-pitch 5.13b called Balance. It follows a dyke across the Tantalus Wall and joins the final pitch of Cerberus. It was bolted ground-up, and the pitches go at 5.12d, 5.12b, 5.13b and 5.11d. They also bolted Thousand Year Storm, a…

New Nova Scotia V7 Sean Rasmussen made the first ascent of Rainbow Bridge V7 at Terrance Bay in Nova Scotia. The granite highball is one of the more esthetic problems in the area. Another 5.14d Angie Scarth-Johnson has repeated Víctimas Pérez 5.14d at Margalef, Spain. Last year, Scarth-Johnson became the first Australian woman to climb 5.14d with Victimas del Futur in Margalef. Anna Hazlett on E9 At the end of spring, America’s Anna Hazlett, a.k.a. Anna Hazelnutt, made the first female ascent of The Walk of Life, an extremely bold E9 6c at Dyer’s Lookout, U.K. Baffin Big Wall Polish big-wall climber Marek Raganowicz pulled off a 35-day first ascent of MikroKozmik Variations, 15 new pitches up to A4+ M5 on the north face of Polar Sun Arm in Kangiqtualuk…

In a province of hundreds of stellar sport routes, a few stand out as true test-piece climbs that combine great flow with esthetics, but Le Kraken is one of them. The 33-metre 5.13d was first climbed by Phil Hardy and Sam Lavoie in 2013. It’s found at the Bas-Saint-Laurent area along the south shore of the lower St. Lawrence River. which has a lot of rock types, such has the excellent quartzite at L’amphithéâtre and the crumbling conglomerate of Rimouski. The area’s rock is solid and doesn’t have a lot of cracks or chimneys, so almost all the rock is bolted. Le Kraken is located at the crag La Montagne à Coton, a well-bolted south-facing crag that is hot in summer. The rock is like Kamouraska’s limestone and has a…