Innholdsfortegnelse for October/November 2022 Vol. 24 Issue 5 i Gripped: The Climbing Magazine

Honour and Glory Sent In Alberta’s Bow Valley, several crags were busy this summer, such as Acephale, Echo Canyon and Back of the Lake. Mike Doyle, one of Canada’s first climbers to send 5.14 back in the 1990s, repeated Honour and Glory at the Colisseum in Echo Canyon. Originally graded 5.15a, new beta puts it at 5.14c. Doyle also climbed other hard routes in the area, including Queen Bee 5.13. Snowpatch Spire Free-Solo Will Stanhope made the first ever free-solo of the east face of Snowpatch Spire via The Beckey/Mather at 5.12a. First climbed in 1959 by Fred Beckey and Hank Mather, it was freed in 2017 by Jon Walsh and Craig McGee. It’s the easiest free climb on the very popular wall above the Bugaboos campground. The pitches check…

This is one of the best four-bolt granite 5.12a climbs in Quebec. Located at the Secteur Forteresse in the popular Palissades de Charlevoix, it was first climbed in 1988 by François Roy and Stéphane Lapierre. Roy established most of the climbs on the wall. The rock is shaped in a way that it looks almost unreal with some memorable features. It’s located on the left side of the overhanging face and stays dry in the rain. Here’s the beta: it starts between two black streaks with one bolt below a small roof. Work up the shallow corner on the right and move onto the face with a high left foot until you can reach up to under the roof. It’s a good idea to stick-clip the second bolt. Under-cling the…

Gyms Quebec Allez-Up1339 rue ShearerMontreal, QC514.989.9656allezup.com Escalade Horizon Roc2350 DicksonMontreal, QC514.899.5000horizonroc.com Ontario Ajax Rock OasisAjax Community Centre75 Centennial Rd.Ajax, ON905.231.3434905.231.9934 faxinfoajax@rockoasis.comrockoasis.com Climber’s Rock5155 Harvester Rd.,Burlington, ON905.633.7625info@climbersrock.comclimbersrock.com 40 min. from Toronto Climate controlled! 12,000 square feet100 + top rope routes108 feet of continuous top-out bouldering! The Guelph Grotto Indoor Climbing Gym199 Victoria Rd. SGuelph, ON800.454.0456519.767.0838519.767.2408 faxinfo@guelphgrotto.comguelphgrotto.com Joe Rockhead’s Climbing Gym29 Fraser Ave.Toronto, ON416.538.7670joerockheads.com Of Rock & Chalk482 Ontario St.Newmarket, ON888.248.7625rockandchalk@hotmail.comrockandchalk.com The Rock Oasis388 Carlaw Ave.Suite 204Toronto, ON416.703.3434infotoronto@rockoasis.comrockoasis.com Manitoba Vertical Adventures Climbing Gym77 Paramount Rd.Winnipeg, MB204.632.5001verticaladventures.ca Alberta University of Calgary Outdoor Centre Climbing Wall2500 University Dr. NWCalgary, AB403.220.5038climb@ucalgary.caoutdoor-centre.ucalgary.ca The indoor climbing wall at the Outdoor Centre is the first and only of its kind in Calgary. It features molded concrete panels imbedded with real quartzite that is set at different angles with overhangs. The wall simulates…

Black Diamond Capitan Helmet $85 Full head coverage is important year-round, but especially going into ice season. Black Diamond’s Capitan has a low-profile suspension system that fits snug over a buff. With short days and cold weather, it’s great that the headlamp clips are easy to use with gloves on. Camp Backcountry Carbon Trekking Pole $120 Ultralight poles are helpful when approaching climbs in the fall when the trails start to ice over. These poles have a solid aluminum locking mechanism to adjust the length for different pitches of slope. The foam grip is easy to keep secure in your palm and the wrist straps sit without any issues. The North Face Salty Dog Beanie $35 Beanies are hot this season and the Salty Dog is one of the most…

If you weren’t captured by the rumours of a Russian-émigré-Israeli-special-forces-vegan-ice-technician, then at least maybe the photos got your attention. In 2018 pictures circulated of a climber on pillars skinnier than his barrel-shaped chest, on ice you could see through. It was Stas Beskin. In Quebec he was climbing ice most of us wouldn’t walk under, never mind tie in for: shockingly narrow pillars and daggers that looked destined to collapse at the lightest swing of an ice tool or kick of a boot. Pillars like these had very rarely been climbed. But it was his technique that baffled us more, even though it explained a lot. Videos of a technique he was pioneering he called “scratching” followed; he had reimagined how to use an ice tool and gave us an…

Camp Geko Ice Pro Glove $140 Good gloves lead to better climbing. The Geko is one of the best all-winter gloves for high performance routes that demand precision. The palms and fingers are lined with goat leather that delivers amazing grip in cold and wet conditions. The fingers are shaped for an anatomical fit and optimal dexterity. They secure closed with Velcro at the top of the wrist, and they have a loop to attach them to your harness. Krukonogi Ice Picks: 3, 5, 7 $70 to $140 Krukonogi makes a lot of blades, but the 3, 5 and 7 have aggressive teeth for the full length of the pick, which makes them perfect choices for drytool and mixed climbing. The aggressive sawblade picks dig into any time of rock,…

Long May You Run is a new six-pitch 5.11a sport climb that follows excellent rock on the east-facing Riverside Wall in Ontario. From Sudbury to Wawa, dozens of crags and big walls have been getting a lot more attention over the past few years. New single-pitch routes up to 5.12 and five-pitch adventures up to 5.11 have been developed. Along the road to the Eyeball next to the Little White River north of Iron Bridge is Riverside, a 150-metre wall that had no known full-length routes prior to 2020. David Smart, along with his brother Reg Smart and Ontario legend John Kaandorp, climbed Bullets Before Breakfast, the first major climb up the wall. The five-pitch 5.10a follows a few short walls to the North Channel Ledge and on to the…

Drytooling is a popular shoulder season climbing style in many areas of Canada. You can do it in cool weather, without ice, and it gives you a full body workout that transfers to steep ice and mixed routes. Over the past few years, new crags have been developed, new tools designed and new attitudes adopted. If you visit a drytooling crag this fall, expect to find other climbers running laps on picked-out stone. Be Strong Drytooling takes a lot of power, both in your upper and lower body. As top mixed climber Gord McArthur says, “Your core, your upper body, lower back, legs, and shoulders; they all need to be on a solid foundation. Basically, head to toe needs to be firm.” These exercises will give you the foundation moving…

The Windtower is a rocky mountain found in Kananaskis Country just east of Canmore. It has many walls and slopes, but the northwest face is one of the most daunting places in the range. The gently overhanging wall never sees the sun and the rock leaves much to be desired. The first and only ascent was in 1988 via The Iron Butterfly, which was established by hardman Steve De Maio and all-round bold alpinist Jeff Marshall. The crux pitches involve run-out sections between dicey hooks with big fall potential. The hardware likely needs to be updated. Since the first ascent, a few routes have been attempted. In 1992, De Maio wrote a story about the route which was never published. It’s about being on the wall during the final push…

Arc’teryx Alpha Parka $1,000 If you’re looking for a coat that will become your warmest layer, then here you go. The women’s Alpha Parka is designed for the coldest days and harshest conditions. The 850-fill goose down is systematically fitted in cleverly placed baffles to help with breathability. This is a superlight and durable puffy made for climbers pushing it in the mountains. The shell is abrasion resistant and durable. The gender-specific design will fit over several layers and your winter climbing gear. Highly recommended. Mountain Hardwear Phantom Parka $620 The Phantom is a beast of a jacket. It comes with 800-fill down and weighs in at only 468 grams, which is light for such a thick coat. The shell is light but is not easy to rip. The zippers…

All and Nothing By Jeff Smoot Mountaineers Books, 2022 Jeff Smoot begins his exploration of the motives, desires, and risk calculus of free soloing with quote from fellow practitioner/student of the genre, John Long: “There is no objective truth to any judgment per soloing, though some pronouncements sound better to our rational mind than others. Trying to derive some definitive statement about what soloing is, or should be, or can be, or shouldn’t be, is expecting too much of our quantitative skills.” Given that injunction, Smoot makes sure he considers soloing from a diverse (and sometimes contradictory) set of perspectives as possible—ranging from the historical to the psychotropic. Climbing, Smoot reminds us, is as old as human history. And for most of that history ropes were not involved. Getting yourself…

I started pulling the rappel ropes, doubled through the anchor up above, when the free end gets stuck in the crack. “Shit!” Ed yelled. “We’re toast…” Warming days (which melted the high-country snowpack) and freezing nights had rimmed El Capitan with ice. Small beer when gazing from the Loop Road, a mile away and 3,000 feet below the rim. But scope it through binos and you’ll see an ice crown forty feet tall and just as thick, with hundred-foot icicles dangling below. Once sunlight hits the crown, chunks calve off and torpedo the lower slabs. The sun was already wrapping around the East Buttress. We had to get off this thing. Like now. By the time we freed the rope, the ice crown gleamed like a mirror. Huge drops, impossibly…