Gripped: The Climbing Magazine February/March 2023 Vol. 25 Issue 1

Safety is the number one priority when sport climbing. As we head into 2023, there’s no excuse for being unsafe at the crag. Stick clips and helmets have never been hotter, so be sure to always bring them. I can’t justify risking an injury sport climbing. Why? Because cheating to be safe is the name of the game—that’s why there’s metal drilled into the rock. The only reason a sport climber should be getting injured is because their belayer did a bad job or they got on a route with runout protection. Newer routes, for the most part, are bolted so that you can’t hit the ground or any surrounding hazards. The old argument that using a stick clip is cheating is dumb because half of the routes developed in…

Arc’teryx ION Chalk Bag Large $50 This smartly designed chalk bag has some great features, like the stiff brim that keeps it open for easy access and thin drawcord that seals up the bag tightly. It has a small, zippered pocket and an adjustable brush holder. A nice light chalk bag for multi-pitch routes. Camp Geko Ice Evo $130 This is the best ice climbing glove for a Canadian winter from Camp’s Geko line. The goatskin used on the fingers and palm is subtle and soft, and the treatment will keep these water repellent for several seasons. They’re dextrous enough to keep you feeling confident on the most difficult steep pitches. The full cuff keeps dripping water and snow out of your sleeves. A perfect layer of protection for chilly…

Geneviève de la Plante has worked in climbing for well over a decade. She co-owns several gyms across Canada, with a home and family in Montreal. In 2019, she founded Bring In the Girls (B.I.G.), an initiative that’s helped people across Canada learn about the industry and become routesetters. B.I.G. has released fantastic films and now runs outdoor courses. We were in contact with de la Plante over the holidays. Why did you start B.I.G.? Initially, the plan was very functional: as an employer, with a natural staffing turnover, it was hard to maintain a diverse setting team. At the time, the pool of women who were setting was exceedingly small and we wanted to train more women in setting. For a long time, the standard hiring practices in the…

Lone Rock Point in northern Vermont has classic sport routes up to 5.14. It’s there last summer that Quebec climber Félicien Roy linked test-piece lines into one monster 5.14b that he called A Tribord, toute! Roy said the climb is an “amazing climbing marathon that traverses the entire overhanging section of the crag.” It starts on Ghostface Drilla 5.13c/d and moves right using burly heel hooks to a rest at seven metres. From there, you climb to a horizontal tufa that provides a cool kneebar. After moving through King Tubby 5.14a, you end up the steep Terror Wolf 5.13c. It’s a wild rock climb. It wasn’t the only hard route that Roy ticked last year. He redpointed Livin Astro 5.14c at Rumney; and at Orford: Texas 5.13d and Welcome to…

Jon did not suffer fools gladly. And he held himself to the same standards—always dry, wry and occasionally sly. One afternoon in the ’90s, walking past where Jon sat reading the newspaper comics in a busy concourse at the University of Calgary, one of his students brightly approached: “Hey, Mister Jones! Anything funny in there?” Jon paused his reading, looked up slowly and deadpanned, “Yeah…your midterm grade.” Then the little smile. Jon had a youth in the Midlands when it was all post-industrial rust and rain and was not yet ground zero for modern climbing in England; then as a young geology graduate surveying mountains in the interior of British Columbia; and then at the University of Calgary and with the Calgary Mountain Club (CMC), tearing the doors off big…

Golden is a small town located in eastern B.C. known for Kicking Horse Ski Hill and Mount Seven—one of the best paragliding and mountain biking areas in the Rockies. Golden also has some excellent quartzite rock climbing that’s been developed recently. Mount Shadows is one of several crags only minutes from town with over 25 routes up to 5.12. For over a decade, the small town nestled into the Columbia Valley had a climbing gym known as Dog Tooth, named after a nearby mountain range. The gym suffered from a lack of new routes and problems, so many locals opted out of climbing there. Not long ago, two climbers found out that the owner of Dog Tooth was about to close shop so decided to open a new gym. The…