Alpine Style

Chris Brazeau and I spent many days this summer attempting a 15 pitch route in the Bugaboos that was about 50 percent new terrain and 50 percent a combinations of other aid lines. Hours of hard work went into it including an average of one hour of scrubbing per pitch, and bolting belay rappel stances. Although we've climbed it multiple times, it's still a project for us because there are two pitches that have not been redpointed yet. Not a day goes by without thinking about it, and we can't wait to get back to next summer as we feel it's as least as good as anything we've climbed in the Bugs and is destined to be a classic. Thanks to a couple of guest appearances, I was able to get a couple of photos for the sneak preview.

Zig Zag: 5.12-, 250m

First ascent: Sean Isaac and Jon Walsh 2006

-8 pitches: .10b, 11c, 10b, 10a, 10a, 11b, 12a, 11a **grades are not confirmed**

-Rack: 12 draws, a few medium to large stoppers, and a single set of camelots from #.3 to #2

-The start is just left of red shirt and cross it halfway up the first pitch. From here, you can more or less follow the bolts and natural features without getting lost. The climb is mostly bolted but there are about 10 - 12 gear placements in total. More beta and photos to come soon...

Rivers of Babylon VI M6+ WI5+R 500 m

On Nov. 26 and 27, Paul McSorley and I climbed a new 9 pitch route on Mt. Wilson in the bowl between Mixed Monster and Ice Nine. "Rivers of Babylon" is the central line of three ice flows. The climbing is sustained, technical and fun the entire way. It was also quite delicate and often run-out. We climbed mostly rock that traversed left and right on natural weaknesses through the overhanging buttress, for four pitches to gain the thin flow, which provided excellent thin ice and mixed climbing for another five pitches. Good screws were rare to non existent, however tool placements came easily. No bolts were placed and the rock is generally excellent by rockies standards. We fixed three ropes on the first four pitches on day one, descended to Rampart Creek hostel for the night, and the next day ascended our ropes and climbed the rest of the route. A one day ascent would be impressive, but doable by a very strong party. This route is probably best earlier in the season and will be extremely dangerous when the avalanche hazard increases.

Drama Queen 170m M7 WI6
FA: Chris Brazeau, Jon Simms, Jon Walsh Jan 5, 2006

Late in March 2004, Jon Simms and I went "freestyling" up this part of the headwall after failing on another route. We had soon climbed to bellow the upper daggers in four pitches of entertaining climbing. We decided to go back the following season with the drill and push the route to the top of the wall. After a day of equipping in early december, we invited Chris Brazeau to join us for the final send. The name of the route comes from the conversations and jokes that were making us laugh one day working on the route. Everybody has a drama queen in their life...

Drama Queen is located on the Stanley Headwall about halfway between French Toast and Extreme Comfort. There is a traverse bolt marking the start and the first belay. The climbing follows thinly iced ramps and corner systems to wild mushroom formations that grow below the twin daggers that the route finishes upon. The climbing itself has a bit of an "alpine" feel and is a bit scrappy at times (wide cracks, squeeze chimneys, etc.). Each pitch gets progressively harder until the final ice crux at the very top! A rack consisting of Camelots - one each from .3 to #3, a few stoppers, and 6 or 7 screws including stubbies does the trick. The cruxes are generally well protected but there are some run-out sections in between. The route finding is very straight forward and the first three belays are fixed. The top belay is in ice.

The Shadow - WI6+R, M6, 220 meters, Mt. Patterson, Canadian Rockies

Argentine Patagonia summary from January and February 2005 Fitz Roy and Aguja Rafael, New Routes. Paul McSorley and I rolled in to Patagonia at the end of January, just in time for the start of three weeks of mostly excellent climbing weather. We immediately hiked to Paso Superior with the intentions of finding an unclimbed line on the south or east face of Fitz Roy. After seven sweet early-morning pitches up La Brecha, we saw an obvious line of beautiful clean corners splitting the south face, just left of the Boris Simoncic Route (ED-: 5.9 A2 55°, 650m, Biscak-Fadjan-Lenarcic, 1985). Dropping down about 100 meters from the col, we crossed the 'shrund and found an easy mixed ramp that shared the first forty meters of the Boris, then followed another ropelength to the first beautiful corner. We started short-fixing, mostly climbing in boots and aiders because of the amount of ice on the ledges and our numb fingers. The second pitch turned out to be the technical crux with a section of about eight meters of thin stoppers that would probably go free at 5.12. A couple of pitches later, a short 5.9 squeeze behind a flake led to one of the best corners we had ever climbed. Another nice thirty-meter corner and some easier terrain brought us to a ledge where we had a comfortable bivy. The rest of the route follows a 5.10 ramp system below a steep wall on the left, and exits up a short offwidth to the summit slopes shared by all the routes on this side of the mountain. We summited under calm and clear skies, and rappelled the Franco-Argentine, disgusted by the amount of trash left behind on this normal route from past parties using siege tactics. Others referred to our route as The Canadian Route (5.10 A1, 900m [500m new]) as this sector of the mountain has a nationalty theme, and soon the the stuck. No bolts or pitons were placed, and certainly neither are needed. Aaron "The Need for Speed˜ Martin and Jacob Schmitz (USA) soon repeated it in seven hours from the schrund to the summit, with Martin leading every pitch and freeing about eighty-five percent of it at 5.10 or easier. They also confirmed the route's quality; we all thought it would be a better alternative at around the same overall grade as its popular neighbor, the Franco-Argentine.

The Canadian Route marked on the south face of Cerro Fitz Roy

Jan 13th - Cuatro Dedos(Four Fingers): The window was only supposed to be a small one so we set our goal on a smaller tower by Torre Glacier standards, called Cuatro Dedos. To get there required walking past about ten or more other beautiful towers, which was probably one of the main reasons why it had only ever seen one or two ascents. A prominent northeasterly buttress that led directly to its summit had been on my list of things to do for a couple years, and it was finally time to attempt it.