Alpine Style - First Ascent

Two new routes in a weekend!

jon walsh — Wed, 24 Aug 2016 03:52:24 +0000

A lot can be done in with some motivation and a good partner. Colin Moorhead and I rolled out of golden at 6pm on friday August 19th, bound for the Bugaboos. 51 hours later, we were back having completed two new multi-pitch routes routes! The stories and beta for “Minotaur Direct” and “Sick and Twisted” are below.

Minotaur Direct was a multi year project whose first ascent story goes something like this: In 2011 Moorhead and I started on Labyrinth and but ventured into new terrain aka Minotaur, on what’s now it’s 6th pitch. We rejoined Labyrinth for it’s last three pitches but did 7 new ones, of which a couple included free variations of the aid route Les Bruixes Es Pentinen. Although it was a great day out and a memorable adventure, the King line with a direct start and finish awaited to be done.

In 2014, Michelle Kadatz and I started the direct route, cleaning many loose hanging blocks left precariously in place from the great flake that fell off the mountain in the late nineties. We soon had a five pitch direct start established to the ledge system that Colin and I had traversed from Labyrinth on. Over several sessions from the July 2015 to July 2016, we continued to work on Minotaur ground-up, cleaning the cracks, bolting the stations, and pushing the direct finish until only 60m below the summit ridge. In 2015 when Michelle’s schedule was too busy, Alik Berg joined me up the first 5 pitches until we could branch out left and establish Welcome to the Machine over two days. When Michelle’s schedule was busy in 2016, she told me to find another partner to finish the route with. On a whim, I reached out to Colin, fully expecting his busy guiding schedule to get in the way. Luckily he was psyched and cleared his schedule and made the 9 hour drive from Squamish. We stumbled into Applebee camp by moonlight on the night of the 19th. By 7 am, the next morning, we were crossing the moat on the edge of Cresent Glacier and climbing into the sunshine. It took us about 14 hours up and down, which included us bolting a the last two belays and brushing the final 60 meters on rappel.

Our day went well as we settled into a nice rhythm, swapping leads up the 500-meter face. It was fun watching Colin react to the route’s challenges and quality as he climbed it on-sight. Top quality climbing every pitch with lots of variety is perhaps the best way to describe the route, with an emphasis on hand jams in upper pitches. We expect this route will become a classic, as Welcome to the Machine seems to be already.

The next day, despite feeling quite sore and completely full with satisfaction, we decided we might as well attempt climbing a shorter route before hiking out. It so happened that Chris Brazeau and I had an un-sent project on Eastpost Spire, just ten minutes walk from camp. Chris, who was at Applebee at the time, even suggested we go for it without him, as it made sense to get it done before the short Bugaboo season ended. Chris and I had done two-and-a-half laps on it in September 2015 and June 2016, putting the route up ground-up, on gear which was definitey sparse or minimal at times, and then adding a few bolts to it after. Despite having both followed the second / crux pitch clean, we had both fallen off it on lead.

So after multiple coffees and meals and camp, we headed up to give it a go, with no expectations given the fatigued state we were in. This timehowever, as I felt my fingers wanting to slip off the crux holds, I found it in me to double the power and move through it, finally redpointing the pitch properly, as well as the rest of the route. After Colin arrived at the belay at the end of the fourth pitch he said to me “This is sick and twisted”. I agreed, and so the route name was born… I think this route was a good find and it was somewhat surprising to discover something like this right beside the main climbers campground. For me, it sure provided a fun few days of climbing.

Minotaur is in red; Welcome to the Machine is in yellow; green dots are bolted belays, purple dots are gear belays.

Minotaur Direct, 5.11+ 16 pitches, East face of Snowpatch Spire

beta: bring two 60 ropes; a double rack of cams to #3 camelot, one #4; and triples of .3, .4, and .75. One set of stoppers from #3 to #11. 12-14 draws half of which should be extendable. All belays are bolted.

p1 - 30 meters 5.10-: step across the moat which gets harder as the season goes on. Climb double cracks / opposing flakes for about 10 meters until you’re able trend right, and easily up the big scoop. Make a gear anchor before it steepens where you can find some good foot ledges.

p2 - 30 meters 5.10+: continue up the scoop via a thin corner crack, to a belay station at a good stance. (Earlier in the season it’s possible to link pitches 1 and 2 with a 60m rope, but later in the season a 70m rope is needed for the link).

p3 - 30 meters 5.10+: climb the corner above and pull through a small overhang to a stance. Step left and up a shallow left facing corner, until an easy ramp leads back right. Follow this, hand traversing flakes until a belay station below a long left facing corner.

p4 - 45 meters 5.11+: This pitch has 3 cruxes separated by good rests. A thin tips corner gains a section of cool stemming. When you get to a bolt clip it and face climb left to a stance on the arete. Do not move up to the bolted station up and right, or you’ll have to down-climb 3 meters to continue sending! From the stance on the arete, move up and right back into the left facing corner, and follow it up past one more crux to the bolted station on a good ledge. (Rappel note: the station skipped on this pitch is good to use while rappelling, but requires a directional piece to swing into it. From here, rappel directly to the top of the big scoop in 55m)

p5 - 50 meters 5.10: After a couple body lengths of fist crack, pull a small overhang to a stance. Rather than continue up the obvious corner, look up and you’ll see a bolt that can be reached via face holds. Climb up to it, and move left into the next corner system left, which is much better due to the hand crack. It leads to a fourth class ledge, which needs to be traversed up and left. A belay station with ring hangers below a groove is for Minotaur, or, continue past it for five more meters to a belay station bellow a nice looking flake which is Welcome to the Machine. If you miss the first protection bolt, the mountaineers version of this pitch exists and will get you to the same place but less directly, with sandy sections, loose rocks, rope drag, etc.

p6- 30 meters 5.10+: Follow the groove up and right past two knifeblades to belay on a good ledge.

P7- 35 meters 5.11+: Follow the obvious finger crack in left leaning corner, through the roof to a belay station. This pitch could probably be called 5.10+ with one point of aid for those that find free-climbing the roof too difficult.

p8- 30 meters 5.11a: Clip a bolt and traverse right on the slab to a shallow left facing, right leaning corner with a thin crack that takes excellent micro cams. At it’s top, step left past two knifeblades into the main corner which is followed until a belay station is reached.

P9- 5.10 55m: This pitch is mostly 5.7ish with one little 5.10 bit. Follow the corner up and slightly left. After a short 5.10 sequence it will soon be possible to start trending back right to a belay a big ledge, a belay station, and an excellent bivi spot should one be needed.

p10- 25m 5.9: Climb the best looking crack above the belay station towards a steeper wall above split by several cracks. There is a belay station on the left. (The original Minotaur route goes hard right from here)

p11 - 30m 5.11a: Hand jams up the right hand crack give way to a thin finish in alcove, and a belay station. (P10 and P11 can be linked)

p12 35m 5.10+: climb the left crack out of the belay. After about 5 meters, transfer back into the right one, which parallels the arete, and follow it to a belay at a nice perch.

p13 25m 5.9: An easy chimney leads up and right to another nice belay perch on top of a pinnacle.

p14 30m 5.11c: A left leaning crack. Bouldery moves past three bolts soon give way to easier crack climbing that leads to a big ledge and a station.

p15 28m 5.11c: a short corner with a fist crack leads to a ledge. A beautiful thin hand splitter continues up the headwall above to a belay station on a ledge. This pitch is why you need the third .75 camelot on the rack.

p16 35m 5.10+: Keep going up the same crack which has now kicked back slightly in angle and become more positive. A 60m rappel gets you back down to the last two pitches.

The North summit is about 150 meters of 4th class scrambling away. Stay on east side of the ridge if you go for it.
Rappel the route

All grades for both routes are suggested. Any feedback on grades is welcome!

Sick and Twisted, 5.12a, 5 pitches, Eastpost Spire

A good option for a short day, bad weather, or just something to play around on.

Rack: double rack of camelots from #.3 to #2, one #3, one of each size below .3; 6-8 stoppers. If rappelling, a 70m rope is needed although two ropes is nicer, especially if you want to haul a pack. All belays are bolted.

P1 25m 5.11d: Climb up and trend right to a corner. follow it out below a roof until it’s possible to pull the roof, then up the groove to a belay. This pitch has four protection bolts. The in the first half of this pitch is unfortunately a bit crumbly but the rest of the route is a lot better.

P2 30m 5.12a: Climb up a few meters, then traverse below the big roof to the left for about 15m until it’s possible to climb up a left facing corner to a belay on a good ledge. The 12a grade is a combination of the sustained 11+ climbing and the intimidation of the traversing style. (35m to the ground from here)

p3 30m 5.11a: Start up a left facing corner to a ledge, move left to the next left facing corner and climb it past some funky features. Move right to another big ledge but make steep moves upwards at it’s left edge, and belay at a good stance at the right end of the big hanging slab. There may be a bit of suspect rock on this pitch, but much better than the first one.

P4 25m 5.10d: Cross then hanging slab past four bolts, then up and across to belay below some short steep crack lines.

P5 20m 10d: start up the corner then head up the middle of three cracks. (the left one is The Flaming Hack Arete)

You can either walk off (down the trail on the other side of the ridge), or rappel. From the top, a 55m rappel makes it to a bolt station on the slab below, rightness the edge and about 10 meters away from Sheldons Corner. Another 50m rappel hits the ground.

A few action shots of the two route:

Michelle Kadatz on P11 of Minotaur direct, 5.11a

Colin on pitch 15, of Minotaur Direct 5.11c thin hands!

Chris Brazeau on the first pitch of Sick and Twisted. There are now a couple more bolts in this section.

Me on P4 of Sick and Twisted, the hanging slab pitch. Photo: Chris Brazeau

Chris on the last pitch of Sick and Twisted. A fun finish!

The Cupcake Conspiracy

jon walsh — Tue, 21 Jun 2016 03:23:12 +0000

The Cupcake Conspiracy

After failing to find any alpine routes in decent shape late last October, due to extremely mild conditions, plan B landed us in the Ghost River area with our sights set on establishing a rock route up some untouched blue streaks on a virtually untouched wall in Bonanza Bay. Michelle roped gunned Bonanza and I followed with a pack full of ropes, bolts and a drill. We came in from above figuring out most of the intended line on the way down, and got it mostly bolted in the next day and half before the season’s first snow storm brought progress to a chilly halt. It was a different yet enjoyable adventured discovering a way up a wall of high quality limestone with virtually no options for any natural gear. Six months later, we finally made it back, drilling the crux pitch on lead, and sending it along with the rest of the route in a fun day.

Lots more potential around here for more routes like this one, and having two or three like on the wall would allow for bigger days.

The Beta:
5 pitches, 150m, 5.11+ First ascent Michelle Kadatz and Jon Walsh, June 12, 2016. A fun bolted route in the on mostly excellent rock in the middle of the South facing Bonanza Bay wall, about halfway between Bonanza and the Bonanza decent gully. All belay stations are equipped with Fixe rap rings. 16 draws needed and 2 or 3 of them should be extendable. Two ropes is best for getting back down. A 70-meter rope works for almost all rappels although at this point, it’s unknown if it will get you down pitch 2 but likely very close.
Lots more potential around here for more routes like this one, and having two or three like on the wall would allow for bigger days.

The grades aren’t confirmed although some friends repeated it the day after we finished it. Perhaps some more feedback will help confirm the grades.

Pitch 1, 5.10a 10 bolts, 35-meters. It starts behind two good sized spruce trees about 50 meters right of Bonanza, and should be easy to find.   Follow the bolt line to good ledge.
Pitch 2, 5.11c/d 15 bolts, 40-meters.   Face climb up and right from the belay towards a blue-streaked corner. Head left at a roof (extendable draws useful here), and continue trending up and left around the corner to small ledge and a station.
Pitch 3, 5.11d/12a 7 bolts, 15-meters. Head up and right towards a roof, before making a crux move back left through it, which leads to a station at a decent stance.
Pitch 4, 5.10b 10 bolts, 35-meters. Prickly featured holds lead up perfect grey rock to an anchor at a big ledge on the right.
Pitch 5, 5.10d 11 bolts, 35-meters. Straightforward face climbing to the rim.

The East face of Snowpatch, the gift that keeps on giving

jon walsh — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 01:39:39 +0000

Over the last decade or so, the 500-meter high East face of Snowpatch Spire has been transforming into one of the finest alpine rock faces in North America. What used to be a face known primarily as an aid climbing venue, is now covered in free-climbing lines, although mostly difficult ones, usually reqiuring at least a couple pitches of 5.12. But perhaps the most amazing thing about it is that almost every pitch is good! I don't think there's another mountain in western Canada that can boast that! Like a big crag offering pure rock climbing in the alpine, it offers an easy approach from the nearby campground, belays on most routes are mostly bolted, there are no "approach" pitches, and there's no tedious summit ridge. The climbing is almost entirely traditionally protected, although most routes have a few protection bolts where cracks need to be conected by face moves, and face holds are plentiful. It has been one of my favorite zones for over ten years now.

Last season, Michelle Kadatz and I investigated the sector in the Bugaboo guidebook where the great flake fell off the lower middle section of Snowpatch Spire, taking the first three pitches of several routes including Les Bruines Es Pentinen, Deus Ex Machina, and the original Sunshine Wall with it. The obvious scoop at the bottom went ok, but the next 80 meters required extreme care to remove the left over debris from the major rockfall. Once it was gone, it didn't take much to buff it into a nice free climb and a fairly moderate one by East face of Bugaboo standards. After five pitches, we had established Minotaur Direct, which seemed like a better start than the original version that climbed the lower pitches of Labyrinth and traversed over. We returned this year, adding stations and continuing up the amazing middle section of Minotaur, a route I put up several years ago with Colin Moorhead. We gave this a good clean up too as this section of the wall is becoming a popular option amongst both Bugaboo regulars and visiting climbers. People seem psyched to have good pitches within a close proxitimity to Applebee and often set out to climb only half the face.

Alik Berg and I teamed up in mid July to venture out left from Minotaur into the obvious corner system that splits the big roof in the middle of the face where the Deus Ex Machina goes. We were blown away by the quality of the climbing and the softest pitch gradewise out of all the routes to go through this continuous roof system that runs the width of the face. Above it we ventured into new terrain but a couple of mossy cracks slowed progress about ten pitches up. We cleaned them out and rappeled. Two weeks later we were back with plans to finish the line. On the first day we climbed the first four pitches and fixed our two ropes. This allowed a bit of head start for a bigger day the next day. It was nice to sleep in the evening after hiking up, and fun to have Taran Ortlieb join us for this. The next day, we ascended the two lines, then made the continuous free ascent to the summit, adding four more pitches above our previous high point and sending every pitch first try! A very satisfying day, on a fun route with a lot of varied climmbing.

The East face of Snowpatch Spire with the line of ascent.

Taran Ortlieb joined us as we fixed two ropes on the first four pitches. Here he is crossing the moat between edge of the glacier and the face. Exactly four weeks earlier, it was easy to step across the gap and be standing on the ledge his left hand is at. As the summer goes on, and the snow melts back from the rock, the first pitch can get 5-10 meters longer and a grade or two harder!

Taran a few meters higher on the first pitch, now enjowing perfect hand jams on perfect granite.

Alik leading off on the second pitch of 5.10 tips.

Having Taran join us to climb the first four pitches and fix our ropes, allowed me to lead the fourth pitch, and then take photos of Alik leading it. It's got four 5.11 sections to it over 45 meters and is delightful to climb!

Another from the fourth pitch - Some face moves protected by a bolt connect two corner systems.

Alik hiking last crux of the fourth pitch with a combination of chimneying, steming, and edge pulling.

Alik climbing the splitter flake at the start of the 6th pitch.

JW in the first of four cruxy sections on the 7th pitch - the roof pitch of Deus Ex Machina, previously A3. It's the only one that we think shared any terrain with any of the old aid routes.

Alik nearing the top of the 55-meter 9th pitch.

Alik starting up the 10th pitch.

Some fine heel work high on Snowpach, with magical jugs in the all the right places; Alik getting starting on pitch 12.

Alik on pitch 12

Another from pitch 12

On the North Summit of Snowpatch with the summit ornament, and views of the Howsers.

Welcome to the Machine
5.11+, 13 pitches
First ascent: Pitches 1-5 - Michelle Kadatz and Jon Walsh; Pitches 6-13: Alik Berg and Jon Walsh
August 2nd, 2015

p1 - 30 meters 5.10-; step across the moat which gets harder as the season goes on. Climb double cracks / flake for about 10 meters until you’re able trend right, and easily up the big scoop. Make a gear anchor before it steepens where you can find some good foot ledges.

p2 - 30 meters 5.10+; continue up the scoop via a thin corner crack, to a belay bolted belay a good stance.

p3 - 30 meters 5.10+; climb the corner above and pull through a small overhang to a stance. Step left and head up a shallow left facing corner, until an easy ramp leads back right. Follow this, hand traversing flakes until a bolted station below a long left facing corner.

p4 - 45 meters 5.11+; A thin tips corner gains a section of cool stemming. When you get to a bolt clip it and face climb left to the arete. Don’t move it up to the bolted station up and right or you’ll have to down-climb 3 meters to continue sending! from the stance on the arete, move up and right back into the left facing corner, and follow past one more tips crux to the bolted station on a good ledge.

p5 - 50 meters 5.10 ; After a couple body lengths of fist crack, pull a small overhang. A #5 camelot is useful here for the crux move. Rather than continue up the obvious corner, look up and you’ll see a bolt. Climb up to it, and move left into the next corner system which is much better. It leads to a fourth class ledge, which needs to traversed up and left. A bolt below a groove is the start of Minotaur. Continue past it for five more meters to a two bolt station bellow a nice looking flake.

p6 - 35 meters 5.10; Climb the flake up, then hand traverse it left. It turns into a walkable ledge. At it’s end, move up and left though small overlaps, then face climb left, and then back right to a bolted station.

p7 - 45 meters 5.11+; This is the roof pitch of Deus Ex Machina. Move left off the belay, and then climb up a small right facing corner on face holds. Move left into the main left corner and follow it though a series of small roofs to a bolted anchor.

p8 - 60 meters 5.10; Climb the right hand crack for five meters to a ledge, Move left into a corner which is wide but easy. Follow this to a good ledge. Continue up another short right facing corner with couple of tricky moves and make a gear belay another good ledge, with some very nice looking corners up to the left. This pitch might be better to split into two as rope drag is a factor. Either way, a gear station needs to be made.

p9 - 55 meters 5.11; An amazing pitch! Start by climbing double cracks, with a mix of gear and bolts for protection (3 protection bolts total). At a small stance there’s a fixed wire and a bolt for an optional belay, however the FA team linked the next 30 meters of sustained 5.10 to a great ledge and bolted belay.

p10 - 40m meters 5.11-; climb the nice finger crack up and right. After a section of fist crack, two bolts on your left traverse to a ledge system, and a two bolt anchor at the far left of it.

p11 - 50 meters 5.10-; A clean corner above goes from hands to fists to off-width. After it gets too wide for a # 5 camelot, two body lengths of easy lay-backing passes it and gets you to easier terrain with small gear options. Continue up the groove above to a two bolt station below some black overhangs.

p.12 - 25 meters 5.11+; The last two pitches were nearly linked on the first ascent with 68m rope, but this is not recommended. Start by climbing through some overhangs with some great and unlikely moves. Belay at a good ledge.

p.13 - 45 meters 5.11 ; Follow the crack up and left, until a big ledge is reached. This pitch is a bit dirty but will clean up with a more ascents.

A scramble for a couple of ropelengths up and left gets you to the North Summit. You will pass the top station of Sendero Norte on the way which is probably the cleanest descent option. Of course if you don't know it, it might be more difficult.

The other decent option is as follows:

At the big ledge at the top of the last pitch, a sling around a pinch between boulders was used for the first rappel, to get back to the top of pitch 11. From here, rappel to a nut station about 10 meters climbers right of the station at the top of pitch ten. Careful of the rope eating crack below. Best to just rappel to the top of pitch 9 from here to keep the rope out of the crack. Then rappel to the obvious bivy ledge, on skiers left. On the far side of this ledge, rappel down Minataur on bolted stations. The first one is 55m. The second one is 30 m and it’s best to clip a bolt on the way down as a directional. Another 55m steep rappel gets you back to the big ledge at the top of pitch 5. Continue down the pitches you’ve already climbed. From the top of pitch 4, it's about a 65 meter rappel to the top of pitch 2, so if you have 60 meter ropes, it's best to place a directional or two to get into the optional station on pitch 4, and then rap to the top of pitch 2 from there. One more 50-55 rappel puts you on the glacier.

Recommended rack:
2 x 60m ropes
Double set of cams from tips to #3 camelot.
Triple set from tight fingers to loose fingers (#.3, #.4, #.5 camelots)
1 #4 camelot, 1 #5 camelot
One set of nuts
12-15 quick draws (half of them should be extendable)

Kahveology

jon walsh — Mon, 26 Jan 2015 04:47:10 +0000

KAHVEOLOGY - (The science of coffee)
160m, M8 WI5 First ascent by Jon Simms and Jon Walsh, Jan 23rd, 2015

Simms on the approach

Jonny “the Simmulator” Simms and I had a good Man Yoga practice at the Storm Creek Headwall, in Kootenay National Park. Despite much thinner that usual ice-conditions this year, the end result was Kahveology, a new 4-pitch mixed route, that’s essentially the direct start to final ice pillar of Check Your Head, another route I co-authored a couple years ago with Jason Kruk and Joshua Lavigne. Kahveology means the Science of coffee, and it’s a also a company in Portland that named one of their coffee blends Man Yoga, after the route on the Stanley Headwall that Simms and I authored, and Joshua Lavigne made an entertaining video of. We were so honoured they named the main blend served in their shop after us, we named our latest route after them, to complete the circle, as well as a thank you for sending some of their crucial beans our way! Being the serious coffee fiend that I am, I would definitely drink it all the time if it was closer to home.

Crucial coffee in necessary for Man Yoga

Anyways, while descending from Check Your Head by headlamp, straight down, rather than reversing a couple traverses we had made, I couldn’t help but notice the immaculate, featured, overhanging limestone that directly lead to a tongue of ice that slithered halfway down it, flowing from the pillar. What particularly caught my eye was the abundance of natural protection, somewhat rare for a steeper-than-vertical angle, and I immediately planned to come back someday to attempt it.

Through the crux of the first pitch

That finally came a week ago, as Michelle and I skied up there on a cold day. I did get on it, but unfortunately, couldn’t make it go bolt free, like I’d been dreaming about. The route starts with about ten meters of easy stuff to get to the back of a cave. Unsurprisingly, the back of the cave was chossy, and I had to place two bolts just to get into the steep climbing. Then two more bolts got placed as I blew my gear and tools out on body weight placements. With four bolts placed through the steepest and hardest pulls, I got to a nice crack which marked the beginning of what’s probably the best stretch of limestone I’ve ever dry tooled on. Eventually, I placed two more bolts, perhaps unnecessary ones (although I was pretty psyched to clip them on the redpoint burn a week later), before getting to a fixed-nut rappel anchor left from a couple years ago, which marked the end of the day. Many thanks to Michelle for enduring a long cold belay.

Higher on the first pitch but still 15 meters to go

Six days later, the stars aligned for us. It was much milder making for perfect conditions, the track was still good, and Simms and I made it to the base in 2 hours at a casual pace. With the route prepped, I was able to get the redpoint, and was even egged on to make it a “mega-pitch” and keep climbing all the way to a small ledge, just above the bottom of the ice. Definitely one of the best pitches I’ve done in the Rockies. After a few steep pulls out the cave, the angle eases to vertical to slightly overhanging for about 30-meters, with numerous bulges to negotiate. Perfect torquing cracks and incut holds, made for really fun sustained climbing, with enough stances to shake out from, although never a hands free position until the belay.

A raw unfiltered video of on the second pitch

And on on the fourth

The second pitch was also new and of similar quality, although it followed a fragile strip of ice that on average was an inch thick and a foot wide. By the time we were done it, the snow was falling so we had to hurry as a 2000’ couloir was above the route. Sure enough, it wasn’t long before huge sloughs started coming down at frequent intervals. We split the last 60-meters of ice into two pitches as there was a good belay spot on the right below a rock overhang and we only had a 50-meter rope. We had also brought the drill and installed bolted anchors the whole way right to the top, with hopes it will entice others to get out and try this incredibly high quality route.

starting pitch 2

Higher on pitch 2

Simms on pitch 3

me following it

pitch 4 as the storm intensifies

rappelling from the top. We had a lot of snow come down on us and around us over the course of four rappels

The Beta:
Approach: Park at the Stanley Headwall. Walk or ski for two to three hours depending on conditions. It is one of the closest to the road on the Storm creek headwall, and you can see the upper ice from the highway. I believe it’s probably climbable most years.
-2 ropes, 50-meters will suffice if you have them and want to carry less weight.
-12-14 quick draws, which should include a few long ones
-6 screws, mostly 10-13 cms
-stoppers from 4-11
-Pitons: optional….I placed one #3 Pecker and left it fixed on the second pitch
-I had a double rack of cams up to #3 camelot, and 1 #4. I didn’t need much in the really small sizes. I did place two #3’s on the fist pitch, but would probably have been ok with a single set in the hand crack sizes. Definitely double up in the .3, .4, and .5 camelot sizes, and maybe a bit more.

There is a sheltered spot below a small overhang about 20 meters down and lookers right of the route to gear up, and leave your skis and packs.

THe route as seen from the approach

Pitch 1: 45m M8 - From the highest point of snow below the ice, trend slight right up easy, scrappy, mixed snow ice and rock. A fist crack provides protection for a steep bodylength to the chossy back of the cave. Follow 4 bolts up and left requiring a few honest pulls, to get to a nice crack. Follow that up. It soon passes two more bolts and a fixed nut from the old rappel anchor. After those, trend right, then back left to a bulge below the ice which is used to gain a small ledge and a bolted anchor on the right. Be sure to put a runner on the first bolt, a medium length draw on the second bolt, and extend other cams etc. where necessary to reduce rope drag.

Pitch 2: 50m M6 R - This might be much easier on fatter years. An 80-degree ice goulotte, with occasional rock pro for 15-meters, leads to average 60-degree terrain. It was a very consistent 3 cm thick the entire way for us, and was unprotectable for 30 meters after the angle kicked back. A fall would be serious. Fortunately, the ice we had was of excellent quality making it a reasonable endeavour. The bolted anchor is about 5 meters right of the pillar.

Pitch 3: 30m WI5 - Steep ice, thin and hard to protect at the first, but it does improve. A bolted anchor is on the right below a rock roof.

Pitch 4: 25m WI4 - Straight forward ice climbing. The bolted anchor is about 3-4 meters above the top of the ice in some rock.

East Creek

jon walsh — Thu, 14 Aug 2014 04:55:10 +0000

Michelle Kadatz, Paul Bride and I flew in a heli into East Creek (the West side of the Bugaboos) for a few days last week. Paul was psyched to shoot landscape photos while Michelle and I checked out some of the incredible rock in the Pigeon feathers. Although there are quite a few routes here described in the guidebook, the Pigeon Feathers remain a slightly more obscure corner of the Bugs, despite their amazing quality, and proximity to a great camp. Upon landing, we hiked around until we found something that was really inspiring - some unclimbed splitters on Wide Awake Tower, slightly right of the original Wide Awake route.

Wide Awake Tower. Our route starts part way up the snow gully. photo: Paul Bride

On our first climbing day under stormy skies, we made it nearly three quarters of the way up before the skies started unleashing thunder and lightning. Going down was the only option. While pulling the ropes after the first rappel, a toaster sized block popped off and landed right in the pile of rope that was stacking itself in front of us as it fell. The result was both lead and tag lines were chopped in the middle! The storm intensified and we had no choice but to hunker down in a chimney, while rain, hail, and a lot of very close thunder and lightning came down all around us. Backs against the wall and all the metal off the harnesses, we slowly got colder and wetter. Multiple rounds of this continued until finally it passed and we made it down to the glacier safely. By the time we were walking back to camp, it was nice and sunny so we lapped the first three pitches of the classic Solitary Confinement. It was great to get back on this one again as it had been 8 or 9 years since I had climbed it, and it was one Michelle wanted to do too. Our thirty-five meter rope was exactly what it took to get to the first anchor of this amazing 5.11 continuous crack that gradually expanded from tips to off-width over three pitches. With only two #4 camelots, the even wider 4th pitch wasn’t really an option, which was fine by me. Three 4's, and three 5's would be considerated adequate for it...

Michelle on Pitch 3 of Solitary Confinement.

The following day we hiked to Applebee where it was possible to get two more ropes, which took the better part of the day via the Bugaboo Glacier. On day 3 we got back to work on what we were now calling Electric Funeral, obviously a reference to a Black Sabbath song, and our experience on it the first day. Paul and I are both huge Black Sabbath fans and when we get together, Sabbath becomes our theme. Michelle didn’t know the song, but liked the name! The climbing went well, although seventh pitch took getting dead-ended on two other option before I finally figured out what to do. Not comfortable with the run-out traverse to a grassy crack, I pendulummed across the face to the seam, then went into aid / cleaning mode with a nut tool and wire brush. By the time I got to the next ledge, I was so psyched to come back to send the pitch, as well as the amazing looking splitter above that bee-lined for the summit. It was cold, windy and getting late so we decided to save it for the next day.

Playing with fire at camp. Wide awake is the rightmost tower in the background photo: Paul Bride

On Day 4 the weather was looking pretty bad, and confidence of being able to complete the project was low. However, we were back, and for the first time we brought the power drill and enough bolts to set up some stations. We were psyched to have gone through the process a couple of times without bolts, and felt like the route was worthy of setting up to attract more climber to enjoy its quality. Fortunately the weather held and even got pretty nice, although quite windy in the afternoon. On pitch 7, I led out to a small foot ledge and placed the only protection bolt as high above my head as I could, then lowered the drill back to the belay and continured sending the pitch, which was delightfully sustained and interesting to climb. It was more like face climbing with a thin crack for protection, than the typical crack climbing that’s far more common in the area. The crux came right off the belay on the pitch 8 while laybacking off amazing chicken heads to pull a small roof! Trending right, beautiful cracks and transfer moves continued, and the rope was nearly used up before finally reaching a good stance.

Michelle following the 7th pitch photo Paul Bride

JW on pich 8, gunning for the top photo Paul Bride

Sweet views from the summit and a smooth rappel had us celebrating back in camp before long. Our time was up and we had the heavy, half-day slog / half-day drive home to look forward to the next day. It had been a fun process exploring this obscure conner of the Bugs and I know I’ll be back again. The crack system immediately left - aka Wide Awake, looked amazing!

Almost at the belay at the top of pitch 5. It's the triangular ledge a body length to my right. Photo Paul Bride

Michelle bringing me accross the traverse of Pitch 4. Photo Paul Bride

Michelle on pitch 6.

Michelle leading pitch 3

Michelle following pitch 7

JW starting up pitch 8, photo Michelle Kadatz

JW passing some perched flakes and the chimney on the way to the summit. Photo Michelle Kadatz

Electric Funeral, 300m, 5.11+, FA: Michelle Kadatz and Jon Walsh, August 7th 2014

A fun route on great rock, highly recommended, and it’s easily scoped from nearby snow slopes. Pitches 7 and 8 are nothing short of spectacular! The route is straightforward to rappel, or to walk off.

Rack: 1 full set of stoppers. 10 - 12 draws. Double set of cams from purple C3 or red X4 to #3 camelot. One #4 camelot and one #5 camelot are nice for the short wide sections of pitches 2 and 3. If the plan is to rappel, the #4 and 5 came lots can be left at the top of pitch 3.

Approach: Start up a the snowgully to the right of the tower's "nose" and ascend snow for about 80 meters. Look for a distint left facing corner that leads to a righ faceing corner that make up pitches 2 nd 3. We climbed a body length of 5.7 and then a 5 meter traverse left of easy 5th class to get a good belay ledge where you can dump your packs and get organised. This is directly below the changing corners of pitches 2 and 3. We left a cairn here...

P1: 5.10-, 30 meters; climb through bulge from belay and trend left to a left facing corner. A couple of balance moves to gets you to a crack that leads back right to a left facing corner with two wide cracks in it, and a two bolt belay station.

P2: 5.10, 20 meters; Climb the obvious wide cracks above up the left facing corner to a good ledge, and a gear belay (takes camelots .5, .75, 1)

P3: 5.10, 20 meters; A few off-width moves give way to nice hand-jamming. Belay at a good ledge with a huge, easily slung horn for the belay.

P4: 5.9, 50 meters; climb a short bulge above the belay and make a rising traverse to the right, until a short down climb becomes necessary. Climb down a few meters, then back up to a good belay ledge.

P5: 5.10+, 50 meters; Great hand and finger cracks head up and slightly left. Belay at a small but comfortable ledge below an overlap. A very nice pitch.

P6: 5.10+, 15 meters. Pull through the overlap and up a short groove. Rather than continue up the dirt right facing corner, make face moves out left onto the exposed / featured / golden face and up to a two bolt belay at a small ledge.

P7: 5.11-, 30 meters; Face climb up and left past a bolt, to gain a thin crack that leads straight up towards a roof. Two bolt belay below roof at small ledge.

P8: 5.11+ 50 meters; A crux roof sequence leads to spectacular crack climbing that trends rightwards towards the summit, sometimes transferring from crack-to-crack, one of such transfers providing a second, slightly easier crux! A two bolt belay at a good stance comes after 50 meters

P9: 5.9, 20 meters; A short straightforward pitch passes a chimney, and gets you to the summit.

Rappel notes: easy down-climbing about 5-meters off the summit to a slung block is required to get back to the last belay. A 25-meter rappel straight down from there (the last bolted station) gets you to another bolted station on a ledge that wasn’t part of the route. It would be possible to climb over to this on pitch 8, although this wasn’t done on the first ascent. A 50-meter rappel from here gets you to the bolted belay between pitch 6 and 7. Then 50-meters to a slung horn you passed near the start of P5. Two single rope rappels on slung horns throughout the owed angle traverse section, get you to the top of pitch 3. Then a double rope rappel easily makes the top of P1…

Spirits of Asgard

jon walsh — Mon, 12 Aug 2013 23:10:00 +0000

It's been a busy summer as always and I'm getting behind on updating this blog. About six weeks ago, the video Spirits of Asgard was released, and has been very well received. It's been posted to Outside Television, as well as received a Vimeo Staff pick, so it's recieved a lot of views, which is pretty cool! A huge congratulations to Joshua Lavigne for producing it. Check his website for more photos of the trip as well as the July / August 2013 issue of Gripped which features some pics and a 2500 word story I wrote about it. Josh's words and images are also shared in the 2013 Canadian Alpine Journal. Although the video covers the "darker" aspects of our trip, such as a couple of close calls we had, it was very a fun and successful trip. Some photos and stories have been shared here on a blog post from last August, but I thought I'd take a few a minutes to share a few more images as I link the the video here, as an attempt to share a greater visual tour of the amazing landscape Baffin has to offer.

Spirits of Ásgarðr from ARC'TERYX on Vimeo.

The north side of Mt. Asgard and the reason for going here.

Ines and Josh enjoying perfect weather and spectacular views on the 60km approach.

One of the many stream crossings

Sunrise at Summit Lake

We were always hungry!

A cariboo skull and atlers on the Turner Glacier, and the first views of the 1200m high North Face of Mt. Asgard

Getting up the Turner Gl. required a lot of stream hopping, which sometimes required following them for a long ways before finding the easiest spot to jump.

Base camp on the turner. Asgard peaking through the clouds.

Our kitchen and living room for about a week

Ines getting started up the incredible south Buttress of Mt. Loki

Smiles on the summit of Loki

Getting high on Asgard. Mt. Loki is the highest rock peak accross the glacier and our base camp is on the strip of rock, directly below its summit. Photo by Joshua Lavigne

Josh and Ines folllow yet another pitch of perfect splitters

Josh getting western, a couple ofpitches below the summit

Ines at base camp below Asgard.

Check Your Head

jon walsh — Sat, 01 Dec 2012 14:52:12 +0000

A photo of me taken by Joshua Lavigne on nearing the top of the second pitch. (Yes, we goofed around with camera gear, did some filming and photo work. The beauty of climbing as a team of three!)

Check Your Head M6+R, WI 5+ 180m; FA:Jason Kruk, Joshua Lavigne, Jon Walsh November 25th, 2012

This mixed adventure is well worth the long approach. Skis are recommended. You can see the upper half of the route from highway 93, and it lies at the right end of of the first main wall at the Storm Creek Headwall. The rock is excellent and belays are mostly bolted, and at good stances. For the most part, the drytooling is very positive in good cracks, and protects well with natural gear.   The best place to park is at the Stanley Headwall parking, approximately .8 km south of the Storm Creek Headwall fire break approach slope, which has a "no stopping avalanche zone" sign on the highway right below it. The route itself lies in a big avalanche path, so stable snow conditions are needed to climb it.

Ski up the fire break, take the road to the left at the top of it to the creek. Follow the creek up the drainage to headwall. Ascend the fan to the base of the route, 2.5 - 3 hours.

Approach pitch: solo 30 meters of very thin WI2 (no pro), to an ice belay in a cave.

Pitch 1: M6, 32 meters - Start up a couple short ice flows and gain a left facing corner with good gear. A couple delicate slab moves gain a short right facing corner. Follow it for a couple body lengths to a left facing corner that leads to a snow ledge and a two bolt belay.

Pitch 2: M6+ R, 35 meters - Take the groove straight up from the left edge of the ledge. Move leftwards past two pitons (only fixed pro on route). The second is a very good lost arrow. Once it's clipped, traverse left on small edges and continue trending up and left until another crack can be reached.   Follow it straight up and eventually becomes a shallow right facing corner, that ends at a snow ledge, a two bolt belay, and the lower angle halfway "ledge". The second half of the traverse is a little bit run-out, but not the hardest part of the pitch.

Pitch 3: M5 25 meters - Head up from the belay, and then take a hard left where it's easiest. A two bolt anchor is found just before the ice.

Pitch 4: WI 5+ 40 meters - The left side of the ice was thicker and offered the most protectable line. Small rock gear was useful to protect the initial moves onto the thin curtain at the bottom. We belayed at a protected stance from ice screws on the right hand side, before the final steep pillar.

Pitch 5: WI 4+ 25 meters - Straight forward high quality ice climbing to an ice anchor at the top.

Rappel notes: It's a 57-meter rappel from the top of the ice to the highest bolted anchor.   Then a 45-50-meter rappel straight down to a 2-nut station at a hanging stance (drill battery died).   Then a 20 meter free hanging rappel to the ground.

Rack: 2 60-meter ropes; 1 set of nuts, 1 set of micro cams, 2 sets of cams from .3 camelot to #3 camelot. 8-10 ice screws. Pitons optional (we placed 2 and left them fixed).

Two different angles of the climb, showing the belays and rappel stations

New Routing on Mt. Asgard

jon walsh — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 01:30:16 +0000

Auyuittuq 2012 - ascents of Mt. Loki and Mt. Asgard

Mt. Asgard's previously unclimbed 1200-meter north face was our main objective for the trip, with our line of ascent in red

On the morning of July 17^th, Joshua Lavigne, Ines Papert and I, got off the plane in Pangnirtung, Baffin Island. Three hours later we were cruising past the icebergs on the Fiord, propelled by the twin outboard motors on the back of our outfitters fishing boat. We soon said our goodbyes, arranged a pick up date, and began the trek up the Weasel Valley into Auyuittuq National Park.

After three days of rugged approaching, frigid creek crossings, and tantalizing vistas of the valley’s huge granite walls, we arrived at base camp on the Turner Glacier, directly below the North Face of Mt. Asgard. Another big day was spent returning to the valley bottom to retrieve a cache of supplies and equipment that had been placed in the winter by snowmobile, which was followed a much needed rest day. More rest would have been nice, but a second sleep-in would have to do. Great weather had us setting out up the nearby south buttress of Mt. Loki, the second most beautiful peak in our vicinity. A continuous crack system from glacier to summit enticed us, and we climbed it in thirteen 60-meter pitches. Old rappel stations were encountered the whole way. We suspect we repeated the only route described in the guidebook, put up by Kiwi climbers some 20 years earlier. It was likely the second ascent, first free ascent, and was very similar in quality and length to the Bugaboos ultra classic Becky Chouinard. If this route had been in the Bugs, it would see daily line-ups!

After another rest day we committed to our main objective, the 1200-meter unclimbed north face of Mt. Asgard’s south tower, with three days of food, fuel, and good weather forecasted. We started right at the toe of the NW prow and were soon making good progress, leading in blocks of three to five pitches. One seconder would usually follow on ascenders, while other would climb the pitch, except on easier or traversing pitches where both climbers would climb. After 12 pitches, we ditched our bags on a big ledge and began exploring options. Two and half traverse pitches were climbed towards the west face, where we were hoping to find access to a spectacular system of corners and face cracks, but to no avail. After reversing the traverse and deciding to bivi on the nice ledge sheltered by an overhanging corner, two pitches of difficult wide cracks were climbed, and 75-meters of rope were fixed to speed things up the next day.

With two sleeping bags zipped together and three people inside, it was one of the warmest bivis on a ledge any of us had ever experienced! The next day, we ascended our lines and continued to the top, eventually wrapping around to the west face. Here we found by far the best climbing of the trip. Although the stone quality had been excellent the whole way, it seemed to get better the higher we got. 150-meters from the top, dark clouds swept over from the south, and it soon began to lightly rain or snow. At 11 p.m., we all stood on the summit, shrouded by thick fog that limited the visibility to a mere 30-meters.

Despite the poor visibility but with previous knowledge of the descent from a few years back, we decided to begin the rappels down the normal descent route of the smaller south side of the mountain, hoping to escape the exposure of the summit before the conditions worsened. The wind was gusting hard as the storm intensified, and it was the darkest park of the arctic night, yet we hadn’t anticipated the crux to be on the relatively easy / straightforward decent.

The technical rappelling, interspersed with loose slippery down climbing went by slowly but surely. We were making good progress, but already cold and wet before it started raining and eventually snowing in the early hours of the following day. With only 300 meters of 4^th class slab scrambling to go to reach the glacier we had no option but to huddle under the 8x10 foot tarp we carried until conditions improved. Finally, after about six long hours of shivering, the sun came out and warmed us just enough to continue safely to the glacier, where we were able to eat, drink, and recharge for the hike back around the mountain to base camp.

All 29-pitches of our route were free climbed, on-sight, except for a five-meter section of icy squeeze chimney with verglassed walls. Had it been dry, it would have been a straightforward bit of 5.10. It was the only aid on the route save for one wet move on the final pitch. Technically, the hardest climbing had been 5.11+, which was certainly easier than we had expected, and the route would be a good candidate for one-day, all-free attempt, for a two-person team.

After some rest we moved back down to the Weasel Valley, intent on spending our last week on some other peaks we had eyed up on the way in. However, the sad news of my father losing his 8-year battle to MSA, a rare form of Parkinson’s disease, reached us by satellite phone and put a quick end to any climbing thoughts. The new task for me was to make it to his funeral in just three days. A three-day hike had to be made in one huge day, and then flights needed to be changed. So with heavy packs, and heavier hearts, a difficult and rainy trek began back to civilization began. Joshua and Ines had no issues with accompanying me on this for which I was grateful. We considered ourselves lucky to have had the weather and conditions at the start of the trip, and all felt satisfied with what we had just accomplished. With the cold, low-pressure weather system that had just settled in and that was also forecasted for the week ahead, it was perhaps just as well to be leaving, this special and spectacular land.

Trip summary:

-First Ascent of the North Face of Mt. Asgard’s south tower - 5.11+ A1, 1200m (Lavigne, Papert, Walsh) July 24^th-26^th, 2012, 60 hours round trip from base camp

-First Free Ascent of the south buttress of Mt. Loki – 5.10+, 650m (Lavigne, Papert, Walsh) July 22, 2012

Without the generous help from the following sponsors, this trip would not have been possible and we’d like to deeply thank:

Arcteryx, Mountain Equipment Coop, The Inspire Award, Black Diamond, Scarpa, Lowa, Vega, Julbo, Gore-Tex, Stoked Roasted

Also, a big thank you to the staff at Auyittuq Park in Pangnirtung, for being so helpful and considerate surrounding the difficult circumstances we faced at the end, and to our outfitter Peter Kilabuk for the boat services.

Perfect boating conditions on the Pangnirtung Fiord

Hiking near the entrance to the Weasel Valley

Mt. Thor on the left and Mt. Odin on the rightprovide stunning views along the trail

One of the many frigid creek crossings

Summit lake at sunrise. This was the view from our second campsite

Ines poses in front of Mt. Asgard on the Turner Glacier with a cariboo skull and antlers

Coffee time at base camp!

Me, jumping one of the many streams on the Turner Glacier

Ines navigating crevasses on the way to Mt. Loki

Ines leading on the South Buttress of Mt. Loki

Perfect rock on Loki

The view across to Mt. Asgard's 1200 meter high north face

Summit group shot

Mt. Loki from Mt. Asgard with our camp and line of ascent

Asgard in all it's glory

The last rays of sun at base camp

Gearing up below Asgard. Our route would more or less follow the sun shadow line to the right hand summit

Josh leading the first block

The bivi site, halfway up the wall

Josh leading on the second day

Me following

Ines following

Josh and Ines at the belay. Ines is putting her shoes on for pitch 26

The storm is closing in; a couple more pitches left.

One pitch below the top, anticipating high winds and stormiy conditions on the summit, we took advantage of a sheltered belay to eat and get organised for the descent ahead

Ines downclimbing the final slabs after the shiver bivi

Josh showing off his backcountry crepe making skills

Hiking back down the Turner under crippling loads

Ines fording the creek below the Cariboo Glacier. Fortunately this was about 20-30 cms lower than on the way in.

Josh hiking in damp and misty conditions on the trail out

Man Yoga

jon walsh — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 02:54:55 +0000

Dec.5 Update: To see Joshua Lavigne's nicely shot and edited 10 minute Man Yoga video, click here

Simms on pitch 1 - photo: Joshua Lavigne

Jon Simms and I just finsihed a new route on Stanley Headwall named "Man Yoga", that spanned three seasons. I put a total of nine days in on it and Simms put in seven. This past weekend, we spun two laps on it, friday 11/11/11, and sunday for some photos. We managed the redpoint both days and can finally call the 250 meter line done! We were supposed to go up there the weekend before but while I was at the Banff film festival, Simms bailed on me via text message. Jason Kruk was at the festival and chomping at the bit for a good climbing adventure, so we teamed up, and finished the line to the top of the cliff, but came up short of the redpoint. We did get some pretty good photos of it on Jason's camera, and they can be seen here, along with Jason's account of the day.

Definition:
Man Yoga (n): may involve scratching around, getting pumped mentally and physically above natural protection on sometimes questionable rock, while searching for passage up steep virgin terrain, often a mix of rock, ice. Man yoga involves commitment, digging deep, and on-sighting in back-country situations. It could also involve scrubbing dirt off boulders or cliffs in full conditions, and / or ducking Roman Candle shots fired by your belayer, arms locked off with poor feet, beyond protection, while engaged in the crux sequence. Etc., etc.. The term was coined by Jonny Simms several years ago while we were putting up the route Drama Queen - also on the Stanley Headwall, and has since been stuck in our vocabulary, and frequently used when making climbing plans or generally talking about climbing. It has also been applied to steep skiing situations such as billy-goating down steep, scary snow faces, or just long full value runs in no fall zones, that require skill, tenacity, and a calm confident head to shred. i.e.: "Let's go do some Man Yoga…" Man Yoga is not limited to men - women can do it too, although it's far less common to see a women engaging in advanced man yoga, although fortunately, their numbers are indeed growing.

The story of the route Man Yoga:
Man Yoga became the name we used to refer to our latest project, and obviously it stuck. In January 2009, Chris Brazeau asked me if I wanted to join him on a Stanley Headwall adventure to try and gain the obvious steep ice, whose access was blocked by a massive roof, about two hundred meters right of the Suffer Machine. Naturally I was psyched, and despite the snow covered rock, we nearly finished the second pitch on our first try, via a natural line that skirted the monstrous roof on its left. The self drive bolt, two thirds of the way up the second pitch marks our high point, and was the only bolt placed that day, after two long leads. Amazingly (or not), there were no traces of any other parties visiting this crack system up this beautifully immaculate limestone wall, despite the fact the every person who has ever walked back to Nemesis or Suffer Machine has gawked at the ice above the stunning overhang. Although we planned on returning soon, shoulder injuries from skiing prevented it from happening anytime too quickly.

Between October and December 2010, Jonny Simms was back on the scene after a couple years on the coast, and was in need of a proper man yoga session. Brazeau's recovering shoulder wasn't up to it, so Simms and I returned five times over two months to the Headwall project. We finished the second pitch, bolted the belays and added a total of 16 protection bolts to the second and fourth pitches. It was way more bolts than we hoped to add (the original dream was for a completely natural line), but the result is a safe and fun route, and it's probably at least as long and demanding as anything else on the Stanley Headwall in terms of overall effort. We hope the bolts and excellent natural protection will encourage others to repeat it, and we highly recommend it. We're definitely psyched with how it turned out, and building the route was so much fun. The rock quality is astounding, the route follows a devious natural line, the climbing is sustained and always interesting, there's lots of variety, and the two pitches of ice at the top are superb. It might be better in early winter when the thin ice is fresh and well bonded, and the rock is less snow covered, but it should be good right through until spring. However, more snow will give it more of alpine feel - perfect training for more serious routes in the range. Actually, it's steep enough that battling the snow isn't too bad as not that much seems to stick to it. This November (as well as last season's ice), was far thinner than that of the winter of 2009 / 2010, so I would expect some of the bolts on the fourth pitch may be covered in ice on fatter seasons. This will undoubtably make the crux slightly easier...

The beta:

M8, approximately 250 meters of climbing in 5 pitches + an approach pitch. FA: Jon Simms and Jon Walsh. Special appearances, inspiration, and help from Chris Brazeau, Troy Jungen, Tony Richardson, and Jason Kruk

The route is located about 200 meters right of Suffer Machine. It's a devious line that skirts the left side of the huge arch and then trends back right to reach the ice flow above it. There is more rock than ice, on this route, and the rock is of excellent quality throughout. The route is probably best in early season, but is climbable all season from November to April. In times of good stability, it's much quicker to leave the trail in the valley, just as it starts ascending the south side, by crossing the creek, cutting through the trees, and ascending the fan directly to the base.

P0 - (the approach) pitch 0 cause we've never actually roped for it, although it is about 5.4. Climb up two short chimneys with snow ledges between, until below the great roof (about 25 meters). Make a couple of moves up and left around a corner, then traverse across about 30 - 40 meters of 40-degree snow, or third class in early season. A bolted anchor can be found near the left side of this big ledge, on then left side of small cave that probably fills in with as the snowpack deepens. Heads up on the big ledge, it holds a lot of snow and could avalanche. 5.4 70+ meters
(rappel 40 meters from bolts to ground)

P1 - Juggy dry-tooling, and hand-jamming on immaculate rock with bomber gear. Climb easy terrain above the anchor with sparse protection at first, then trend right towards a shallow right facing corner at the left edge of the huge arching roof. Climb this with excellent protection in finger sized cracks. Sometimes the slab on the right gets iced up and sometimes its dry. Pull a small overhang into a slot, and work your way up the crack that widens from hands to offwidth. Pull through the roof and follow a 50-degree ramp for about 8 meters to the 2 bolt anchor. M7 45meters

JW on pitch 2; photo: Joshua Lavigne

P2 - The delicate face pitch. Pay close attention to your rope drag - it's crucial to use lots of extendable draws. Move out left from the belay and then back right towards a bolt, then up a seam past a fixed pecker. Continue up a left facing corner until below a roof (about 15 meters). Place a red camelot with a double length runner in the obvious splitter, and traverse right below the roof with good protection. After about 10 meters of traversing, a series of five bolts and some delicate face climbing up parallel seams leads to the next 2 bolt anchor. Gear to 2.5". M7 35 meters
(rappel 60 meters direct to the big snow ledge, then traverse 10 meters back to the anchor at the top of pitch 0)

P3 - Follow the cracks / groove straight up from the anchor, until it's possible to step right onto a good ledge and a 2 bolt anchor. (gear to 4 inches) M5 25 meters

P4 - The crux pitch - careful of the rope drag - use your extendable draws wisely! Climb up and right past a knifeblade to a bolt. Traverse right along the ledge past another piton. Continue up and right past 2 bolts until you can step around the corner and cross an icy slab. Keep following the bolts up and right as they traverse below the big roof the ice drips from. A right facing corner offers steep powerful moves with great pick torquing through the roof, and a pumpy move back left to a stance at the lip. This will be a bit easier on fatter ice years. Continue up mixed ground for another 8 meters, past a bolt and a knifeblade, looking for a small ledge on the left with a two bolt anchor. This pitch is all fixed (11 bolts, 4 pitons,) although small rock gear might be useful for some people, as will ice screws on fatter years. M8 32 meters

JW pulling the overhang on pitch 4; photo: Joshua Lavigne

P5 - Proper ice climbing at last, and a fine finish - It starts with some thin, lower angled ice up a right facing corner, with good rock gear for protection, followed by a short but steep pillar to a stance in a small cave. Straightforward WI 5 from here leads to the cave the ice flows from, and bolted anchor. A single rack up to #1 camelot and ice screws needed. WI 5 50 meters

Simms climbing ice with good rock protection on Pitch 5; photo:Joshua Lavigne

Two rappel options exist. Obviously rappelling the route is one, although the fourth pitch needs to be back-clipped to make it to the third anchor. pull the ropes here, then another short rappel down the third pitch. 60 meter ropes land you on the big snow ledge of pitch 0, but 10 meters of walking is required to get to the bolted station. Alternatively, from the top of the 4th pitch, make a 60 meter rappel straight down to a bolted station at a small stance, just above the lip of the big arch. This station is about 3-4 meters left of the plumb line of the rappel. This might be a bit of an intense rappel line if you're doing it for the first time in the dark. Then make another wild rappel over the big arch, 55 meters to the snow ledge of pitch 0, 10 to 15 meters of walking to the bolted station. One more 40 meter rappel to the ground.

Ropes: Two 60m ropes. Using doubles would be advantageous for reducing the rope drag, which there is a lot of on the second and fourth pitches, unless the leader does an excellent job placing extendable slings in the right places. We used a single and a tag, but knowing the pitches helped, and we used at least 10 extendable slings. The advantage is of course the ability to haul, and both climbers climb with less stuff on their backs and harnesses. If you're hauling the pack, Hauling on the first pitch is best done, by pulling the haul line all the way up, and then throwing it back down in a more direct path to the belay. It still may get caught and is best tied off as short as possible, so the seconder can help jerk it around some overhangs.

Rack:
Cams: the following sizes are in BD Camelots, which is what we used
Singles: #0 C3 (green); #2 C4 (gold); #3 (blue) #4 C4(grey)
Doubles: #1 C3 (reds); #.3 C4 (blue); #.4 C4 (grey); #.5 C4(purple); #.75 C4(green); #1 C4(red)
1 half set of nuts
Pitons are optional but the route is set up for climbing without hammers, and there are several fixed in key places.
Draws: 16 draws -- 10 extendable and 6 quick draws, one or two extra double length runners

Screws: 7 - 10 including stubbies. I guess the number depends on your comfort level leading steep ice after a relatively full day of climbing. The ice gradually gets fatter the higher you get.

Enjoy!

Minataur

jon walsh — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 03:18:41 +0000

Well it's been a busy fall trying to make some money for the winter and moving, but everything is falling into place as the temps drop and the snow and ice begin to appear I can hardly wait to finish up some old projects and start some new ones. My foot has nicely healed from the Twin and is ready to charge agian.

But as the seasons change, I wanted to finish up with some summer stuff like the photos from the "Minataur" that some friends have asked about. Once again, Minataur was a route on the East foace of Snowpatch Spire that Colin Moorhead and I climbed together. It starts up the first four pitches of Labyrinth, then weaves in and out of "Les Bruixes es Pentinen" for the next eight pitches (three on Bruixes and five new), and we finally finished up the last three pitches of Labyrinth. The direct finish awaits! The climbing was superb the whole way and we'd highly recommend this adventure as another fine, fifteen pitch free route up the best wall in the Bugs!

The grades are as follows: 5.10; 5.11+; 5.12-; 5.11-;5.11-;5.12-;5.11-;5.10-;5.11;5.12-;5.11;5.11-;5.11-;5.10

The first day we fixed three ropes, and climbed a new pitch. We then ascended the ropes the second day and continued to the top. A more detailed topo will appear in next years alpine journal. I'll eventually post the detailed beta, whenever it gets written but that is something on the back burner right now.

Colin on the first pitch of Labyrinth

Me on the freehanging jug on the second pitch of Labyrinth

Me leading a new pitch, the first of our Minataur variation

Colin freeing making the 12a ffa of the roof pitch of Les Bruixes Es Pentinen

Me finding an a 5.11 thin crack / face variation which detours around the second roof of Bruixes. One bolt was placed to protect the run-out slab right off the belay.

Colin Folowing the pitch which re-joined Bruixes

Colin following a nice pitch of splitter crack climbing

Unfortunately we didn't get any pictures of the next two sensational pitches. Guess you'll just have to go there if ya want to see them!

Bugaboos 2011 - fisrt ascents, first free ascents, obscure repeats, good times...

jon walsh — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 03:43:03 +0000

As usual, the Bugaboos feed my stoke. I've been in there four times this year, and so far there have been four highlights. All have been ascents of rarely climbed, somewhat obscure routes, and all have been shared with a different, extremely talented partners whom I feel fortunate to be friends with. And of course it's always good to see all the usual suspects that make annual pilgrimages to Applebee Camp, and share some fine single malts and stories of their adventures too. It's part of what I look forward to when I go to the Bugs. It's funny how some folk you don't see for a year but then see on a regular basis between climibng sessions. Both the comraderie and epic adventures are the key ingredients that make the Bugs my favorite venue. Anyways... THe highlights:

The Midnight Route, East face of Bugaboo Spire:
Jon Simms convinced me to take on lap on this gem of route with him. A couple years earlier, Jon and Chris Brazeau had managed the first free ascent, although they had traversed right to the ridge in a storm, two pitches below the top. A two pitch direct finish awaited, and this was what we set our sight on. Unfortunately, the .12b crux was wet and we had to french free a few moves, but lots of sustained and heady 5.11+ kept us entertained and digging deep pitch after pitch. I was sandbagged into not bringing some pitons, but what are friends for? The intensity was high as I built nests of RP's in sustained 5.11+ sections and ran it out above them, but I was always amazed by the quality of the climbing. We managed one of the direct finish pitches but again, an electrical storm thwarted us with one pitch to the ridge, and we rappelled. This is a route that with a little bit of love in the form of a wee bit of traffic, maybe a bolted station or two to make the a couple of semi hanging belays less rugged, would be world class for those seeking a steep sustained adventure up one of the most looked at yet most ignored faces in the Bugs!

Spicy Red Beans and Rice FFA / Shooting galery / a few new pitches
A couple weeks later, I was back with Josh Lavigne with the remote 900 meter West Face of THe North Howser Tower on our radar. It's the biggest face in the Bugs and Josh is obsessed with it, having previously climbed it six times, four more than me, and likely twice as many as anyone else! Pretty impressive considering it's a five hour approach from Applebee to the base, and requires 4 very committing rappels even to get to it. If you have to bail from the face, it's a very long walk of shame to get out of the remote valley. This time, we were back there looking for first ascents and first free ascents, but got off to a dead end start right off the bat on the route Young Men on Fire which proved to difficult to free, without a ton of preparations we weren't prepared to make! But a quick rappel, then two and a half pitches of the Shooting Gallery went smoothly. A short traverse left around the corner and we were into a virgin ground. A couple pitches of some very nice finger cracks up to 5.11-, gave way to the easier terrain near the halfway ledge. As the upper headwall came into view, we couldn't help but be drawn in by the clean white right facing corner system of the Warrior, a 1974 Hugh Burton and Steve Sutton A3. Hopefully it would go free we though as we gravitated towards it. We easily traversed across the Seventh Rifle gully, dropped off a bit of stuff on some comfy bivi ledges below the line where we'd hunker down for the night as planned. Suddenly a continuous splitter crack system about 15 meters right of the Warrior corner now grabbed out attention and we immediately set out for it, with intents of fixing our two ropes, then returning to the ledge for the night. The first pitch was on the Warrior, but a ten meter traverse right into the crack system on the second pitch brought us into the first pitch of sustained 5.11+ finger cracks that would continue for many pitches to come.

Despite just one tarp and one Thermarest between us, the bivouac wasn't too bad, as the it was calm and mild night. Ascending the two ropes in the morning warmed us right up, and we were treated to an amazing splitter and the best pitch of the route for the first pitch of the day. About four pitches later, we found ourselves back in the Warrior, and followed it to the summit ridge. The rest of the day went smoothly with us swapping leads, and on-sighting every pitch. Ocassionally the seconder would jumar with the not so light pack. We had hauled a few times but the pack was falling apart and on the verge of spilling it's contents. Given the sustained difficulty and the fact we both had work commitments the next day, it seemed prudent to conserve energy this way. Upon returning to civilization and doing our homework, it appeared we had climbed Spicy Red Beans and Rice (Cameron Tague / Eric Greene,1997, 5.12- A1), with a one or two pitch variation to the right. We though it was one of the best climbs we've done, and much better quality than it's popular neigbour - All Along the Watchtower. Definitely a bit more sustained and harder overall, but not such a difficult crux! The A1 grade can now be removed, and the original topo can be found here. The actual line of this route is slightly left of what is shown in the picture in the Bugaboo guidebook...

Photo: John Schurlock

Sweet Sylvia, East Face of Snowpatch
A sweet route indeed. Chris Brazeau and I had climbed this before but we were now back to try and free our variations we had done a few years back. At about mid height, there are two parallel splitters. You'd be blind not to notice them (they stand out from very far away), and they both start off a huge semi detatched flake. The original route heads up the left crack and it gets wide as in off-width. The right one (which we assume we may have been the first climbers up it a few years back), starts out with 30 meters of slightly overhanging hands, before tapering down through the sizes. A short section of purple camelots provides the .12b crux which Chris managed to send this time. A short rest is reached as the two cracks merge, but a mandatory short o.w. guards the anchor so don't forget to bring your #4 camelot (or maybe two of them). Laybacking these last two bodylengths is definitely the easy way, to one of the sweetest belay ledges in Bugs. The next pitch is a real blockbuster, meat and potatoes, wide corner crack. I think I'd want three #4 camelots next time I lead it. Only rated .11a, but very sustained and about as burly as just about any 5.11 pitch in the bugs! Absolutely incredible though!! Another pitch and we ventured off on a variation finish. After a little prep work, our light start disappearing so we gunned it for the chains at the top of Sunshine Crack - our descent route. I led the last pitch as the moon rose in the alpenglow south eastern sky. To make a long story short, we were both stoked and completely destroyed, and will definitely be back for more.

Minataur, East face of Snowpatch - First ascent

Colin Moorhead was back in hood after an absence of several years, and we were stoked to team up again. Not only as old friends, but also because we're both very passionate about putting up our own lines rather than climbing someone else's, and we both have a very creative eye when it comes to seeing passage up big granite walls. Naturally, we started making plans. I'll post more on this later, but the short version goes like this: Minotaur climbs the first four pitches of Labyrinth, a route I authored with Jon Simms a couple of years ago. It then branches off left for eight pitches, three of them part of an aid route call Les Bruines Es Pentinen, and then re-joins Labyrinth for it's final three pitches. The belays we used are marked in yellow on the photo. Over two days, we managed to free it all at 5.12- which there are three pitches of, and much 5.11 as well. All and all, we though it was a great route, we had a great time climbing it, and we'd definitely recommend it to others. It's prepped with 7 fixed pitons, 1 bolt, a couple of fixed nuts in key places, and the cracks have been excavated enough for the onsight now. A few times, we had to clean some crux sections, and then lower down to the no hands rest before sending them from there. Like I said, I'll post more on this route in the near future. I suspect most people should be able to figure out the meaning of the name(s). Especially if you venture into it!

Bugaboos - Sendero Norte and Labyrinth

jon walsh — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 04:47:38 +0000

Ahh the Bugaboos. My all time favorite place to crank!! It's been yet another fine summer cranking in there and I'll share some photos and stories soon of a few big wall free climbing highlights. But first of all, a lot of people have been asking for information on Sendero Norte, a route that Chris Brazeau and I put up a few years ago. So here it is, along with Labyrinth, another route I authored with Jon Simms and also a superb climb up fourteen pitches of splitter granite.

Click here to download topos for these amazing routes...

Click here to download the hi-res photo of the east face of Snowpatch with belays for these two routes marked...

Click here to download the Sendero Norte written description...

Click https://alpinestyle.ca/sites/default/files/Labyrinth beta_0.pdf">here to download the Labyrinth written description...

Some photos of Sendero exist under an old post called Bugaboos project or in an album on my facebook page

Mt. MacDonald's "little face" and the F.A. of "Prime Rib"

jon walsh — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 13:01:35 +0000

PRIME RIB ★★★ 5.11b 600 m, Colin Moorhead, Jon Walsh - June 26 2004 Mt. Mcdonald's Little Face, Rogers Pass B.C.

Alpinist Volume 19: "In a Push"

admin — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 18:41:25 +0000

My feature article about climbing the north face of Mt Alberta last September with Chris Brazeau was published in The Alpinist Volume 19, a few months ago.

Bugaboo project...

jon walsh — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 10:00:42 +0000

Devil's Thumb

jon walsh — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 09:38:32 +0000

Four years ago on an expedition to make the first ascent of the nearby Oasis Peak, Dieter Klose planted a seed: the complete traverse of the Witches Tits, Cats Ears and Devils Thumb. This seed grew into a dream that blossomed into reality in July, when Andre Ike and I were deposited below the east ridge of the Thumb by helicopter. A week of mostly bad weather followed, with just enough sun to advance a camp and scope the logistics of our mission. Finally the skies cleared, and we set off with three days of food and high hopes for the splitter, white granite we had seen from the heli.

Choktoi Glacier 2006

jon walsh — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 10:58:08 +0000

Near the end of June 2006, Jeff Relph and I found ourselves at 6800 meters getting thoroughly abused by vicious snow and avalanches on a new-route attempt on the southeast buttress of the Ogre (7285m). We made it down safely, but there was not enough time for a second attempt.

Zig Zag - Multi Pitch Sport-Climbing+ on Yamnuska

jon walsh — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 01:21:19 +0000

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 - A new Route on Mt Wilson

jon walsh — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 01:11:03 +0000

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

jon walsh — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 19:27:22 +0000

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.