Gripped: The Climbing Magazine February/March 2022 Vol. 24 Issue 1

When I started climbing, the idea of having a secret crag was crazy. Climbing, to me – then and now – is about community and the more people around for a day at the crag the better. Over the past two decades of developing hundreds of pitches across Canada, I thought it was time to find a crag that I wouldn’t advertise to the world. Having a place to go run laps and bolt new routes alone made sense this past year, especially in spring when restrictions were keeping us out of climbing gyms. I hiked around the base of Waskahigan Watchi (Mount Rundle) near the town of Banff looking for a close-to-the-road piece of solid rock that could become a crag. I found one a few hundred feet to…

DMM Torque Nut $30 If you are looking for a hex to add to your rack, look no further than this must-have piece of protection from DMM. They fit great in standard crack placements, but they also cam nicely into horizontal features thanks to a rounded side. They have double slings to keep them high on your harness and to help reduce drag on meandering pitches. Wild Country Offset Zero Friends $115 Friends are one of the most iconic pieces of trad gear ever made, and the new Offset Zeros should be on every gear climber’s rack. There are five sizes, they have extendable dyneema slings, they are ideal for small and narrow placements, and the flexible stem allows you to place them in awkward spots. From single-pitch to big…

Legendary B.C. climber Don Serl has more experience in Canada’s Coast Mountains than most climbers. Serl wrote the most in-depth guidebook to the area called The Waddington Guide in 2003. In 2017, he received the Summit of Excellence Award from the Banff Mountain Festival for his many contributions to mountaineering. In 2021, several climbers expressed that protecting peaks and glaciers around Mount Waddington with a provincial or national park status would be a benefit to current and future generations. However, Serl believes that a park wouldn’t be good for backcountry enthusiasts hoping to continue to access the area. We touched base with him at the end of the year to hear why he thinks the area should stay wild. At 4,019 metres, Waddington is the highest peak entirely within B.C.’s…

New Hard Rockies Drytool Greg Barrett made the first ascent of a hard new drytool climb at the Rockies crag Alcatraz that he called Kabukimono and graded D12-ish. He said, “Big moves on big holds. Head up the wall to a slot at the base of the roof. Reach a full wingspan straight up, cut your feet, and launch into 15-plus metres of roof climbing. The goal of the line was to build an accessible training ground for routes like Musashi. The name Kabukimono refers to gangs of Samurai in the 16th century.” Bold New Himalayan Route At the start of December, Polish mountaineers Marcin Tomaszewski and Damian Bielecki made the first ascent of Frozen Fight Club at A3 M7 up 780 metres of granite cracks and systems on Uli…

Allison Vest on Fire Canadian Allison Vest climbed three V13s in a month with Army of the Dead, Blackout V13 and Masterpiece V13 in Joe’s Valley. In 2020, she climbed Firestorm V13 in Ogden, and in 2019 she climbed her first V13 with Terminator in Squamish. Bayes Wilder Crushed at 10 American 10-year-old climber Bayes Wilder sent Southern Smoke 5.14c at Red River Gorge in November. Found at Bob Marley Crag, it was Wilder’s hardest ascent to date. At one week shy of 10 ½ years old, he’s the youngest to climb the grade. Wilder sent on his third day on his fifth attempt. Alex Honnold Sends Red Rock Test-Piece Alex Honnold has made the second ascent of one of the hardest multi-pitch routes at Red Rock with Synthetic Happiness…

A mountain town and cottage country are two of the most popular places for weekend warriors, and they now have one more thing in common: they both have fantastic climbing facilities. Banff’s Sally Borden at the Banff Centre and Bracebridge, Ont.’s Climb Muskoka are two very different climbing gyms, but they, maybe not surprisingly, share one very climb community thing in common: the energy and stoke are unlike anywhere else. I’ve been lucky to have climbed in countless gyms across Canada, and always try to visit a new one when it opens. After spending the fall climbing in Banff, I travelled to cottage country for the grand opening of the new Climb Muskoka. While the two gyms have very different spaces, walls, holds, pads and setting styles, they overall vibes…