Raphael Slawinski on Bolts and Figure 4s

Raphael Slawinski joins Aaron Gerry for a conversation about mixed climbing in the most recent episode of Ice, Ice, Beta. Slawinski is based near the Canadian Rockies and is known for his technical alpine mixed routes and bold undertakings.

The description of this episode is as follows: Mixed climbing was always part of the alpinist’s bag of tricks 🪄, but the technical and impossibly steep style we know these days only started to come into its own in the ‘90s.  The period has been referred to as the Modern M-Revolution — a period when grades advanced rapidly, from about M8 to M13 📈 — and lasted roughly from the mid-90s to the early 2010s. It was punctuated at the start by Jeff Lowe’s ascent of “Octopussy” (WI6 M8 R) in 1994 and perhaps came to its conclusion in 2012 when Robert Jasper climbed “Iron Man” in totally dry conditions and officially denoted it with a “D” grade (D14+), effectively spitting off a distinct discipline.

Today, we chat with Raphael Slawinski, one of the leading mixed climbers during this time. Some of his accomplishments include sending some of the first M10s and M11s in Canada, climbing out the Stanley Headwall (including many routes he established), and topping out the unclimbed 7040m K6 West in Pakistan with Ian Welsted, for which they won a Piolets d’Or. I want to note that he managed all of this as a quote-unquote “weekend warrior”, since his full time profession is physics professor.

To listen to Ice, Ice, Beta with Gerry and Slawinski visit here.

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