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Five Limit Pushers by Canadian Marc-Andre Leclerc in Past Year

Marc-Andre Leclerc is based on Canada’s West Coast and is one of North America’s leading climbers. From big wall sends to alpine solos, the 23-year-old crusher has proved that we are no where near the limit of what’s possible. Below is a collection of sends by Leclerc over the past year that proves he is at the cutting edge of Canadian climbing.

The Muir Wall via The Shaft: Over a number of days in 2015, Leclerc, Brette Harrington and Alan Carne climbed The Muir Wall via The Shaft Variation at 5.13c. Leclerc freed the entire route and Harrington freed all but a few moves. Carne, 55, sent many of the route’s cruxes. This was Leclerc and Harrington’s first big wall that involved hauling and ledges. Less than a year later, the pair travelled to Baffin Island to climb new free routes on the island’s large granite faces. Few Canadians have sent 5.13+ routes on El Cap.

Scotland Trip: At the start of 2016, Leclerc visited Scotland with a number of strong Canadian climbers. He opted out of roping up on some days to solo a number of the area’s test-piece routes in serious winter conditions. Often, Leclerc would have to wear ski goggles to see. Over a few days, he soloed Central Buttress VII, Scabbard Chimney V, Tilt VI, Chimney Route VI, Tower RIdge IV, Thompson’s Route IV, Winter Chimney V, Gargoyle Wall VI, Green Gully IV, The Banshee IV, Point Five Gully V, Hadrian’s Wall Direct V, Smith’s Route V, Minus Two Buttress V into Northeast Buttress and Italian Right-hand IV into Tower Ridge. He attempted to solo Darth Vader VII, but conditions forced him to bail. With Jon Walsh, Leclerc onsighted Happy Tyroleans IX.

Stanley Headwall Solos: The Stanley Headwall is on the Radium Highway in B.C. and has over a dozen high quality winter multi-pitch mixed routes. The area has a number of objective hazards ranging from avalanches to ice fall. In the winter of 2015/16, Leclerc spent time climbing big lines in the Rockies. He soloed Curtain Call WI6, Hydrophobia WI6 and sent Real Big Drip M9 WI6. His most impressive day on technical terrain was when he soloed three routes on The Stanley Headwall: French Reality WI6+, Nightmare of Wolf Street into The Day After La Vacance M6 WI6 and Nemesis WI6. Nemesis and French Reality had been soloed, but few climbers had considered climbing steep mixed routes such as Nightmare and Day After due to the exposure and quality of rock.

Emperor Face Solo: The Emperor Face is a north-facing wall on Mount Robson near Jasper. The mountain is the highest in the Canadian Rockies and The Emperor Face is one of the biggest grade-six alpine faces in the Rockies. There have been few ascents over the past decades and no solos until Leclerc’s. He chose the line called Infinite Patience M5 WI5 VI and climbed it in one day. He then slept on the summit of the mountain before descending to Berg Lake. A few days prior, he took a tour bus from Banff to the Columbia Icefield and soloed Andromdeda Strain M6 WI5 V on Mount Andromeda before catching a ride to Jasper. He took a tour bus from Jasper west and was dropped off at the Mount Robson parking area before approaching The Emperor Face.

Torre Egger Solo: Before the austral winter ended in Patagonia, Leclerc made the first solo winter ascent, second solo and second winter ascent of Torre Egger in Patagonia. His bold solo took him 21 hours round-trip. He attempted the solo a few days earlier, but stopped about 200 metres below the summit. On his successful ascent, he climbed new terrain and linked it into Titanic. “There was a lot of wind on the summit and I did not linger for long,” Leclerc wrote in his report here. “I downclimbed the last pitch then rappelled straight down and directly off the edge of the headwall from v-threads which allowed me to avoid the traversing section of the route itself.”

Summit of Torre Egger two days ago. Apologies for the language but it describes the general feeling of the moment.

A video posted by Marc-Andre Leclerc (@mdre92) on

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