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Quentin Lindfield-Roberts Solos Striving for the Moon, a 1,400-metre WI6

It's one of the biggest winter lines in the Bow Valley and is rarely climbed

Mount Temple has long been the scene of bold ascents, from first ascents on the north face to fast and light free solos on many of the demanding climbs.

Quentin Lindfield-Roberts has made a solo ascent of Striving for the Moon VI WI5/6 on the east-northeast face. There are rumours the route was soloed back around Thanksgiving in 2002, but not confirmed.

The big route was first climbed in 1992 by Barry Blanchard and Ward Robinson and wasn’t repeated until 2004 by Scott Semple, Greg Thaczuk and Eamonn Walsh in a 36-hour car-to-car push.

Striving for the Moon climbs a prominent gully system for 1,000 metres to the Black Towers on Temple’s East Ridge, followed by another 600 metres of climbing to the summit.

Joe Josephson reported about the first ascent of Striving for the Moon in the 1993 Canadian Alpine Journal: Several pitches higher take a right-hand fork in the gully up some thin ice. Take the obvious traverse line around the buttress back into the left-hand gully, thus avoiding unformed ice on the left. Bivi sites can be found by traversing quartzite ledges.

“In good style the first ascent party continued up the East Ridge to the summit under high winds and a full moon – “very Himalayan.'”

About the climb, Blanchard said, “Ward and I actually bivied on top of the cux ice pitch. Walked right to a flat spot and laid down, no shovelling needed and no spindrift, it was a beautiful night. The next day was 23 hours traversing under the Black Towers, over the top and down to a bivy on picnic tables in front of Moraine Lake Lodge. Such very fine adventures, the Rockies deliver. Bravo!”

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