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A Big New Route on West Coast’s Kings Peak

Ryan Van Horne and Marie-Lou Piché climbed a new 500-metre 5.9 up Kings Peak on Vancouver Island. The new route climbs one of the many southeast buttresses before it joins the East Couloir and East Ridge. Most of the climbing in in the lower fifth-class, but the cruxes are steeper and 5.9.

on Kings Peak. Photo Ryan Van Horne
on Kings Peak. Photo Ryan Van Horne

“The rock quality is great but can be a little hard to protect,” said Van Horne. “This was a great first alpine rock route of the season for us and gave us a chance to look at some of the potential routes on that side of the Mountain.” The new alpine rock route took them three days.

New route up Kings Peak. Photo Ryan Van Horne
New route up Kings Peak. Photo Ryan Van Horne

Over the past few years, Van Horne and Piché established a number of new routes on Vancouver Island together. On Sutton Peak, they climbed the new East Rake in January 2015 up a long moderate snow couloir. And in November 2014, they climbed the East Face of Mount Adam, a long moderate 5.6. Kings Peak has a number of often climbed established routes, including the eight-pitch 5.8 Tea With Her Majesty and the five-pitch Northern Lights 5.10c.

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