Bouldering Expedition to New Remote Rockies Highballs

The Canadian Rockies have countless remote locations that hold big and unclimbed boulders few climbers have seen.

In 2017, Matt Hendsbee and Scott Eveleigh hiked into Wonder Valley near Lake Louis and found a a cluster of nice looking boulders spread across an alpine meadow.

“With the boulders surrounded by a horseshoe cliff band, it couldn’t get much better,” said Scott. The only problem was getting there, on our reconnaissance trip we did 32 km, way too far for a day trip.”

Wonder Valley Boulders: Other Climbs 1. Scott inspecting a highball arete, which he later sent and named Bonsai V6 2. Matt doing big boi beta on his V7 highball, Huck it to the Bucket 3. Marc topping out Matt's V9 roof problem, which he named Jocks in Crocs 4. Marc taking a breather on top of Jocks in Crocs 5. Zach on the steep crux of my V10, Spooked @sceveleigh @k_i_l_l_a_b_e_e @marceveleigh @zachi.watson

A post shared by Miles Adamson (@miles_adamson) on Aug 16, 2018 at 9:05am PDT

This year, the two Alberta climbers got a backcountry camping permit were joined by Zach Watson, Miles Adamson and Marc Eveleigh for a five day expedition into the alpine with big packs and bouldering pads.

“It took us almost nine hours to hike in over a ridge with three crash pads, 50-plus pound packs and more than 1,000 meters of elevation gain,” said Scott. “It was worth the effort and this is the result.”

All of the climbers have toured the World Cup circuit on Team Canada over the years.

They climbed a number of new routes, including Bonsai V6, Huck it to the Bucket V7 highball, Jocks in the Crocs V9 and Spooked V10 highball.