Breaking News: New 5.13d at Lion’s Head is Forever Inspired
It adds to the long list of steep and difficult lines found at the famous limestone crag above Georgian Bay
Colin Lipowitz has made the first ascent of Forever Inspired at Lion’s Head on the Bruce Peninsula, which is part of the traditional territory of the Saugeen Ojibway Nations. Lipowitz has been sending demanding Ontario lines for years, and is called “Ontario’s dark horse” by top local climber Joe Skopec.
Lipowitz has repeated many hard Lion’s Head routes, like Atlas Shurgged 5.14a (third ascent), Above the Clouds 5.13a, Hotel Bennell 5.14a, Tour de Lion 5.14b (second ascent), Lion’s Head Express 5.14a/b, and the strenuous Ontario test-piece Bromance 5.14b.
Ontario photographer Tyler Palubiski broke the news about the new Lion’s Head route, saying, “It’s a link-up that joins into the B-52 roof that the legendary Forever Expired 5.14d climbs through, which was first sent by Sonnie Trotter in 2004 and still remains the only ascent.” Forever Inspired was bolted by Daniel Martian.
Mount Nemo Link-up
In 2010, Gripped reported (read below) about a Mount Nemo link-up completed by Lipowitz and Nathan Kutcher. Be sure to follow Lipowitz on Instagram below.
Inspired by Justin Dwyer and Chris Scullion’s link-up of 20 routes at Mount Nemo, the team of Colin Lipowitz and Nathan Kutcher recently completed a massive 25 route link-up.
The pair had come up with the plan a few years ago as a way of finding new challenges at their local crag, and the news of Dwyer and Scullion’s link-up motivated them to revisit the idea. “We wanted to make the most of our local climbing and use the link-up as a way to get in shape for an upcoming trip to the Red,” said Kutcher.
The pair redpointed 25 sport climbs which included eight pitches of 5.12, nine pitches and 5.11 and eight pitches of 5.10 in a period of just over 11 hours. “The routes tended to be bouldery, and we skipped many mid-route rests, which added to the fun and challenge of trying to link all the climbs,” said Kutcher.
The idea of linking up multiple routes in a day has always been highly regarded in places like the U.K., Joshua Tree and Hueco Tanks, and it’s encouraging to now see Canadian climbers embracing this concept.
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