New B.C. Alpine Mixed Line is Wish You Were Here

Steve Janes and James Rode have made the first ascent of a 130-metre M5+R WI4 called Wish You Were Here on Vancouver Island.

On Sat. March 17, James Rode and Steve Janes hiked into Kings Peak to attmept a new routes Janes had spotted a few weeks earlier.

“After an arduous approach we made camp on the North Glacier,” said Janes.

They awoke Sunday and climbed the line, which is about 50 metres left of the 100-metre rock route Royal Highness 5.10.

“The name of the route, Wish You Were Here, is a bit of a personal reference to Marc-Andre Leclerc and the inspiration he left us all with.”

Janes, Leclerc and Brette Harrington had recently made the second ascent of The Theft, a long ice/mixed route near Bridge River at the start of February.

Leclerc and American Ryan Johnson passed away in a climbing accident on the Mendenhall Towers in Alaska earlier this month.

Located in Strathcona Provincial Park and one of the higher peaks on Vancouver Island, King’s Peak is a double-peaked glaciated mountain at 2,065 metres.

The higher peak is called King’s Peak and the smaller is called Queen’s Ridge.

On Queen’s Ridge is the two-pitch Pauper’s Buttress 5.7, eight-pitch Tea With Her Majesty 5.8, the two-pitch Jester 5.8 and the five-pitch Northern Lights 5.10c.