New Mixed Alpine Routes on Vancouver Island
The Vancouver Island alpine climbing season seems to be in full swing as a number of cold routes have been climbed lately.
Max Fisher and Mike Ford made the first ascent of a 250-metre difficult AI3+ on the north face of Mackenzie Peak.
“We hd exceptional views of the west coast from the summit,” said Fisher. Fisher was fresh off climbing new routes above the frigid Atlantic Ocean and said the west coast is far more tropical than the east coast.
On Mount Arrowsmith, Patrick Parker and Hunter Lee climbed a new 75-metre variation to the Soggy Moss corner called Soggy Moss variation M5+R. They reported that “access to the mountain right now is great: the road was clear of snow and there was no sign of any heli loggin.”
Lee posted on Facebook, “Hoping that the direct variation ice finish was in we set up shop in the Soggy Moss corner. Halfway up the corner Pat noticed the aesthetic crack visible from below was in climbing shape and climbed up the steep M5+ crack before traversing over and joining the original line and finishing at a tree belay.
“This variation needs a few pieces of fixed protection, as there were a couple healthy run-outs. Unless you’re comfortable running out M6/D6 I’d hold off for now- within the next six weeks we’re going to return and add an anchor station midway and install some fixed protection. This corner has a few really fun variations in the M5+/M6 range.”
Alpine season in Canada’s west is just starting up for 2019 and we expect to see many more new routes, seeing that the mountains are hardly tapped out.
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