Nicholas Carroll Sends Titan 5.14a at Lion’s Head
The classic Ontario route is his first at the grade
Nicholas Carroll, 27, sent Titan 5.14a at Lion’s Head this week for his first of the grade. The test-piece limestone sport route took the Guelph climber about two and a half months to redpoint.
“I was living in Lion’s Head for all of August and only seriously committed to trying the last two weeks of my trip,” said Caroll who’s been climbing for about five years.
“The hardest move for me was a dead point to a sloppey crimp. But the red point crux ended up being at the very top. It was so reachy for me that I had drop my right pinkie on a crimp just to make the span and couldn’t even full crimp the hold.”
Carroll, who’s currently working Déjà Vu 5.14a in southern Ontario, has also climbed The Man in Me 5.13d, Nostalgia 5.13d, Grey Matter 5.13c, First Love 5.13c, Maxi Pista 5.13c and Drive Train 5.13c.
Titan, which was first climbed by Sonnie Trotter as the first 5.14 in Ontario, was also recently sent by Toronto climber Lucas Uchica.
Titan is found on Titan Wall, which hosts some of the longest and most impressive routes at the cliff. The wall has asy access and a good concentration of hard routes.
Lion’s Head has some of the best technical rock climbing in eastern Canada with high quality rock, big exposure and great views of Georgian Bay.
Despite some chilly nights, the weather in southern Ontario will be warm at the start of November which will give local climbers a few more weeks to send this year’s projects.
Gracey Williamson
In summer 2019, Gracey Williamson repeated Big Kahuna at Lion’s Head. The vertical 5.13d was first climbed by legendary climber Jerry Moffatt in 1994 and is considered a test-piece at the grade.
“She worked it for a year,” said Gracey’s father, top local climber Greg Williamson after her send.
“She fell at the last bolt at the end of the season last fall then had to wait until now for it to be dry and have good conditions again.” Watch below.
Siegrist at Lion’s Head
In 2014, American 5.15 climber Jon Siegrist visited Lion’s Head, watch some highlights below.
