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Nick Rochacewich Sends New 5.14 in Canmore

This is the closest 5.14 sport route to the town of Canmore

Canmore crusher Nick Rochacewich has made the first ascent of Convenience, a new 5.14 on Water Wall in Grotto Canyon in the Bow Valley.

Rochacewich has been projecting the powerful route on and off in 2020, making short trips into the crag on lunch breaks from work. As the owner of the multi-employee NWR Painting and father of two, Rochacewich has his hands full from sun up to sun down.

Earlier this summer, he climbed The Path 5.14R after a few years of working the classic Sonnie Trotter single-pitch trad line at Back of the Lake. Trotter and Rochacewich are both from Newmarket, Ont. Rochacewich belayed Trotter on his first ascent of Cobra Crack 5.14 trad in Squamish nearly 15 years ago.

I’ve been lucky to have roped-up with Rochacewich many times over the past 20 years, from bolting days on the Windtower and Yamnuska to road trips to Squamish.

I held his rope on the second ascent of Bruce Lee VS the Kiss Army 5.13+R at the Smoke Bluffs in Squamish in 2007 and helped haul bolts up Yamnuska for his bolting mission of the seven-pitch 5.13 Blue Jeans.

If you know Rochacewich, then you know how hard he works, how dedicated he is to his passion and family, and how strong he is.

Before #vanlife was a thing, he was living in his van with his pup Loki, touring around North America sending hard routes and soloing big mountains.

After his send of Convenience, he said, “This is a new climb at Grotto Canyon called Convenience 5.14a-ish. It is the closest 5.14 to town, which was the goal. For all the parents out there that have no time in their lives. I’d run out there on my lunch breaks for two tries at a time. The fact that it was -10 this morning and there was snow everywhere was just icing on the cake.”

Watch a video of the send below and follow Rochacewich on Instagram for hard sends and a lot of high-quality painting advice here.

Convenience

 

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