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Rockies Big New Sport Rigs

A New Nine Pitch 5.12 and New Four Pitch 5.10 Continue the New Routing Trend in Western Canada

The Rockies New Nine Pitch 5.12, Silent Auction
The Rockies New Nine Pitch 5.12, Silent Auction

Yesterday Gripped reported on Centurion, a new six pitch bolted route in Cheakamus, near Squamish. Not to be outdone route developers in the Rockies are hard at work establishing their own big lines.

Two big new sport routes, one 5.12, have been added to the Canadian Rockies, specifically the Bow Valley. The Bow Valley is known for the sport climbs that grace both the canyons and mountain sides.

Greg Tos, Canmore local and route developer, recently finished Silent Auction on Grotto Mountain. Grotto Mountain is the peak north of Canmore that is famous for the crags in Echo Canyon and Bataan. This spring Tos focused his energy in the large canyon east of Echo, on a steep 200m wall. Silent Auction is an impressive 5.12 nine pitch route. The pitches go as follows: P1 5.10, P2 5.12b, P3 5.11b, P4 5.12a, P5 5.11a, P6 5.12a, P7 5.12a, P8 5.11d, P9 5.12a. Greg will be featured in Gripped Magazine later this year.

Cascade Mountain stands as both a landmark and picturesque back drop to downtown Banff. Since the sixties climbers have been exploring Cascades’ lower band of Palliser limestone. The Lost 500 is a new four pitch 5.10 sport route established ground up. Tobias Link and Matthew Breakey climbed the route this June. The Lost 500 refers to the 500 bolts lost in shipping. Christine Mireault and Jenna Nodding are credited for climbing an alternative second pitch. The pitches are as follows: P1 5.9, P2 5.10b, P3 5.8, P4 5.10c. For more information on Lost 500 see here: https://tabvar.org/sites/default/files/TheLost500.pdf

The routes add to the evolving list of varied sport climbs from four to ten pitches along the Bow Valley corridor. A big thanks to route developers for the effort, time and energy poured into cleaning, bolting and trail building.

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