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Wild New M9 Winter Line in Quebec’s Perce

As Montreal grapples with heavy dumps of snow, ice climbers and skiers and out there pushing big lines and opening new routes.

At the popular ice climbing area Perce, Stas Beskin has reported about a new steep M9 WI5+ climb.

The new funky climb is called The Only Whale on Mars because it climbs next to an older route called Moby Dick and is a new finish to Aller Simple Pour Mars.

In the photo below, Beskin noted that he’s “regaining composure and listening to the ocean after pulling the roof on a new finish of Aller Simple Pour Mars.”

Beskin told Gripped after, “It’s a last pitch variation of Jean Francois Gerard’s Un Aller Simple Pour Mars on Pic de l’aurore.

Heading up The Only Whale on Mars M9 WI5+

“From the last anchors it follows the ice shelf to the right, passes the old anchors of Moby Dick and climbs up rock roof and ice roof into broken free hanging icicle.

“The crux transition into the ice protected on less then perfect tricams.”

The climbs rise above the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the area is the old stomping ground of Guy Lacalle and Joe Josephson.

Lacelle put up the wild column called Grand Délire, at a hard WI5+. Serious climbers will find Canneloni de Curé WI5+, a 150-metre freestanding column, a big challenge to both mind and body.

There are two month of winter left, plenty of time for more new routes.

A post shared by Stas Beskin (@stasbeskin) on

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