One of Squamish’s Premier Sport Crags Gets Another Stellar Line
Connor Runge recently established Spectre del Norte 5.14c on the impeccable Paradise Wall
Photo by: Pim Shaitosa
On Monday July 3, Squamish local Connor Runge made the first ascent of a Spectre del Norte 5.14c (8c+), a new line at the Paradise Wall in Paradise Valley, just outside of Squamish. The route links two of Squamish’s finest sport climbs – Spirit of the West 5.14a and Queen Bee 5.13c – via a hard, runout boulder problem in the middle. Starting on Spirit of the West, the line moves through all of that route’s 5.14 climbing before the boulder problem link into the upper section of Queen Bee.
Runge is originally from 100 Mile House, four and a half hours north of Squamish, an area is known for its hunting, fishing, and slope-style mountain biking. He’s been living in Squamish for three years now, climbing many of the area’s hard classics including Creepshow 5.13d and Killer Queen 5.14b.
Paradise Wall is one of Squamish’s most impressive crags, containing several of the hardest sport climbs in B.C. The wall is relatively new, and has seen several first ascents in recent years. The first two lines on the wall, Stewart Hughes’ Queen Bee 5.13c and Tom Wright’s Spirit of the West, were both first ascended in 2015. The following year, Neil Dyer made the FA of The Bee-Side 5.13d, a left exit to Queen Bee. In 2021, Mike Foley opened a Wright project that turned out to be one of the Squamish’s hardest pitches, Spirit Quest 5.14d. It’s a more direct start into the crux of Spirit of the West.
Last year two major lines were established. While on a trip to Squamish, Jonathan Siegrist made the first ascent of Killer Queen 5.14b, a direct ending to Queen Bee first envisioned by Wright. Gabe Lawson also made the first ascent of Young King Dave 5.14c, a line that starts at the far left of the crag and links into the top of Killer Queen.
Runge’s Spectre del Norte is the latest exciting addition to Paradise Wall, and the route joins the very small handful of routes in Squamish graded 5.14c and above. To learn more about his new line, I reached out to Runge with a few questions, which you can read bellow.
How did you get the idea to link Spirit of the West into Queen Bee? I got psyched on the link-up when I was trying Killer Queen with my friend Ben Harnden in May. He had already sent Killer Queen the year before and was thinking about linking Spirit Quest into Killer Queen. That involves the same link boulder problem found on my new route, Spectre del Norte. After I saw him sussing it out, I sent the Killer Queen and began to try it myself.
Is the crux of the route the boulder problem between the two existing lines? Yup, the link boulder problem is the crux of Spectre del Norte. My beta through the crux involves some big moves on small and bad holds with high feet.
Did you add bolts to connect the two routes? If so, how many? There were two (spaced) bolted added on the wall, most likely by Tom Wright. I didn’t add anything to it.
What was the projecting process like? I spent a lot of time on the route and the process was seriously so fun. We had an amazing crew, which almost felt like a team in a way. We were all trying our projects and often would go out on the same days which created a really fun and relaxed atmosphere. As for the process itself, it was special. I was always having a lot of fun because Spirit of the West is just such a good route, and climbing the 5.14 section of Spirit up to three times in a session was just so rad. Big fitness on that rig!
Why the name ‘Spectre del Norte’? I wanted to stick to the theme of the wall (e.g. Spirit of the West or Spirit Quest). Spectre del Norte sounds badass to me – it’s a nod to where I’m from (north of here) as well as a nod to Mexico (a place that’s been important for my climbing).
What’s next for you? Working another line at Paradise Wall? So psyched for at least another month out at Paradise before going to the [Grandwall Bouldering] Co-op gym and the SAC [Squamish Athletic Club] for a training block! Hopefully get a bit stronger before the fall season in Squamish. Then I have some trips planned: me and my friend Sam are headed to Smith in the second half of October, and then we go to Spain for three months!
Feature photo by Pim Shaitosa
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