Primordial Soup is New Rockies Alpine 5.11c on Peyto Tower

Peyto Tower is one of the most stunning rock climbing features on the Icefields Parkway in the Canadian Rockies. Niall Hamill has just added his third new route to the wall and second this year.

He and Ryan Richardson have just completed a new eight-pitch 5.11c they called Primordial Soup, which climbs all new ground above the lower access pitches. The duo climbed an aesthetic dihedral system that rises midway up the wall which they called the Orange Corner.

“In a few places the crack was seeping or caked with oozing or dry mud,” said Hamill. “The roof that caps the Orange Corner was oozing heavily, so instead of climbing it directly, we made an exciting detour out on the arete, gaining the crack above where it was dry.”

Hamill said that if the cracks weren’t seeping, then it would likely “be an all-time classic.” He said the route is a “must-do for the length/grade in the Rockies, especially for crack climbing enthusiasts. It offers a great deal of variety and is very memorable, with stellar positions and mostly very good rock.”

The pitches of Primordial Soup are broken down to 5.10d, 5.10c, 5.11c, 5.10c, 5.10d, 5.9+ and 5.10d. Earlier this year, Hamill and Cory Rogans completed the first ascent of Gravity’s Rainbow 5.12R and last year, Hamill and Grant Stewart made the first ascent of Prairie Gold 5.11c.