Wolves and Monster WI6+ Ice Climbed in Northern Quebec

Quebec has some of Canada’s biggest and most remote ice climbing, and three climbers just established three new routes up to 170 metres using a helicopter to access.

Jean-Philippe Bélanger, Yan Mongrain and Charles Roberge were handed some photos by Héli-Boréal helicopter pilot Michel Séguin that showed some massive ice climbs 120 kilometres north of Sept-Îles at Haute-Moisie not far from the border of Newfoundland/Labrador. Haute-Moisie is northwest of Nipissis and Le mur de 51, where climbers have been visiting for decades. Read about a new-routing trip to Nipissis in 2016 here.

The flight for Bélanger, Mongrain and Roberge to reach camp took 45 minutes. The heli landed in an area where a recent wildfire had burned acres of forest. After landing, they pitched their large tent and lit a fire.

Their first objective was a three-pitch climb 500 metres south of camp. They found brittle ice and overall difficult conditions. On the last pitch, they spotted four wolves that had noticed the noise of the climbers. They called the 180-metre route Patte Blanche WI5 and realized that given the cold conditions they’d have to wait to attempt the most obvious, steep route outside of their tent.

The second night brought temps down to -30C and a lot of howling wolves. The three climbers became very aware that the wolves were nearby and in the morning found paw prints close to the tent. In the morning they snowshoed through dense forest to another ice flow, which wasn’t fully formed so they hiked out and toward yet another big frozen unclimbed wall. They called it La Tanière, a 170-metre WI5, which had sustained climbing. Mongrain then rested in camp while Bélanger and Roberge checked out the mega project.

On the morning of the fourth day, they awoke to warmer temperatures and approached the main objective. The intimidating climb followed three pitches of steep, three-dimensional ice through roofs and along pillars. Bélanger, Mongrain and Roberge called it Maïkan, which translates to wolf, a 150-metre WI6+. They then put their headlamps, descended and flew home. For more photos from the trip, visit here.

In 2014, Jasmin Fauteux wrote about an trip to Quebec`s Côte-Nord region where he and Roberge climbed the 220-metre Capteur de Reve WI5. “Tales of friends telling me how dangerous and thin the ice can be had us deciding not to venture onto it,” said Fauteux. “I decided to go have a look anyway, not my proudest moment, but returned with the good news. The climb was the most esthetic line any of us had ever seen. All the belays were hanging and our calves were sore for days. The climb of a life-time.” Read the story here.