Big West Coast North Face Gets First Winter Ascent

Brette Harrington and Marc-Andre Leclerc have made the first winter ascent of the north face of Ledge Mountain on Canada’s West Coast.

Ledge Mountain is a 1,964-metre-high satellite peak of Sky Pilot with steep north and south faces. A long ledge rises up the southeast side and gives the mountain its name.

Yesterday @bretteharrington and I climbed the FWA of the North Face of Ledge above Squamish. It was our second attempt after only making it two pitches up in December. This is the best alpine route I’ve been on in the Sea to Sky by a large margin, hard well protected mixed climbing and Scottish style ice gullies, interspersed with wild moment like campusing through an overhanging snow wave with my tools stuck in sketchy snice. Hard to ask for a better adventure so close to town. #arcteryx #dmmclimbing #julboeyewear

A post shared by Marc-Andre Leclerc (@mdre92) on Feb 11, 2018 at 10:51am PST

The first ascent was in 1912 by Don Munday, Frank Smith and C. Field. The first winter ascent was on Feb. 4, 1961 by Arnold Shives and Glenn Woodsworth via the ledge.

Harrington and Leclerc climbed the snow-covered Walter/Zenger rock route. They attempted the route in winter once before.

On Instagram, Harrington wrote, “Yesterday we climbed the mountain, summiting at 11 p.m. The mid-February temps were chilly on route and the mixed climbing was often very snowy demanding much digging to find proper protection.

“Some chimneys were entirely filled with perfect Nevé, making for some of the best winter alpine climbing I have ever done.”

In January, Harrington and Kieran Brownie made the first winter ascent of Station D with their first winter ascent of Labour Day Buttress in the Slesse Group.

Harrington is currently on the cover of Gripped magazine in a photo by Brownie.

Leclerc has been spending the winter in the Rockies and on the West Coast. In the Rockies, he and Tom Livingstone attempted the first winter ascent of the north face of Ha Ling twice without a summit.

Fist Winter Ascent of Ledge Mountains North Face via the Walter-Zenger summer line. This was @mdre92 and my second attempt at this line, arriving a bit underprepared for the difficulties on our first lap. Yesterday we climbed the mountain, summiting at 11pm. The mid February temps were chilly on route and the mixed climbing was often very snowy demanding much digging to find proper protection. Some chimneys were entirely filled with perfect Nevé, making for some of the best winter alpine climbing I have ever done. @arcteryx @lasportivana @julboeyewearna #alpineclimbing #celebratewild #seatosky #squamishclimbing

A post shared by Brette Harrington (@bretteharrington) on Feb 11, 2018 at 3:07pm PST