11 Days of Epic Ice Climbs in Remote Quebec

In January 2023, Stas Beskin and Caro Ouellet climbed a difficult new route during an extended backcountry trip to Côte Nord. A new film trailer has been released

Gripped December 30, 2023

Last winter, Stas Beskin and Caro Ouellet visited the remote Rivière-Ste-Marguerite in Côte Nord. They spent 11 days living in a prospector tent below some of Quebec’s most epic long ice routes.

During the trip, they made the first ascent of Never Ending Story, a 175-metre M7 WI6R. They also climbed several other routes, such as Speedy Gonzales, a 180-metre WI6. About Speedy Gonzales, Beskin said, “I don’t understand how is it possible such a line doesn’t see more attention. It’s definitely on pair with Nightmare on wolf Street and Real Big Drip in the Rockies. It’s just out of this world.”

Beskin first tried Never Ending Story in 2018 with Daniel Martian during a trip where they established another huge mixed route on the same wall called Route des Baleines, a 180-metre M9 WI7. “A line of a lifetime,” Beskin said in 2018. “We’ve never climbed anything like this before. It’s 180 metres of challenging and in-your-face climbing from bottom to the top. It has verglas, daggers, blobs, mushrooms, jellyfish, overhangs, a chimney and an offwidth, just name a few features.”

Beskin has released a new film about his and Ouellet’s trip to Côte Nord, watch below.