Topo for Building Gondolin

Found this on my old phone - classic napkin format topo of Evan Guibault's et al's free route, Building Gondolin on Carag Dur.

Eye Candy

A video reel with some Daniels Valley easter eggs (1:45-1:50)  and the stunning crux pitch 10 of  Sacred Stone can be seen at 2:47.


Click here --- >   Wildland Media Demo Reel

FA of Another New Big Wall - Daniels Valley

Evan Guilbault and Colin Landeck put a route up in the Daniels this past summer. That's two walls climbed now, could be the beginning of something...


From Evan Guibault's FB.


"If you would have told me two weeks ago that I was about to put up a 5000ft technical rock route, I probably would have shyly smiled while my eyes scanned the horizon and gently changed the subject. This topo validates years and years of vision honed in the mythical Coast Range, my home. Sacred Stone exists; a dream that is real. 27 pitches of dream climbing. 1600 metres, 5250 ft....I'm ready for more."

"BEEEEAUUUUTIFUL BIG WALLS!!!! Young Stokemaster Colin Landeck & myself have just returned from the adventure of our lives. 11 days in literal heaven on earth...paradise; 5 days on the Big Stone; 3 days of continuous, perfect, magic flow ascending a stone no others had ever before...1600m (5250 feet) of technical rock climbing brought us to the summit of The Super Unknown, one of multiple gargantuan granite big walls in the Daniels River Valley. Thank you to all my loved ones for all your support, the power of vision cannot be underestimated, the Super Unknown goes. Climbed in 27 large pitches, Over 20 of 27 being FIVE STAR ***** Free climbing GLORY. Zero bolts were installed on this ascent, they aren't needed. Nothing in my life has ever brought me higher. The trails are built, the line is up, the stoke is high.
FA:
SACRED STONE VI 5.10 A1 1600m 
The Super Unknown
Daniels River Valley
Aug 10, 2017."

Heading towards the Amphitheatre

Bug net beta

Massive First Ascent in the Daniels Valley

Travis Foster and Drew Leiterman made the first ascent of a massive wall in the Daniels Valley recently. The wall is called Red Alert, and they named the route Jungle is Massive - 5.10 C2, 25 very long pitches.
 To say the least, this is a pretty amazing ascent.

Check out Gripped's coverage, and a write up in Powell River Living for more

info.http://gripped.com/news/massive-new-big-wall-climbed-powell-river/


http://prliving.ca/rock-climbers-make-first-ascent-massive-wall/

Powell River's Hardest Climb

  Late Bloomer - 12.C, is now the most difficult single pitch climb in PR.  

Travis Foster of Cranbrook  recently came through town and hopped on my open project at Higgy Land. Naturally, I had to link up with him, pysched to have someone to work a project with. Over a few sessions, beta was refined, stoke was high and we made some solid links getting it down to two sections.

 Travis made quick progress, and likely could have snagged the FA before me but was gracious enough to hold back and allow me to send  first. He styled the second ascent the very next session despite it being 25+ degrees out.

The route has two back to back boulder problems and is guarded by a very pumpy final crux. The movement is outstanding -  and the natural line is an obvious stand out. It's definitely got my vote for the best route in the area, and not just because it's the hardest.
 Drew Leiterman , who is in town to join an expedition to the Daniels valley, took some beautiful shots the other day you can check out below (low res versions).
 
  Travis, Drew, and Squamish crusher Stu Smith are currently off on a 6 week quest  to  attempt to climb one of the biggest unclimbed granite walls outside of Baffin Island - right in Powell River's back yard. This wall has been whispered about for years...now the word is out and it may finally see its first ascent. This could potentially put Powell River on the map as a big wall destination. Even though the Daniels valley is very isolated...it's nowhere near as isolated as somewhere like Baffin.
Stoked to catch up with them when they're back - follow Drew on instagram - Drewmagoo66 - as he's sure to have a ton of rad photos to share.

Phone photo of Travis on the first crux.

Me in the roof.

Me on the second crux.

Photo I snapped of Drew giving it a go.

New Area in the Eldred - The Sanctuary - Single Pitch Boulders

Lots of scrubbing has been going on across the river at 32 mile. Matt Hodgson discovered this area a few seasons ago, and has now put in a cable crossing. There's lots of mini single pitch cracks as well as potential for good bouldering, likely many highballs. Here's some photos of some of the lines.  So far about 20 crack lines have been discovered averaging in the 12m range. 

Matt H on Culture Shock. Cleaned by Evan and Zoe, FA by Kris Mutafov

A much longer than it looks in the photo hands traverse. Got pump?

Highball, route, or both?

Jesse Taplin Sends 3 Projects in B Branch

Jesse Taplin of Victoria visited the Eldred recently and made quick work of three open projects. The grades are from V7 to V9 ish.


Heres a video a quick power problem on the Communication boulder. Starts as for Doobie Sloth but moves right instead of left.

Video of Jesse finding the proper beta for the project on the back of the Azul boulder (which he graded around V8) can be seen here.

He also climbed the overhanging triangular boulder just up the trail (adjacent to the Tank boulder) which I had only tried a few times before abandoning due to a tweaked knee. I never thought much of it but I'm told that it climbs as good as any top 100 Squamish problem and is in the V7 range.

Updates will be published in the final bouldering guide - which I'll upload for sale online.

New Moderate Route on Carag Dur - Building Gondolin 5.11a

Evan Guilbault and crew have managed to push a route to the top of Carag Dur on the far right of the wall. Being on the far right the elevation is much lower, this route tallies up to only 5 pitches which will make for a great casual day out. 
 The first pitch was put up many years ago but had since grown over (along with a few other pitches in the vicinity). It's great to see this revival and hopefully it will open up the possibility of more routes on either side. 
Though Christie Dionne is working on a free route on the far left of the wall, for now this is the only route to summit Carag Dur since a young Matt Maddaloni aided straight up the middle of the wall with a friend back in '99!

From Evan's Facebook:

Eleven months later, and one more project is ticked. Thanks to everyone who helped out with this one. Colin Landeck, Evan Porter-Lockhart, Zoe Manson, Max Merkin, & Travis Foster and to the OG's who came before us.

BUILDING GONDOLIN II 5.11a, 5 pitches, 240m, FA: June 12, 2017

2nd route on Caragdur to summit ground up, first since 1999! THE line for any 10+/11- trad climber in The Valley looking for those sweet sweet splitter cracks. Easy approach, incredible varied climbing, cracks, dihedrals, pumpy, stacked and ready to go.

---------------------------------------

Route info can be found here:
https://www.mountainproject.com/v/building-gondol…/112076968

Approach time 45 minutes, follow the carag dur trail to the wall and just keep going right until you see it. Hard to miss the first pitch as it's the obviously cleaned splitter.

As of now it still needs some cleaning, specifically the final 5.9 pitch. A topo will be posted on the sign board in camp when available.

This is sure to be a classic and will hopefully get a lot of traffic.

Much Scrubbing

Last season, Evan Guibalt, Zoe Manson and crew have been taking the valley by storm, cleaning new boulders, new routes, discovering entirely new walls, retro scrubbing classic multi pitch, linking big alpine ridge traverses, and getting in on some clean alpine trad action. Much more to come from this super psyched crew of youngsters.

Zoe cranking some perfect alpine granite in the Emerald valley. One valley over, accessed via the Emma Lake hut. A committing approach, multi day outing, but is sure to be a top notch adventure zone awaiting many FAs. 

A clean as can be highball (or will it be a route?) on the Carag Dur side of the Eldred river. 

Eldred Valley Bouldering Guide Download

 Here's a treat for the new year. I'm very psyched to bring you A PDF excerpt of the Eldred section from the upcoming guide book. I'll release the Stillwater section when I can- and now that I've been able to connect with local stone master Rob Richards, who is pretty much a walking guide book when his memory is jogged, many of the original names and history of the area can finally be included.

 It may not look like much, but this took far more time and effort than you might think. Starting a guide from scratch means a lot of things. It means hiking around and drawing maps (which are refined over and over), taking photos, lots and lots of editing, learning to use an open-source publishing soft-ware because I can't afford to pay for one, taking the time to seek out the history of the area and not rushing things (more will be included in the full guide), and of course, scrubbing and climbing everything. I have scrubbed and or climbed every single problem in this guide, and that of course was the best part of all.

 It would mean a lot if you could donate any amount to the cause - it will either go towards bolts for routes, gear for trail work, or publishing costs for a completed guide.

The except can be downloaded here - Eldred Valley Bouldering - Excerpt 

Donations can be made with the donation tab on the right side-bar.  In person beers are welcomed, especially if I see you in the valley.

Low quality sneak peaks at the cover and back-cover:
                     

A mini online version can be seen here (not as updated as the full link)
Mini Online Version by Christie Dionne

Enjoy!!