Photographer profile: Drew Leiterman - And a bunch of new routes

Drew Leiterman has been visiting the PR area for a few seasons now, not just putting up lines in the Daniel's and Eldred valleys, but taking some amazing photos along the way. Here's a few images to get you stoked, and prove that yeah, the rumors you heard are probably true. There's a lot of rock. Follow Drew on Instragram for a ton of great photos @drewmagoo66

Elliot somewhere on The Dude Wall, Super Unknown,  in the immense Daniel's Valley

John enjoying the rain protection at the Cougar Den, West Main Buttress on a beauty 5.9 splitter. 

John on P4 of the new Christel Mushroom, Eldred Valley. 

Travis and Jamie lost in a sea of vert and featured granite on the Y.S.F Wall, West Main Buttress

Sport Climbing? A dyno? New stuff on the West Main Buttress

Elliot P2 Christel Mushroom

Evan throwing down on Middle School, V5/6 ish, Stillwater.

Notes from Drew:

"Christel Mushroom"  is a project on Carag Dur we are currently working on. Travis Foster, Elliot Vercoe, John Mcmahon and myself put a few weeks work on it in June, establishing, cleaning and trying to free 6 of the pitches ground up finding pitches up to 5.12. We left this project at the end of June to go into the DRV, we have plans to continue Christel Mushroom over the rest of this and next season.

The shot of Travis dynoing is "Unprotected Sex" 5.11- sport. 7 bolt sport climb on the Y.S.F wall (Younger. Stronger. Fitter. Wall) of the West Buttress F.A Travis and Drew

The photo of Travis and Jamie cleaning and bolting a new new short sport multi pitch on Y.S.F Wall -unnamed project most likely 5.12. This route will be done before summer is over. Some of the coolest granite I have ever seen.

There is also a pic of John Mcmahon climbing "beautiful nightmare" 5.9 in the Cougar Den put up by Christie I think.

In the DVR (Daniel's) we had machete accidents, multi day rain storms, and eventually ran out of food, but not before we climbed 840m up the north face of Super Unknown on a route we dubbed "Dude Wall" 5.10 A3, so far with a party of 4 - Travis Foster, John Mcmahon, Elliot Vercoe, Drew Leiterman.

New Route Info Page!

Powell River is infamous for having a lack of information on its climbing. With a new guide book coming out soon, this page will serve as place to find updates and new route info. Like any guide book, by time it is published there will already be new routes that weren't recorded.
New route info found here! Click the link below

New Route Info Powell River

http://prclimbing.blogspot.ca/p/new-routes.html

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.

Just some pretty pics

View from top of moss mountain, just outside the bulldozer boulders. Stillwater

Anna on Appetite for Destruction 5.10 Higgy Land

Psyche Slab - The Most Developed Wall in the Valley * Updated

The most accessible wall in the valley, it's host to 15 free multi pitch routes (from 3 to 12 pitches), and 2 single pitch routes. Pysche Slab is by far the most developed, most climbed wall in the valley. Due to it being a slab, though at times near vertical, it lends itself to easy to (mostly) moderate free climbing. 

Mika on the awesome first pitch of RacknoPhobia

You'll also notice that the view on the slab is stunning. The West Main Wall and Carag Dur protrude in the background.

Beer Ledge - Scattered Conditions (Credit John W.) - Carag Dur in back

Detailed route info as posted on the sign heading into the climber's camp:

From left to right:

SRI - 5.10 

Day Pass  - 5.7


Sanitarium - 5.9

Skitsophrenia - 5.10 *** A must do!

Racknophobia - 5.11

Never Never Land - 5.11b

Solstice  - 5.10

Trailer Park boys - ? (A steeper crack system start to the right of Solstice...I think, but don't take my word for it) 

 The next 3 routes start on an alcove up a very steep trail that branches left directly off the main trail

Pyscho Path - 5.10

White Dykes and Dirt Barbies - 5.9

Decoy - 5.10b

Scattered Conditons  5.11d or 5.11-A0   - *Not in photo, between Decoy and Falkland Crisis. Starts on a very low angle slab just passed the steep Psychopath trail, at the time of writing this too dirty to climb but the next few pitches look fine.  Could traverse in from WDandDB.  Topo found here: Scattered Conditions Topo

The Falkland Crisis - 5.9+  - This early line climbs the strikingly obvious dihedral feature in the middle of the slab, just right of Scattered Conditions. Although I'd like to try and clean it this season, it is currently completely grown over and best avoided. 

Delusional Reality - 10.d   (Hard to find, you've gotta know what you're looking for to find the access pitch which is very bushed in)

Check out Mountain Project for some topos of the routes.  (Warning: Topos may not be up to date or entirely accurate, use your best judgement)

Comfortable shoes that are good for smearing are highly recommended, unless you're a total masochist of course.

 Since the current guide book is over 10 years old and 90% of the routes aren't in it, it's understandable that there is little traffic. Many routes are vegetated or mossed over, particularly in the lower pitches. Once you get passed this (or find a cleaner route, - keep looking, they're there!) the climbing is top notch.  Bringing a brush is always a good idea - be a good sport and scrub on your rap down!

Newly Established 10.D at On The Fritz

John Rapp recently got the first ascent of a line he bolted at On The Fritz.

From his FB post: "Super spicy lead with ten feet between the bolts at the second crux. 5.10d 25m, a classic sport climb that involves a huge variety of moves, pumpy but has good rest".

 The route is called Clobber Globber, and from what I remember, the name came from an encounter with Fritz when he showed John and a friend his home made bug spray concoction. "You clobber them in the air, and then you globber them on the ground!" - I may not be quoting directly.

Props to John for putting up what sounds like a classic, and keeping it bold.

Update - I went and climbed this, and it is now possibly my favourite sport pitch in town. This is definitely worth the walk in even though there are only 2 routes currently - even if this were the only one there it would still be worth going to.

John Rapp leading Clobber Globber, 10.d 

Higgy Land: New Routes

 I bolted a much looked at line at the Frayed End (or Rippin Area) at Higgy Land on Saturday April 18th. It's up for grabs, seeing as I won't get a chance to try to red point it for probably a few months. I rope soloed all the sections, but didn't link it, and had to leave town the next day. It felt in the 12.c range, but it's hard to say without linking everything on lead.

Drilling in the roof! 

  The line pulls through the big roof smack in the middle of the wall (first crux), continues up though the brown streak on crimps, blocks, a pinch, under cling, and a sloper, then thins out before the final and hardest crux right after the last bolt. You end up pulling up hard on a weird uneven left hand crimp and a paper thin micro crimp for your right hand. Super quality, especially for Higgy Land where rock can be loose (random foot chips are likely to still break around the roof, but the main foot hold is rock solid)

The awkward first bolt

Although I haven't officially done the FA yet, I don't mind if anyone else wants to get on it and do it - however, I'd like the name to be reserved for Late Bloomer.
 The name comes from the fact that to me it's the most obvious line in the area, and is only being put up now. Also, the fact that I've started going back to school late in life, so it's kind of a tribute for those two things coming together.

Tracy patiently belaying/being pulled into the air as I bolt the final few (I needed a belayer for positioning in the roof I couldn't do solo)

Late Bloomer - Project

 Over last season, I retro bolted 3 other routes and one old trad line was given a more direct mixed variation.

 Tweaky Face (5.10d?) (old guide gives a 10+, felt like at least a 10.d) Very fun route, definitely a must do.  The zig zag nature of the start makes it awkward to clean on rappel, probably easier if someone seconds it.

F*** I Love It (5.10b?) already had an anchor and a few bolts, but you couldn't get a piece of gear in until half way up the route, so it was basically a free solo that saw little to no traffic at all. The old book says 5.11 and "Much harder than it looks!" - though I found it pretty easy. It's 5.9 until a very straight forward crux, and then more like 5.8 until the end. The crux is bouldery, though the route in it's entirety I would say isn't harder than 10.b  It was given 3 stars, though in my opinion it's not very interesting. Top half is run out, but easy.

Gotta Like It (5.9) Starts the same as the above but veers left to follow the more obvious crack/rail feature, and is a much better route despite only getting one star in the old book.
 I had to space the bolts out a bit due to the nature of the rock, but it adds to the excitement. The crux is tricky, with very poor friction slopers. After a break on a ledge, the last half climbs slightly over-hanging edges before a final yet easier crux.
 Shared anchor with F-I love It (use a long draw on the last bolt to make it easier to clean)

Whatever Pal (Variation?) (5.8) - Mixed, a few mid sized cams. This is an awesome route! It has all kinds of interesting climbing in it, and though you could easily veer off route at a few spots, the natural direct line is the best. You can also traverse right towards the end to finish on Whatever (5.8) to change things up a little. Shared anchor.

Three First Ascents in 3 Days

The heat wave is over, and cooler temps means crushing temps. On Saturday, July 19th, Matt Hodgson got the FFA (first free ascent) of the infamous Dunamis, Lake Blufs, suggesting a possible grade of  5.11.D.  I was hoping to be able to take photos of the FFA but ended up being on belay instead.

 Matt also cleaned a new route to the immediate right, and realizing it was well within his ability, decided to free solo it before ever tying in.  I've heard rumors that this was also a nude ascent....No comment. Suggested grade of 5.10 or 5.9   This brings a whole new meaning to the idea of a 'free' ascent. The route is called Nuts in Honey, luckily there were no accidental nut placements or I don't think it would count as a free ascent...

 Today I made the FFA (after doing it on TR before bolting) of my long standing project 'Falling Up' (5.12.c?)  This route had a lot of personal value for me, for a number of reasons. It was the first route I ever bolted, meaning the bolts aren't all in the most ideal places, but most importantly it was a route I bolted under the guidance of Colin Dionne.

I fell from the final few moves, way back in 2010 when the route went up, on the last day of my season. I moved to the city, and pretty much stopped climbing seriously for the next few years. The route was never named, though during Colin's celebration of life ceremony, I heard that the term "Falling Up" was something Colin used to refer to. Aside from the obvious euphemism for climbing, it was also a term for relating to the challenges of life. Sometimes you fall down, but sometimes what seems bad ends up teaching you something valuable, sometimes it's for the best, sometimes, it feels like you fall up.

 The route sheds a lot of rock. At the time, I wasn't thinking about rock quality, I just wanted to put up something hard that hadn't been done. The last time I tried it I broke a key foot hold, and even on the FA I broke a hand hold but was able to stay on. As much as I'd love to say it's a 4 star route, the rock quality just doesn't allow that high of a quality rating. I found it very difficult to grade, and it definitely needs more consensus. There is only one 12.b at Higgyland, which I was able to do fairly quickly after figuring out the crux,  leading me to suggest the slightly harder grade for Falling Up.

Must Do Climbs - Volume 1

Anna working the rail

Instead of doing an area profile of each area in town, which would take a whole lot of time and work and people to photograph - I'm going to do a 'best of' list. This is the kind of project that will probably take several seasons to cover, but, it gives me something fun to constantly have on the back burner.



For the first installment, I'm going with one of my favourite climbs - Knobulator (direct) 5.9

Strechin' out mid route

Located in the Destruction Zone at Higgy land, it's the first climb you come to through the short trail from the parking spot.



This was the first route I ever top-roped, lead, and free soloed. It's also the route that many of my friends, and likely many other local climbers discovered as their first sport climb.  The rock quality is bomber, the opening moves follow a pure sequence, and the direct route through the roof is exposed and mega fun.

A grainy low light shot of Alyssa making the early reachy move

New route going up, and a project going down.

Despite a whole lot of rain over the last few weeks, plenty of climbing has been going on in the area. For starters, here's a video of Matt H sending the John Galt project that was worked on back in 2008, which you can read about here. Matt and I worked the problem last trip up the valley, and he unlocked the beta just before the rain hit. 

New Problem:

First ascent!
Problem: Inverted Academics   Grade: V6 (unconfirmed)   -   Thanks to Anna for the video!

How cool is that massive leg hook? The micro crimps above it would be pretty much useless without such a solid set up.

New Route:
In other news, over the last couple of days I've been working on a new line immediately left of Major Attitude, in the Gappage zone at HiggyLand. The line follows the obvious arête, until it tops out on a ledge just below the end of Major Attitude.
  

Just passed 3/4 way up the line,  instead of following the arête you can go straight up the face to  finish on Major Attitude, and avoid the tricky ending of the new route. Luckily, this slightly easier finish in no way compromises the style of the route, as you still have to turn the final roof of Major Attitude. Both possible finishes are steep and bouldery. 

Grade wise, I'm thinking around 11c, but I'm terrible at grading anything, so who knows.
Hopefully I'll have a chance to bolt it soon, and maybe even get a photo up!

Speaking of photos, here's a random one of Mika sending Prince, before the power lines went in.

Open Boulder Surgery

And here's me cleaning a project in B Branch. Yes - that is a surgical mask that I'm wearing...it does wonders to keep the rock dust and mildew out of your lungs.

New Powell River Sport Climbing Crag - On The Fritz

 A few years ago, a new sport climbing crag in the Powell River area was discovered. One bay passed Higgy Land is 3 Mile Bay,which contains an over hanging calcite streaked basalt wall very similar to The Frayed End at Higgy Land.

  One bolted route is up, and there are TR anchors on another. I just ordered a whole bunch of bolts, hangers, and anchors from MEC, and can't wait for them to arrive so I can start putting up routes. The climbing looks like it will be mostly in the moderate to slightly difficult range.

I've been there after days of rain, and even during rain, due to the angle of the wall it stays remarkably dry. This is a huge positive considering how much rain we get here. (Same numbers of days with rain as Squamish)

A heads up for anyone going there to explore - there were lots of cougar droppings above the crag, so be aware. It's isolated there, and the only person within ear shot is an older fella named Fritz who lives in his floating shack. He's apparently quite the character, and currently the trail goes right through his junk pile, but he has no objections to climbers coming around. Also, since it's further in the bush, the bugs can get pretty heavy.

                                   

Smaller wall at 'Mid Fritz' above the main wall, below the big wall.

 To get there, drive to the end of Sutherland road and make a right when it turns into dirt. There is part of the Sunshine Coast Trail there, so you will see a very obvious trail wide enough to get a good truck down. If you can't drive in, park here and it is about a 10-15 minute walk in.

 Follow the trail for some time until you are able to see the lake, and make a left at the very last fork (if you go straight at this point, you will very shortly be at a beachy area at the lake, Turn around if you hit this area.). If you properly hit the left trail, it will bring you to an old tarp and some junk, the trail to On The Fritz is behind this, and will lead to Fritz' cabin. Just keep following the trail and the crag will be obvious.

 I'm told there's also a very large crag above the main wall with the potential for multi-pitch routes, which I could see the top of but never made the trek through the bush to find the base of.

Sport Climbing: Higgy Land, Powell River - Pushing your personal limit

Skeletons of Society (5.12) -  Photo credit Tara Trigg. 

 Skeletons of society taught me to have a much higher expectation of what I'm capable of.
Specifically, it taught me not to assume I can't climb something just because the grade is above what I think my limit is.  If you don't push yourself beyond your limit, you won't ever raise the bar.

 Many times I've caught myself checking the grade of a problem or route and automatically writing it off, like "Oh I can't climb that, too bad." I see people in the gym and outside so often saying "wow that route/problem looks so rad....but damn Vwhatever / 5.something is beyond me" - but how could you possibly know that without even trying it?

 Here I am, years ago, on my first 'hard' route - Skeletons of Society (5.12). The crag is called Higgy Land and it's Powell River's main sport climbing area. Tara Trigg captured this photo, which looks like I'm climbing hard - though I'm actually just about to fall, only a few moves in. Remember, photos can be deceiving.

 I remember putting SO much work into this route. I almost couldn't believe it when I was finally able to lead this route, it felt like doing a warm up. I went straight from top roping 11s (at best) to trying this 12, and was still generally in the 'beginner' phase of climbing. Attempting this route was a massive leap forward.

  It felt physically impossible at first. I could do a few moves, but was for the most part completely shut down. I didn't even know what to do. Realizing that a few moves were possible though, I was able to deconstruct it into sections and just had fun with working on it, thinking 'Well, if I turn it into 5 or 6 long boulder problems, I can do that, I just need more endurance." It became this epic puzzle of difficult movement, and I fell in love with climbing at my limit.

  After a few sessions, it's amazing how much you're able to accomplish if you push yourself. It wasn't long until I was clipping the chains on lead, though I will admit I pre-hung the draws as my stamina was still weak and my fear of falling on a clip still high. Also, I worked it out on TR first, which gave me the mental breakthrough from 'this is impossible' to 'wow, I just climbed this.'

 After sending this route, as well as the 12+  to the right, I was ready for a new challenge. I started working an unbolted line that went through the far right end of the obvious main roof...

 Expect a post about the new route soon!

Eldred Valley Road Trip 2008

 When I graduated high school, the first thing I did was pack up my gear and move to Squamish. It was pretty much the ideal summer, and lead to meeting a lot of amazing people, climbing every day that I could, and getting my first photo ever published in  Gripped Magazine. The set of photos in this post will be 5 years old by time this year's season kicks off, and are mostly poorly done snap shots - but they bring me back to the first time I ever had the privilege of sharing the first area of the Eldred Valley boulders I started to re-clean with a crew of super fun, equally stoked individuals. The B branch boulders had been partially developed already years ago by Colin, Rob and crew - but had subsequently grown back over. Whenever I brought one of the original developers into the woods to show them my "new" line, they'd say "I think (insert name here) climbed that.....yeah....probably". Since many of the names had been forgotten, the 'first' ascentionist still gets to name the problem, and there's even the chance that it was in fact a legit first ascent - but it never really mattered, in my mind it was still the same feeling. Discovering a new line, cleaning it, working it to see if it goes, then finally sending it.You can't beat that experience. I must have really been hyped, seeing as I was able to talk a crew of people with limited vacation time into actually leaving Squamish for a place they had never even heard of.

 

 Starting off in Squamish, we packed up everything we had but the kitchin sink - I mean kid's pool - and hit the road.

After taking the boat from Horse Shoe bay over to the Sunshine Coast, driving the length of it, and taking another ferry into Saltery Bay, we were feeling the need to stretch our limbs. The Stacks is a seaside high ball area in Stillwater, and since it's between the ferry and my mom's house (where we inevitably crashed at for showers and real food), we headed straight there to take advantage of the last hours of sun. I've spent countless hours at The Stacks over the years, traversing back and forth and soloing the easier problems - just myself, the ocean, and the cool orange-grey granite. When you lay back for a break, all you hear are the waves, and on some days, the sea lion colony on a near by island barking away.

Mica heading up the areas classic hand crack "Meat Grinder". It's graded using the YDS like all the other highballs in the area, as it was primarily a tope rope area first. It's rated a moderate 10c/d, but boulderer beware - the top out is the crux. There are no holds, so be prepared to use your crack climbing technique for the near 20ft top out. I happened to fall topping out and flew over my spotter, and the 3 crash pads we had below, landing feet first on the granite shelf. Miraculously I walked away with nothing more than a bruised ankle, and a slight case of the 'Holy fucks!'

Below left - Ilah styling one of my favourite problems, which I renamed 'new school' (V3) after it became apparent no one knew the name of the problem, or like some of the more bouldery problems in the Eldred - it was never named. When I first started climbing, and Aaron Black was working on his mega project Call of the Granite in the Eldred, I bumped into him at the stacks on one of his 'in town' days. He showed me the line, which he felt was 'new school' compared to the others, and it may have been the first boulder problem above V0 I ever climbed. 

Below right -  Mica near the last move with the ocean a few feet away.

A short walk from The Stacks is the Dead Point, a very technical, short top roping wall that you could high ball...but you would have to deal with a double technical slab finish on the already 20+ft high barely less than vertical slab. If anyone does want to solo this wall, please let me know so I can come take some photos (and evacuate you to the hospital if you fall!)

A seagull joining us for lunch, and Jasmine checking out a more fortunate starfish.











This shot is actually not the same day, but I had to throw it in.  Nothing like a post climb swim to end a perfect day.

We left the next morning after stocking up on supplies for the Eldred Valley. Seeing as this was before I owned any trad gear, and everyone else was on vacation, we didn't have enough gear for multiple party ascents of any of the multi pitch routes. We spent our days exploring the many boulder fields, climbing on the few lines I had established (or re-established) in B-branch, and soaking up  sun beside the emerald green Eldred river.

Static Cling, V4 - The first problem on the first boulder at the entrance to the B Branch boulders. This is one of the well known original lines. Colin suggested the grade of V4, and because of that, this problem became the bench mark standard for all the grades I assigned from then on in the area. It has recently been spray painted "B BRANCH" in big blue letters - so the loggers won't miss the turn I assume.  Not the prettiest thing in the world, but at least you can't miss the area's entrance now...

Below is the John Galt project. (For those of you who haven't read Atlas Shrugged, the name is a reflection of the difficulty to get through it.) I don't know how hard this project will be, but it's definitely beyond my ability for now.

 There were two possible betas we were trying, neither of which felt very possible - but the holds are all there, so it will eventually go. Just over an arm span away from the hand hold Bryden is on is a legitimate jug, which once you've latched, will set you up for what appears to be a dyno to the perfectly flat lip - sans foot hold. It's possible there might be a different Beta, but it will take someone a lot more creative than me to figure out. I kind of hope the no foot dyno is the only way, because come one - how cool would that be?

Above are two shots that remind me how far the cleaning process has come over the years. I can't believe we even tried this problem looking back at how dirty it was. Today it's one of the cleanest lines in the forest - and it has to be, because of the intense smearing needed on your left foot and the bad slopers you desperately slap at. This problem was for sure climbed back in the day, but the name had been forgotten. We re-named it Savage Cling (V4), though it may appear with a different name in the new guide book.




On our last day in town, we headed to Powell Lake to do some sport climbing at Higgy Land. Ilah warming up on the classic 5.9, Knobulator. This route has a lot of sentimental value for me, as it was the first route I ever top roped, lead, and free soloed.




I can't wait to get back to town in May and start sending.