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.

BIG news! New Eldred Valley Information Website

Local pioneer Christie Dionne has just published a website with all current route and area info on the Eldred Valley! I also just sent her all the info I have on bouldering in the valley and it will be added shortly. This is a huge step forward in Valley development. I have also heard that the paper guide book (which will be combined with my bouldering guide) should be ready by next season....though of course it's a huge project, so please don't quote me on any actual time line :).

 I've also recently been able to connect with one of the original climbers in Powell River, Robert Richards (who along with Colin Dionne made the first ascent of the West Main Wall). Rob is literally a walking encyclopedia on every square inch of rock ever climbed in the original days of development. With Rob's help I'll finally be able to add the history of bouldering in the area, and add names to problems that were previously climbed to give credit where its due. Things are really moving forward with getting information on the area, and with the climbing gym co-op opening this winter, I really feel like next season is going to be a big one!

View the website here:  http://powellriverrock.wixsite.com/cadmc

First Ascent - West Main Buttress - Eldred Valley

I got back from a great bouldering trip in Squamish to this status update from my buddy Matt Hodgson:

"We started our climb @ 7 am. 
18 hrs later Brent & I we're enjoying the comfort of the ground!
First Ascent of the formerly unclimbed wall, The West Butress
Against The Current, 13 pitches"

Congrats to Matt Hodgson and Brent (last name currently unknown) for getting the FA of the Buttress.I know it took some serious work. This leaves only one wall left in the valley unclimbed - Caradhras.
Hopefully I can get some photos and beta from Matt soon. I've heard the 9th pitch was 'another overhanging off width' - sounds pretty rad! Ill post updates when I can.

The climbing in the Eldred Valley has started to gain momentum. The first few low angle slab pitches of this route will serve as an approach to the head wall, where many more climbs await.

Eldred Valley Camping Trip

The historical FCA (first chihuahua ascent) of Log Jam (V1) 

 Now that the climbing season is in full swing, I'll be posting a lot more sporadically. I work 4 days on at a Kayak place way out in Okeover arm, near Desolation Sound marine park, and camp near by. For my 4 days off I'll of course be climbing, so I'll mostly be living out of a tent for the rest of the summer.

 I was recently in the Eldred with a big group of friends on a camping trip. I learned that after several days of rain, the B branch boulders that are in the woods will still be wet. The exposed boulders were too hot, being baked in 25+ degree heat. We climbed on two of them, then headed to Goat lake to swim all day.


 There's been a massive rock slide on Carag Dur. A chunk of the wall to the right of the arch fell off, leaving an obvious dirty white scar. If you look close, it looks as if someone dragged their giant nails along the wall underneath, leaving behind chalk-board like scratches all the way down. The forest beneath was literally blown apart, and there is a massive cedar graveyard over a section of the trail. It has the appearance of a mini clear cut. The only tree left standing was a rotten dead cedar, which now has a hole blown right through it from shards of rock bombarding it. Thank god no one was on the wall or near the trail when this happened. A humbling reminder of the awesome power of nature.

Rock Scar,  scratches and debris

Carnage - The rock fall blasted a hole right through this cedar

I actually only took my camera out once, to snap a shot of the West Main Buttress' unclimbed vertical wall.  Here's a couple shots to check out. I still haven't hiked to the base of this yet, even though it's not far at all from the road. I've been on the only route on the Buttress, which is to the right, around the apron, which will open up potential to attack other lines on the head wall once it's completed. I have a feeling the vertical wall is going to yield some difficult, high quality climbing,

I'd also like to thank the group of Californians who were in the valley, and donated $40 to go towards supplies for camp! Thanks guys! A new splitting maul will be in the wood shed soon.