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.

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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!!

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 of Stillwater Project

On his way back to the ferry, despite days of rain, Tyler Thompson managed to snag the first ascent of the project he had tried earlier on the main boulder in the Bulldozer cluster in Stillwater.

This problem is to the right of The Leprechaun's Wand on the overhanging face - though still a contender for hardest problem in the area as it has yet to see a repeat, they are very different styles. TLW being very technical, this new problem is one huge power move, to a very committing final move.

To start, there is a low right hand undercling, and a left hand on the sloping arete. Smear a foot and gun for the only obvious hold.

He named it Bump Up the Jam, and suggested a grade of V8/9.

Tyler recently sent Black Hole (V11) in Squamish, known for a notoriously hard bump to a tiny crimp - yet said this send involved one of the hardest single moves he's done in a while.

Here's a video!
Bump Up The Jam, V8/9, First Ascent