Beta on climbing in NewFoundland

Below is a story that was published on a few blogs about Tom Lanagan's and my trip to ice climb in New Foundland. Here I thought I might provide a little beta on how to go about getting there and sending yourself.

1000' routes above 10 mile pond

I will firstly say that while a ton of climbing has been done up there it has been intentionally not published.  This has been done so that the adventure aspect of climbing the Newfie is preserved.  Here I am going to attempt to do nothing to detract from that, rather just give a little beta on how to get yourself to Newfie and huck your meat into the deep end of the pool.

While I would think that there is ice climbing all over New Foundland, we were based in and super successful in Rock Harbor.  Getting there was an adventure in itself. We started our drive in Portland, Main after a few days of climbing in New England. From Portland we drove North up the 95 to the boarder with New Brunkswick, then took the 2 across New Brunswick out to Nova Scotia where it turns into the 105 and eventually ends up in North Sydney.

From North Sydney it is a over night ride to the island of New Foundland with Marine Atlantic. This ride is advertised as 9 hours but can be super variable based on the seas. I think it took us about 10.5 hours and I heard all sort of horror stories of the boat being stuck out of harbor for 24+ hours due to high seas.  

On the boat you can rent a cabin or just crash in the chairs provided. We just crashed and it was pretty sweet. Having a cabin would be more sweet... The boats are super nice with wifi and food. 

The ferry lands in St Johns. There is a Tim Hortons there. This is an excellent first stop on New Foundland as their coffee is some of the strongest found anywhere on this planet. 

Then it is an easy 3.5 hour drive north to the town of Rocky Harbour. 

We stayed in Gros Morne Cabins, they were awesome accommodations and super cool folks. We brought over most of our food so we were able to cook meals there and sit out bad weather while watching Archer and drinking G&T's.

When the weather was good... 

We called Walt.

Walt is the owner of a local restaurant. He's easy to track down just ask around for him. Rocky Harbour is really quite during the winter, folks will be able to track him down pretty easily.

Let him know that your looking to climb in 10 mile pond (the fjord) and he will be able to dial you in with a ride on his sled. It takes about 45 minutes to get out there and the routes are huge obvious and amazing... 

I'll stop there.

It's rad out there. 

Put on your big kid pants and make it happen :)

Happy Graham having just finally gotten to the climbing!

Other notes:

-There are other folks out there who can give you a ride into the pond but Walt has the most experience and is a supremely awesome fella.)

-While things have not been published there are very few FA's left to be done, this is a great place to go and release yourself of the FA ego boost shenanigans and just fall in love with grade 6 ice all over again.

-While it is cold up there it is also low elevation (you're essentially starting at sea level) and the ocean so close keeps thing a little bit reasonable. We experienced temps in the range of 5-20 degrees F with high humidity.

-Skis were nice for getting around but snowshoes would totally work. 

-Cell phones work up there but make sure and get a Canada Plan...

-We always brought supplies (stove,extra food layers) to hang out for a while in the pond, just in case. 

Newfoundland Ice climbing

The flat landscape of Nova Scotia flew by at 120 kph and I could feel the ocean closing in around us as we ran out of land. In front of us lay the Eastern tip of the mainland, we were headed out into the North Atlantic, in search of frozen waterfalls.

The island of New Foundland, (New F'nland, to the locals), lies off the Eastern seaboard of Canada far enough to warrant it's own time zone. It is a land lashed by huge storms and carved by ancient glaciers that have left deep fjords in hard granite. During the depths of winter, huge frozen waterfalls form down the walls of these fjords, falling vertically for hundreds of meters in wild matrices of curtains, pillars and smears. Tom and I were on a mission to explore these elusive and tantalizing features.

The Amazing Cholesterol Wall in 10 mile pond 

A day prior, we were hunkered down in a comfortable cabin in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont, experiencing beautiful climbs a few miles away at Lake Willoughby. The thought of departing on a voyage to the far east of the Americas sounded just as intimidating as the routes we expected to find there. Finally managing to peel ourselves from the comfort and warmth of the cabin an hour later than planned, we began our journey, hoping that commitment to the project would wash away the pre journey doubts and fears.

30 hours of travel via car and boat, and a night spent in the cozy little town of Rocky Harbor found us on our way into the 10 mile pond. We knew that the pond (local name for the large land-locked fjords) was frozen and contained big routes, but we knew little else. Once again we found ourselves in a comfortable cabin. Once again we felt the doubts and fears of the unknown laying ahead heightened by the comfort of our surroundings. So, we turned up the heat, sipped another whiskey and set the alarm for 6am.

Pillers next to the sea

I am a man of the mountains and crags. These are elements of geography that I understand. My understanding of water is far less intimate, making the idea of the oceans and frozen fjords very intimidating. That night, I slept fitfully and woke to make coffee long before the alarm rang.

In the morning caught a ride with Walt, the local ambassador to alpinists, on his snowmobile. A storm surrounded us with a thick fog as we headed into the fjord. Then, as we moved onto the frozen expanse, I was shocked to feel the ice below us break away. Walt gunned the engine and moved us further out onto the thicker ice. He was unfazed; I was gripped.

Walt dropped us off on the frozen fjord and wished us well; he would return in the evening to take us back to town. Clag and snow surrounded us and we could see nothing of the walls above. In our minds they loomed huge and steep.

Looking out into the Gulf of St Laurence 

Fortunately, not long after Walt pulled away, the clouds began to clear and we were greeted by some of the wildest features either of us has ever seen. What lay before us was what we later learned to bedeemed the “Cholesterol Wall.” Dozens of 1000-foot vertical ice routes poured over a half kilometer section of cliff. The routes were as big and bad as we had imagined. Committed to the process, we began the approach up the hill.

With our first swings into the route, our fears and intimidations washed away. We were fit and dialed; the climbing felt amazing. Once again I was on familiar terrain and was immediately pleased we had made the journey.

By mid afternoon we were on top of the wall after climbing a beautiful combination of sustained thin smears, over hanging mushrooms, and vertical pillars. The weather was clear and we monkey called across the fjord. Rapping down, we excitedly discussed the vast possibilities of the ice climbing around us. At the base Walt was waiting. He took us back to town where we sipped whiskey and stoked on the fact that we had a week remaining to climb.

Alpine Ninja, Tommy below the lighthouse

The next few days found us sampling another Newfie specialty. Eighty kph winds blew off the Straight of St Laurence, bringing heavy snow and huge waves. Tom and I spent hours watching the ocean, amazed by it's furious power, very happy to have the warmth and shelter of our little cabin on the shore.

During this time, we were also joined by our friends Alden and Ryan who, having spend significant time in the area, were able to share with us some of the route names and additional areas to explore in the future.

A boat in town.

Over the course of the next week the weather cleared and we climbed two more big routes, both of them sustained and beautiful. The last ascent was 200m up a steep coulior to the base of smear on the lefthand wall. Two pitches of wildly overhanging mushrooms led back to lower angle ice where we ditched the ropes and carried on the top. On top of the route we walked around on the flat expanse that madeup the highlands of the island. Frozen grass and small rock outcroppings lay as far as the eye could see.

Our trip North was an outstanding success. We successfully committed ourselves to the adventure and in it had found clarity of movement. Our anticipation and anxiety leading into our first climb gave way to the ideal adventure, without o dramas, or problems. Only beautiful climbing in a remote and otherworldly landscape.

New Film: Revival in the Waddington

A story of injury and recovery in the mountains.

----------

In June of 2011 I was crushed by falling ice while climbing in New Zealand.

14 months later in August of 2012 I returned to the big mountains with good friends Scott Bennett, Blake Herrington and Forest Woodward. We headed to the gorgeous Waddington Range of British Columbia where we found near perfect weather and amazing rock walls.

This film attempts to portray the frustration of that injury and the joy of returning to the mountains.

Producer/Director - Graham Zimmerman
Director of Photography - Forest Woodward (forestwoodward.com)
Camera hands -
Forest Woodward (forestwoodward.com/)
Graham Zimmerman
Blake Herrington
Scott Bennett
Nick Neiman

Music by
Onward Ect.
reverbnation.com/onwardetc
CliffChild
soundcloud.com/cliffchild
Grants from the American Alpine Club and the New Zealand Alpine Club helped make this trip happen.
americanalpineclub.org/
alpineclub.org.nz/
Huge thanks to those guys along with my sponsors:
Outdoor Research (outdoorresearch.com)
Boreal Boots (e-boreal.com)
Julbo Sunglasses (julbousa.com)
Second Ascent Seattle (secondascent.com)
CiloGear (cilogear.com)

Climbing Classics in the North Cascades

Scotty climbing in the Enchantments (Photo by Blake Herrington)

As an person and as an alpinist I identify heavily with the Northwest.  For many reason; I grew up there, I started climbing there and my permanent address remains there. But despite this my climbing in the Pacific Northwest has been fairly limited. I cut my teeth in the mountains of my birthplace, New Zealand and have been since using Seattle as a refueling station for trips to many other places. 

The one exception to this has been climbing at Washington Pass where I have spent a lot of time over the years with my man Ian Nicholson, climbing routes for his Supertopo guidebook to the area which is just about to be released and NEEDS to be checked out. 

But this past year I was treated to a couple of months based out of Seattle and Leavenworth which allowed me to climb many a classics on which I had been keen for years but had never had the time. 

These months have confirmed my sneaking suspicion that climbing in the PNW kicks ass. The winter alpine routes while fickle are amazing, the rock routes around Leavenworth are supreme, beautiful, steep lines on gorgeous white and grey granite and as I said before the routes at WA Pass continue to blow my mind. This is not to mention many areas in the North Cascades where I have spent little to no time or the beautiful rock climbing right over the boarder in Squamish and the Cathedral Lakes area. 

Below is a list of some of my favorite routes in the area, with a little information.

We'll start out up at WA Pass, if your looking for more beta on these routes I'll reference you HERE to check out the new guide. 

WA Pass

-Kearne-Thomas, West face of Kangaroo (III, 5.11)

One of the longer walks in the area but on some of the best stone, a grungy 5.7 pitch takes you to a splitter offwidth and onto some incredible finger crack climbing.  Walking to this route also allows you to bear witness to the impressive central west face of Kangaroo…

Beautiful OW climbing on Kangaroo (photo by Ian Nicholson)

-The Passenger, South Face of South Early Winters Spire (III, 5.12a)

Beautiful climbing on a gorgeous wall, bite sized pitches keep it manageable and rad climbing will keep you happy as a clam. 

-Beckey/Klewin, Direct SE Buttress of South Early Winters Spire (III, 5.11)

This route is a combination of super fun 5.8 corners and great 5.11 face climbing (aka bolt ladders that go easily at A0).

Low on The Passanger (Photo by Ian Nicholson)

-Liberty Crack, East Face of The Liberty Bell (IV 5.11, C2). 

THE CLASSIC of WA Pass. I hadn't climbed it until this year. Undoubtedly deserving of it's place on the 50 classics of NA. Also on this face is A Thin Red Line which I aided back in the day but now goes free at 5.12b and is meant to be MEGA.

Beautiful climbing on Liberty Crack (Photo by Mash)

Moving down to the Stuart Range around Leavenworth…

-Complete North Ridge of Mt Stuart (IV, 5.9)

Another of the 50 classics that I had not climbed until a few months ago, it is supreme, gorgeous clean climbing along an extremely aesthetic crest of granite. The complete adds a lot to the climb and is super worthwhile. Up high on the route the classic gendarme pitches offer high exposure on splitter cracks. A must do.

Jumping around on the N Ridge of Stu (Photo by Scott Bennett)

-'Dragons of Eden', North Face of Dragontail Peak (IV, 5.12a)

A modern classic, beautiful, technical and difficult pitches separated by great ledges. The headwall can be climbed in one huge 68m pitch, a proud ropelength. It's all capped off by a 2000' of easy ridge climbing to the summit crest.

-'Der Sportsman', South Face of Prussik (III 5.11+)

Another one on the modern classics list. Sitting above the gorgeous enchantment lakes this striking route offers some rad in your face climbing on incredible granite. There are also a couple of 5.9 routes to the right which are meant to be really great.

Beautiful Prussik Peak (Photo by Scott Bennett)

-East Face of Colchuck Balanced Rock

I had the pleasure of following Scotty and Blake up this wall via a new variation between Let it Burn (IV 5.12a) and the normal West Face (IV 5.11+) called Accendo Lunae. This wall offers amazing rock, amazing movement and some fantastic exposure high above Colchuck lake. Any of the routes on this wall look super worthy.

-'The Valkerie', Spineless Prow (III 5.10)

Blake Scott and I put this route up last season. This wall also holds the classic 'Acid Baby' (III 5.10). These two routes seem to be some of the best 5.10 offerings in the area. Sustained splitters that protect beautifully with an easy descent. All that a kid could want in an alpine route. 

Scott climbing on the Valkerie

-'Triple Couliors' North Face of Drangontail Peak (IV WI3, 5.8)

Rad mixed climbing up a rad wall. Lots of moderate ground with a few short cruxes. Very very fun. There are all sorts of other amazing looking mixed opportunities on this wall. I would very much like to head back over there during the winter and take a peak. 

Back across on the West side…

Scraping around on the N Face of Snoqualmie
(photo by Dan Hilden)

-The North Face of Snoqualmie Peak

Hidden behind a ridge, out of sight from the 90 this 1200ft face has some great routes. Last winter I went up there intending to do the classic NY gully but ended up on another route called LA express instead. The whole face it seems goes at about M6 and offers great climbing on everything from splitter frozen chose to frozen turf to even a bit of ice if your lucky. A great resource for alpinists in Seattle to train on.

INDEX. 

To put it simply, one of the top granite climbing area in the States. 

It's steep, sustained and splitter. 

There are so many more routes that I am keen to huck my meat at in this area but it will just take another year with some time in the area. I had expected that I might be able to spend some time in WA and feel satisfied with my time there but alas I am only looking forward to my next stint there even more.

Enjoy folks!

Ian Nicholson and I in Yosemite. Check out his new book!

Reflections on the Waddington

Sitting on a boulder I look out over the Coast Range of British Columbia. I am wearing only shorts, no shirt and no shoes, a get up unfit for most any establishment, let alone the Waddington Range. The sun is shining and has been for days, the weather is incredible. 

Over the past few years I have spent a lot of time in the big mountains and in turn have spent heaps of time pinned down in a tent. I am amazed to say that on this recent round, there was none of this. During two weeks in the Waddington range with Scott, Blake and Forest we only had two days with weather disturbed enough that we thought better of going climbing. 

We were able to totally exhaust ourselves on the beautiful mountains surrounding the Tiedemann Glacier. 

We had amazing time. 

The Waddington range offers world class rock climbing in a superb big mountain setting. Our friend Mikey had told us that it is akin to the Karakorum just way closer to Seattle. Having never been to Pakistan I cannot speak to this directly, but I will say that the faces and peaks of this area are bigger and wilder than I have seen anywhere else in North America outside of AK.

Based out of the Sunny Knob basecamp we opened new routes on 2 gorgeous faces in the Stiletto Group.  Both the SW face of the Blade and Stiletto Peak had routes established on their periphery and had both been attempted in the past. We were super pumped to find passage up the middle of these gorgeous walls. 

The Blade required a couple moves of aid, that will go free in the easier side of 5.12 and Stiletto went down at easy 5.11. They were both sustained, had amazing rock and rad climbing that stayed guarded and never felt guaranteed till the summit was reached. 

We also had the opportunity to send the Skywalk Arete on the periphery of Mt Combatant. This route has a hell of a reputation as one of the best alpine rock routes around and it did not disappoint.

With a range like this so close to home it is assured that I'll be back and I very much look forward to it. 

There's a film from the trip in the works, but in the meantime here are some photographs. 

Huge thanks to OR, Boreal, Sterling Ropes, CiloGear and Julbo for they're support. These guys help us make it happen by providing us some of the best kit that the industry has to offer. 

Also the AAC and the NZAC, who both provided us funding. These organizations kill it. We are so psyched to be able to be a part of them. 

Bobbin' & Weavin'

Looking out over little Bavaria from the coffee shop... moisture permeating everything not under a roof. Reworking plans, getting psyched on the life, getting caffeinated.



The past weeks out here in Leavenworth have been a whirlwind. Great climbing in the Stuart range and on local crag and boulders. Running around with my amazing lady in Seattle. Watching our plans for Pakistan slowly dematerialize in front of our eyes as the days passed. Getting amped on other objectives with less political shenanigans.

We have scored a few spells of excellent weather and in them we have been having a good old time in the hills. Heading up with clear skies above Scott Blake and I rallied the North Ridge of Stuart. It had just enough snow to make it feel a little alpine but not enough to create any dramas.

Specific Beta... lower ridge was all dry and clean, fantastic climbing! The 'slab pitch' was covered in snow but still pretty easy in approach shoes and with a single axe. The 1st pitch of the Gendarme was wet and icy, the rest was dry. There is still some snow up high but not too much and there are now steps through all of it.

The next day we headed up to Asgard Pass. We had the intention of running lap on Acid Baby but instead decided to attempt a new line to its left. We ended up finding quite a gem. With some traffic it has potential become another 5.10 classic of the stuart range (there is certainly a little cleaning that could still take place...). Great crack climbing, great protection, amazing position.  Below is a topo with beta that Blake put together and a few other photos from the climb. Get out there and give another ascent!

Were back to the mountains tomorrow. Will report in again soon. 

In the mean time, I've started having a good ol' time with Instagram. 

Yes, on that bandwagon, YEARs late.

Handle = grahamzimmerman