Story of a Route: Lakshmi

Bataan is a sport climbing crag high up on Grotto Mountain in Canmore, Alberta. It is named after the Bataan Death March of World War II where prisoners of war were forced to march around 100km in terrible conditions and many died. The grueling 1.5 to 2 hour hike to Bataan features very steep terrain totalling 800m of elevation gain. It is a contender for the most difficult approach in the Bow Valley for sport climbing. While much less severe than the actual Bataan Death March, there are rumors of people suffering altitude sickness on the approach. Those who make the trek are rewarded with spectacular views of the valley and fantastic pocketed stone unlike elsewhere in the area.

Lakshmi, 5.13c, at the Eyes of Bataan sector was originally envisioned by Simon Meis who ended up being distracted by other projects and left Lakshmi as an open project. The Eyes of Bataan are named for 2 large caves visible from the road that resemble a set of eyes. Even though the wall is easily seen from Canmore, like many Bow Valley area crags, it took some time and convincing before climbers decided the hike was worth developing the wall.

I first took interest in the route in spring 2013 when I spent a lot of time climbing at Bataan and ticked off a lot of the existing routes there. I saw an experienced climber who shall remain unnamed trying the open project one day and he seemed to enjoy it quite a lot. I saw him trying hard, taking big whips, and wrongfully assumed the route was good to go.

The following spring in 2014, fresh off sending Bunda de Fora, the hardest established route in the Bow Valley at the time, I was on the prowl for new projects and set my sights on Lakshmi.

I was pretty stoked my first go up the route. I didn't have much experience with open projects at the time and like most hard routes I try, my first attempt involved mostly hanging on bolts and trying to look around for holds. About halfway up, I noticed that the bolt I was currently hanging on was a quarter inch bolt. On further inspection I realized that all the bolts were quarter inch bolts and the route was not really safe to be climbed on just yet! (Standard bolts are 3/8 inch or 1/2 inch. Route developers sometimes place 1/4 inch bolts to clip into while attached to a fixed rope but they are not meant to take falls.) I immediately lowered down without scoping out the rest of the route. These days I'm definitely more careful and do more research before hopping on open projects.

I was still pretty psyched about the route though, and quickly consulted with Simon and decided to put some proper bolts in. Shortly afterwards I made the hike up with all my bolting stuff (hammer drill, rope, draws, hammer, bolts, water, and various lighter items). It was spring and there was still a lot of ice and snow to add to the difficulty of the approach. Overall it was probably one of the most strenuous hikes I've ever done. I got about 2/3 finished bolting the route that day. I was able to access the anchor of Lakshmi from the neighbouring route Vishnu, which made it a little bit easier. The two routes share a start up a pillar and route name also comes from being adjacent to Vishnu.

A few days after that, I went up and finished off the bolting and tried the route for the first time. That was also the day these photos were taken. One of the photos from the set ended up being selected to be the cover shot for the Sport Climbs in the Canadian Rockies guidebook. It took another couple sessions after that for me to finish off the first ascent. Lakshmi turned out to be an amazing route and is definitely worth the trek up to Bataan!

All photos by Christian Semm.

Leonidio Greece

Sheena and I spent 3 weeks climbing in Leonidio and Kyparissi, Greece in January and February 2020. I didn't know much about the area when we decided to go and I wasn't sure what to expect, but it was an amazing trip and definitely worth a return visit! Plentiful limestone climbing on unbelievable features in a beautiful coastal mountain setting!

Our attempt at recreating the iconic shot on the cover of the guidebook.

Neromylos 8b+ at Watermill, Kyparissi. Photo by Sheena Hau.

Winter seemed like a perfect time to visit. During our trip we had amazing weather ranging from over 20°C on the hottest days to just under 10°C on the coldest days, making both sun and shade climbing possible. Apparently, it had been a particularly dry season and we were lucky with nearly everything in Leonidio being completely dry. However, we had actually planned to go the previous winter in 2019 but bailed after hearing about extreme wetness in the area.

We stayed in Leonidio and made the drive to Kyparissi a few times during our trip, but the sectors around Kyparissi, particularly Babala, had some wetness and likely do not get in season until spring and fall. I imagine spring and fall would also be great times to visit Leonidio.

Piranha Extension 8b+ at Hada. Photo Sheena Hau.

We flew into Athens, rented a car for a 3.5 hour drive to Leonidio which involves about 10 Euro worth of highway tolls. We had a GPS for the trip which we relied on quite a bit for getting around. Leonidio is also accessible by bus. Knowing a little bit of the Greek language helps but most of the locals speak English with varying levels of proficiency.

Leonidio is a small town but has all the basic services as well as a few climbing shops all within easy walking distance. Walking is a great way to get around town, but having a vehicle opens up a lot more climbing options as most sectors are not within walking distance from Leonidio.

The massive Kokkinovrachos with multipitch routes up to 250m towering over Leonidio.

Upon arrival in Leonidio, it is perhaps more practical to use a scooter as the primary means of transportation as the streets in town are quite narrow and parking at many of the climbing sectors is quite limited. Inside Leonidio, the roads tend to only be large enough for a single vehicle but it is 2 way traffic consisting of pedestrians, bicycles, scooters, cars, and the occasional large truck. There is one larger road bordering the river and mostly we left our car parked there to avoid driving through town.

Gaidura Dura 8b/+ at the tufa filled Twin Caves sector. Photo Sheena Hau.

The climbing itself was amazing! We were drawn to the climbs consisting of huge tufa columns and stalactite drips. We climbed 18 out of the 20 days we were there, climbing at Elona, Hada, Twin Caves, Mars, Watermill, and Babala sectors. We also visited Nifada, Limeri, and La Maison Des Chevres on rest days but did not climb. I climbed about 50 routes with at least one from every grade ranging from 6b+ to 8c and I enjoyed every single one of them. It was pretty easy for me to figure out which climbs I would enjoy due to the giant tufa features.

 Climbing the stalactite blobs at Watermill Sector in Kyparissi. Photo Sheena Hau.

The easiest approach we had was Elona which was basically a 1 minute walk up the road from parking at a cliffside monastery. The longest approach was Babala which was a pleasant 45 minute uphill hike on a very nice path.

All the routes we tried were well bolted. We had an 80m rope which was overkill on most of the routes but necessary for a few routes which were definitely worth doing.

On top of the 60m long 8b Goliath at Elona. Photo Sheena Hau.

The food in Greece is amazing and fairly inexpensive so we chose to eat out every night. We tried a few restaurants in town and they were all great. It's definitely worth exploring the town as some of the less popular establishments are just as good as the popular ones. Our favorite ended up being a small cafe that had amazing gyro pitas!

Greek gyro post climbing fuel!

We went the Airbnb route for our trip but after arriving in town, there seemed to be many options for places to stay either in Leonidio or any of the nearby towns. Still a fairly new area, the rock is still sharp and unpolished, there is a lot of new active route development, and enormous potential for further development. Leonidio is certainly on its way to becoming a major climbing destination.

Evening view of Leonidio from Twin Caves sector.

Story of a Route: Full Nelson

Full Nelson, my arch nemesis route, goes straight through the center of Upper Wall, Acephale in the Bow Valley of Canada. It is the second route I ever bolted, the first hard project I ever bolted, and is lovingly graded 14d by the first and only ascensionist, Alex Megos.

Acephale Upper Wall catching early morning sun before getting shade for the rest of the day. 

Photo by Brett Lantz.

It all started as a joke while hanging out at Acephale one day, when Craig Doram and Peter Nelson (for whom the route is named) suggested I bolt an utterly blank looking section of the wall. I quickly dismissed the idea. It was 2012 and being completely green to developing new routes, I had no idea what I was looking for anyway.

Shortly afterwards, the same section of the wall came into conversation again coincidentally, this time with Lev Pinter, who mentioned he had rappelled the line previously, placed a bolt, but also dismissed the potential for a line. That conversation sparked a genuine interest in me as the presence of an existing bolt made scoping out the line much easier.

Not long after, I rappelled the line myself and was pretty stoked. Everything seemed doable except for one extremely difficult section. But it seemed like there was just enough that it could go.

Hard moves on Full Nelson culminate with a jump to a sloper. Photo by Jeff Lewis.

While I was stoked on the possibility of a route, I was still nervous to actually put bolts in the wall, especially straight up the middle of Upper Wall. I rappelled the route a few more times staring at the holds and the potential, but it was meeting Joe Kinder and his amazing contagious stoke later that summer during his visit to the Bow Valley that convinced me to just go for it.

Lev's original vision of Full Nelson involved sharing a start with Copacabana but right beside was a prominent corner feature just begging to be climbed and so an independent start was bolted. The start of the route is now called Half Nelson at a much more attainable grade.

I haven't spent much time at Acephale in recent years but one day I will be back for Full Nelson.

Photo Jeff Lewis.

After Full Nelson was bolted, it remained largely untouched for awhile as I was getting into the thick of projecting Bunda de Fora which would later be my first 14d. After sending Bunda a year later, I turned my attention to Full Nelson. It was quickly apparent that the route would be hard. It turned out trying to free climb the moves was much harder than simply imagining the sequences while hanging on a fixed rope.

The crux, as I suspected, was hard, maybe impossible. I couldn't touch it, but I was convinced it would go, possibly requiring someone much stronger than me. I continued to climb at Acephale regularly for a number of years, and tried Full Nelson periodically, but never really made much progress on the crux and the route kept it's project status until Alex Megos visited the Bow Valley in 2016.

Alex Megos unlocking the heel hook beta of Full Nelson.

I met Alex on his first day at Acephale. He had already dispatched Bunda de Fora and Kinder Surprise 14c by the time I arrived. In that moment, I decided to offer up Full Nelson. I was curious about what he thought of the climb and if it truly was possible. However, it was not an easy decision for me as at that time my projects were largely closed and I was just beginning to toy with the idea of opening up my projects.

On his first attempt, Alex agreed the crux was hard, possibly impossible. I offered up my ideas of how I thought it might go, with the most promising method involving a very high and aggressive heel hook. After working the crux for quite some time, out of kindness to his belayer, Alex lowered without having done the moves yet, but he was intrigued enough to try again. On his second try, Alex figured out the crux, went to the top, and suggested a possible grade of 15a.

Before his third attempt, he simply stated that if he sent that go, he would grade it 14d. Of course he climbed it third try seemingly effortlessly. I was super inspired watching him send and I knew I had made a good decision giving up the project. That moment really helped me embrace my new and current philosophy that all my projects are always open once the bolting and cleaning is complete. (I still reserve naming rights.)

Trying hard at my max. Photo by Jeff Lewis.

Knowing the route was doable and at a theoretically attainable grade for me, I had renewed passion towards Full Nelson and I managed to do all the moves myself a few weeks later. One main problem I encountered with the right heel hook beta prior to meeting Alex was the lack of a supportive left foot. Alex solved this problem by putting a tick mark on a random spot on the rock and all of a sudden there was a supportive smear foot to support the move.

Usually, I find when I can do all the moves on a route, the send comes shortly after. For me, the 3 hardest moves on Full Nelson are so close to my max limit that I can only do them as single moves and only sometimes. I can't link even one move into them or out of them. I've been putting off Full Nelson, hoping to return stronger one day in order to link these moves but for now Full Nelson continues to sit right in the middle of Upper Wall, awaiting a second ascent, and will surely remain a test piece for years to come.

Circuit Training

I've always climbed regularly at the gym in the winter, but never with any structure. This winter I wanted to change it up and commit to a training regimen. Having never tried it before, I was curious how it would go and what the results would be.

For the most part I still focused on climbing with an emphasis on movement over raw power. This lead me to question what the difference is between climbing and training but I decided the answer is that training is climbing with structure.

I had some specific sport climbing goals in mind and certain muscle groups I needed to strengthen. I've always climbed primarily for fun and wanted to keep my training routine that way which helps me stay psyched and prevent burnout. Circuit training seemed like a good choice for me.

 What's needed is a filled wall at an angle you want to train on.

My circuits consisted of roughly 50 moves. I picked that number for my current purposes and I think it could be adjusted to particular goals. Harder/less moves or easier/more moves etc. With the number of moves in mind, I set circuits that I could just barely not complete, falling off near the end to simulate redpoint attempts on hard power endurance routes. Eventually with repetition, the circuits would feel easier and I would send and it was time to move on to a new circuit.

I focused on harder moves going up, trying to simulate crux sections of particular projects, and easier moves on the down climbing sections. I didn't think it was important to have hard downclimbing moves but interestingly downclimbing skills actually came in handy at the Hurricave. Setting the circuit took a bit of work and tweaking as I wanted to have moves hard enough that I felt I could fall throughout the whole circuit, but I never actually fell until the very end.

Climbing at the Hurricave in Utah. Photo Victor Acevedo.

Circuit training was great for the endurance and power endurance but I felt it was necessary to work on power as well so I incorporated max effort boulder problems prior to doing circuits. It was great to have my wife and main climbing partner, Sheena, who knows my climbing very well to make up problems for me so I could work on my sequencing at the same time.

In between sets I would rest as long as I needed and I also worked in a variety of leg exercises to strengthen my knees and hamstrings. This was for a heel hooking injury I sustained in Australia last spring and also to prepare for grueling Bow Valley approaches.

I ended up training roughly 1 day on 1 day off for 2 one month cycles in between trips as well as taking a month completely off from climbing which I do every year.

Life of Villains gets it's difficulty from a section of about 26 moves of power endurance.

Photo by Tom Moulin.

I'm lucky enough to be able to travel frequently and I still went on 2 trips this winter, both to the Hurricave in southern Utah, a great way to get some early results on my circuit training. The first trip which was after one cycle seemed no different than any other trip but the second trip after a second cycle of training produced incredible results. I felt significantly stronger and had my best trip ever in terms of sending. Perhaps it was just a good trip, or perhaps it was the training. We will see because it's time for outdoor season in the Bow Valley and I'm psyched to get back on my summer projects!

Stoneworks project is another power endurance route. Photo by Niall Hamill.

Story of a Route: Cobalt Gecko

For many years, Cobalt Gecko sat untouched and consisted of nothing more than an anchor and 3 random bolts. Listed as an abandoned project in the guidebook, I knew about the route but had dismissed it as I thought it looked too featureless and unclimbable from the ground. When I finally went up to take a closer look, I was super excited to discover such an amazing line!

Cobalt Gecko at Planet X. Photo by Tim Banfield.

Since 2014, I have "sent the crag" a number of times but every time I start to think I have nothing else to do at Planet X, another route seems to pop up out of nowhere.

Hot Fudge Cream Puff at Planet X. Photo by Brian Garrison.

After completing a number of the existing projects in 2014, I had thought Iron Butterfly would be the last one but it had thwarted my initial attempts. Alex Megos freed Iron Butterfly in 2016 and I was stoked to give it another round of effort this year. Armed with inspiration and good beta from Zak McGurk and Josh Muller, I managed to send it pretty quick.

Zak getting ready for the crux of Iron Butterfly.

While working on Iron Butterfly, I ran into Simon Meis who has done a lot of development work at Planet X and other areas in the Bow Valley. We got into talking about how he had rapped down Cobalt Gecko, placed an anchor, and put in some bolts anywhere he saw a good hold. These are the 3 existing bolts on the route before I finished the bolting. At the time, he decided to walk away from the climb. Knowing that the hardware was at least not completely random, it was enough to peak my interest into looking into the route more.

Initial attempts on Cobalt Gecko. Photo by Sheena Stares.

After finishing up Iron Butterfly, I chose to go ground up on Cobalt Gecko. The bolts Simon had put in made the process incredibly efficient as I was able to stick clip my way up the wall to finish the bolting. I enjoy bolting routes ground up because it gives the same perspective as climbing and the bolts are more likely to be placed in good locations as opposed to rappel bolting which involves more guesswork. Surely enough, as I went up, it seemed there would be enough holds to climb on and I ended up moving the anchor a bit higher as well.

Getting ready to stick clip/lead bolt my way up Cobalt Gecko. Photo by Sheena Stares.

With the bolting complete, I started trying the route. I was incredibly impressed with how Cobalt Gecko turned out. It took me awhile to figure out the beta as it is very technical and I had to use features that didn't seem like they could be holds at first. I'm generally not a fan of slightly off vertical technical climbing but I grew to love this route. Cobalt Gecko is an incredible route and I'm stoked for people to enjoy the climb in the future!

Going for the send on Cobalt Gecko. Photo by Tim Banfield.

The name Cobalt Gecko is themed with Iron Butterfly just beside it. Cobalt is the element to the right of Iron on the periodic table (I am a chemistry tutor). Gecko seemed suitable based on how many times I was pasting my feet on super slick random spots on the wall. With Cobalt Gecko complete, I started taking a closer look at the large expanse of wall between the main area and the Iron Butterfly area and now I think the whole wall could be filled with routes in the future. Last week I finished bolting the next line to the right of Cobalt Gecko. It looks hard but I think it goes!

Bolting the spectacular blue streak to the right of Cobalt Gecko. Photo by Sheena Stares.