Climb Eastern Canada

by **Fred** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 9:53 pm

I'm going to be in Halifax on Saturday. I'll be going to Main Face on Saturday (sorry Zig, the Woods sounds fun too but I like my rope

).

I'm open to route recommendations. Anything gear or sport as long as it's not a death route. Here are some routes I'm thinking of. Comments please.

Popcorn 5.6
Itchy and Scratchy 5.8
Oskar 5.9+
Black Rose 5.10d
Mr Puff 5.9
Sleeper 5.7

I'm looking to climb Nova Scotia's finest.

by **tracstarr** » Wed Oct 26, 2005 6:53 am

definatly my new one.... Skinny Dippin 5.10dish

by **Fred** » Wed Oct 26, 2005 8:02 am

how can I find it? Is it a trad route?

by **Stevo** » Wed Oct 26, 2005 8:31 am

Popcorn: Classic first pitch, rest not nearly as good. Best to finish on last pitch of Mainline, 5.7, a well protected jam crack.

Itchy and Scratchy: Good pitch, 5.8 leaders have been known to complain of sparse protection but the placements are bombproof.

Oskar: Really only one move, not three star route, above the head gear.

Black Rose: Classic, sustained and strenuous and well protected, but probably sopping wet right now, needs a week of dry weather at least.

Mr Puff: Excellent sustained pitch, 5.8 with maybe a 5.9 move, reasonable gear

Sleeper: Ok but not great route. Well protected straightforward.

Other suggestions:

Out of the Doldrums is excellent and well protected with interesting cruxes at around 5.10b. You may get second ascent.
Enchantment is a great long pitch, 5.9. Gear is reasonable but needs a steady leader. Crux is a hanging layback flake right at the top.

Cheers
Steve

by **Fred** » Wed Oct 26, 2005 8:35 am

tell me more about "out of the doldrums"
sounds interesting. Crack, face, offwidth? Where is the gear relative to the cruxes? Is it a bomber piece 6ft below ya or more where the cruxes are?

I'm stoked to check this place out. Hopefuly change my opinion of NS Rope a little. Hope to see some of you out there on Saturday.

by **Fred** » Wed Oct 26, 2005 8:36 am

oh! and is it listed in the guidebook?

by **Scooter** » Wed Oct 26, 2005 9:10 am

enchantment in the E-Gully is sweet. It has lots of cool moves and a bit of everything really. it goes at 5.9

by **Stevo** » Wed Oct 26, 2005 9:31 am

Out of the Doldrums is a clean line up the dihedral in the face left of Itchy and Scratchy. Starts up an overhanging but easy layback to a small ledge. Move left to a steep finger crack (Takes # 1.0 or #0.5 Wild Country Friends or equiv.) and pull up onto face. When crack ends, pull hard up slightly left then back right on good but wide spaced holds (first crux) to gain bottom of R facing dihedral. Youre leaving the gear behind a little but holds improve. Climb dihedral (easy, 5.7) to overhang near top of crag, good gear available. I remember a # 4 or 5 Rock on wire in a cunning placement right in the middle of the overhang. Pull over overhang (second crux, blind moves) to gain a hand crack, easy ground and the top.

Hope all that beta doesn't taint your on-sight!
Cheers
Steve

by **Stevo** » Wed Oct 26, 2005 9:37 am

Oh and it is in the guidebook, in fact there is also a picture of yours truly on first ascent! (back in the days when I was a decent climber)

Cheers

by **Fred** » Wed Oct 26, 2005 9:38 am

lets call it blowing the whiper instead of blowing the onsight :wink:

I'm stoked

by **Stevo** » Wed Oct 26, 2005 10:31 am

If you really want to climb on Nova Scotia's finest rock though, go to First Face.
I'm trying to organise a crew for Main Face at the weekend, Sunday is the best looking day, but if it turns out to be Sat. I'd be happy to show you around.

Steve

by **Fred** » Wed Oct 26, 2005 11:17 am

I think I've been to First Face. Is that where "... Blue Mining" is? Bolted overhanging arete route. I hope Main FAce is better.

We'll likely be going to Main Face.

by **Nate** » Thu Oct 27, 2005 9:41 pm

Does Enchantment go straight up at the start or are you supposed to go around that flake thingy?? And can i get a ride out with somebody if there is a crew headed out saturday or sunday
Nate

by **Stevo** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 7:25 am

Hi Nate,
Enchantment starts straight up an open corner, it's the 5.8 trad line just in case you were thinking of another route. All the climbs in E gully sound the same to me.

I'm planning to go out to Mainface on Sat. morning. I can come thru Halifax if you need a ride.

Steve

by **Fred** » Sat Oct 29, 2005 10:20 pm

had a good time at Main Face today. Thanks for the toor Steve and Nate. HOpe to climb with you guys again soon.

peace

by **Nate** » Sun Oct 30, 2005 10:19 am

yeah good to get out on a rope before it gets too cold, feels like I was beaten with a shove in my sleep...soo sore

Nate

by **Nate** » Sun Oct 30, 2005 10:21 am

shovel* (did you say there was an editting thingy on here somewhere fred??)

by **Fred** » Sun Oct 30, 2005 10:40 am

LOL

sounds like you got worked on that 5.10 lead nate. Nice work btw.

cheers

by **chameleon** » Mon Oct 31, 2005 9:14 am

Steve,

Did you send your proj in the e-gully dood?

Was out at First Face with a couple of sport climbers on Saturday and surprise surprise all we did was climb quality cracks! Had fun on your Ghost Dance line. Later I was imagining the awesome power required to climb all of the trad lines there in a day - as we were envisioning a couple of years back....maybe next season huh?

Sean C.

p.s. didn't see any smoking vicars

by **Stevo** » Mon Oct 31, 2005 10:58 am

Hi Sean,

Nooo it was green and dripping - think I've blown my chances for doing it this year. I was so sick about 3 weeks ago, psyched up, perfect weather, belayers organised, dry rock, - then my car broke down that morning so I couldn't make it.

Maybe next year before we do all the trad lines on F.F. in one day! Glad to hear you had a good day, were the lines dry ??

cheers
Steve

by **chameleon** » Mon Oct 31, 2005 11:58 am

Ghost Dance was dry as a bone and the left side of the cliff was dry as well. Black Diamand was seeping a bit, but we ventured up it. The Snakeskin wall was also seeping - which was strange since it hadn't rained for a few days. By the end of the day most of it had evaporated though.

Bummer about the car.

Sean.

by **chameleon** » Tue Nov 01, 2005 8:47 am

Fred,

Which routes did you get to sample at Main Face?
The lichen and moss didn't freak you out did it?

Sean C

by **Fred** » Tue Nov 01, 2005 9:28 am

We did Itchy and Scratchy, then the 5.9+ up a vertical crack just right of it. AFter that we did a 5.10d trad route on the wall just right of Meet Grinder up vertical cracks. Felt more like 5.10a. After that we went way right and did a 5.8 (very poor gear) that took us up to a ledge where Keith's new route was and an open book on the right. The new sport route was great. Probably the most solid and consistant route on the cliff and the longest too. The open book was nice but it's too bad there was a jog before the dirty crack system above.

All in all... good climbing but I'll probably only go back if I happen to be in the area.

I don't mind a dirty route once in a while but if a climber who didn't know the area stumbled on this cliff, he'd probably think it was never climbed.

by **Nate** » Thu Nov 03, 2005 8:59 pm

You should climb Ectasy next time your here Fred. It's squeeky clean

Nate

by **Fred** » Fri Nov 04, 2005 8:33 am

Don't get me wrong. It wasn't that dirty. And I DID have a great time climbing some fun routes. Cheers!

I'm stoked to get out there again. I'll probably be in the Halifax area once in a while since I've taken a new job with CBCL Limited based in Halifax and they just opened an office in Fredericton. That's why I was down last weekend. So I"ll probably be up once in a while to climb your/our rocks.

peace dude

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