Just a quick note that I'm happy to report that my friend David Lussier of Summit Mountain Guides and I have finished off a new alpine route on Mt. Asgard in the Valhalla range in the Southern Selkirks close to Nelson, BC. We started the route last summer, and got to within 2 pitches of the top but got shut down due to weather. We were lucky enough to find some time this summer to get back in there to finish it off. We did the route ground up drilling on lead and at times using pitons. We're still choosing a name, and working on preparing a proper topo for the route.
This time we were able to straighten out the lower section which included an awesome new arete pitch down low on the route. I think this pitch is one of the rare alpine pitches where I've found myself heel hooking to pull the crux!
Overall the route is on excellent rock with a mixture of bolts and gear, all the stations have 2 bolt anchors except pitch 4 which is a bomber trad anchor.
The crux pitch of the route has one bolt low down, but the crux is all on gear.
The only low point I had on the trip was on our second day when I arrived at the base of the wall to find my new climbing shoes had been munched on by a packrat!!! Not fun on a day where we were worried about just trying to finish the route, but with a bit of jerry rigging I was able to climb and lead again.
You can see the full set of photos here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/genuineguidegear/sets/72157627340956036/
route summary:
7 pitches, 250m - 11c/d IV
pitches go at:
9,10d,10a,9,11a,11b,11c/d
FA David Lussier, Cam Shute. July 24, 2011.
