In the end of July Tanja and Andrej traveled to the Cirque of the Unclimbables, Logan Mountains, Northwest Territories, Canada. After two hours bush flight form Watson Lake (nearest habituated settlement) they landed on a Glacier lake at the foot of famous granite peaks and spires, situated somewhere in the endless boreal forests and wetlands of the Canadian North. After day spent carrying all the needed equipment and food, they set up base camp on the pristine Ferry meadows in the hart of Cirque. To their surprise there were no other climbers there in twenty days of their stay. Tanja and Andrej try to use all fine weather periods for climbing and, as the weather was surprisingly nice, they climbed a lot! A day after the approach they were on the summit of the most fascinating peak of the area - Lotus Flower Tower, by the classic SE Face (V, 5.11-, 750 m). Their comment: « The route is exceptional, incomparable to any other we did in our long climbing careers!” After another short route on Terrace Tower, The White Tower (III, 5.11, 250 m) they climbed Power of Silence on Middle Huey Spire (V, 5.12c (13a), 400 m). That was the first repeat of last year’s Ines Papert creation. Andrej climbed all pitches free, feeling the crux one is more in the 5.12.b than in 5.13.a range (as graded by Ines). Except the first few pitches the climb was done in heavy rain, but due the overhanging nature of the route, only last ten meters of the route were wet! After period of bad weather the duo continued with Riders on the Storm on East Huey Spire (V, 5.12d, 400 m), Andrej free on sight, and few days later ended successful climbing with Club International on Bustle Tower (V, 5.11b, 600 m).
But than the adventurous part of expedition just started. Tanja and Andrej carried all their stuff together wit inflatable boat (always in two shifts) trough more than 20 km of pristine forests, wetlands and bogs to the scenic Nahanni river. The struggling part of the expedition took four days, with a day of rest because of torrent rain and snowfall in the mountains. The last adventure was paddling down the Nahanni River. After four days of paddling they came to magnificent Virginia falls. Their food and energy reserves were quite low and their desire for more wilderness whitewater decreased. So instead of paddling another 300km to the first road they used the opportunity of incoming plane and flew (escape) out of wilderness.
Last week of their stay in Canada they spent exploring fine sport, trad and alpine climbing, biking and paddling opportunities of Canadian Rockies around Canmore. Some climbing photos: http://grmoclimb.net/?str=502&aid=38
and other Canadian adventures: http://grmoclimb.net/?str=7&aid=50 |
