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Here's some more from our Canadian Alpine adventurer, Brandon Pullan, just recovering from a serious knee injury he seems to be getting back to form with a new route....
"Richie, I hope your weekend went well. With my knee feeling almost 100% I aimed at climbing a new route in the Gargoyle Valley of the Rockies. We established a route on the mountain last year and it ended up being a 24 hour epic with no food,water and a broken ankle.
This time we went prepared and things went much smoother. We established 'The Gargoyle' on Mt. Louis. It is a 280m new route that eventually climbs into the Kain Route (established by Conrad Kain in 1926) and to the top of the mountain.
It is an amazing route with surprisingly little loose rock in an alpine rock environment. Threatened by thunder showers in the morning we started at 5:30am and finished by 3:00pm. The route connects broken corners and crack systems with 30m runouts on fun and easy rock. The limestone is very water worn, stippled and featured making for great face climbing. I have had my eye on the line for over a year and the weater was finally good to go! I rounded up WIll and we headed in. Both Will and I were surprised at how well the route went.
We climbed the route in blocks. I took the first 4 pitches: 5.8, 5.8, 5.10a, 5.8 and Will took the remaining 3 up the wild corner system at a moderate grade (5.5). The crux pitch has a commiting move that leads into a fantastic crack followed by a 100 foot run out! The route is on the SE buttress of the mountain and sees the sun all day. It is a great warm up route for the summer for us as the season is a late one.
The Gargoyle 5.10a, 280m (600m to summit via Kain Route) FA: Brandon Pullan, WIll Meinen"
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