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Cover Photo
Banner photo by Jeff Lewis

Wednesday 10 August 2016

Acephale Topos August 2016

Hard to believe a place like Acephale still requires monthly updates. Here's the latest. I've used what appears to be the consensus grades and these do not necessarily reflect my personal opinion.



Lower Wall Updates based on 2011 Edition of Bow Valley Sport:

The 8 routes on the far left wall had 2m eroded from the base from the 2013 floods.

Keys in the Car: Access via an easy scramble in from the left and climb as before.

Nickel Bag: 2 bolts have been added to protect a hard roof section at the bottom. The first few moves feel significantly harder and probably ups the grade to mid 5.11. Alternately, scramble up and traverse in from the left as per Keys in the Car to bypass the opening crux.

Girl Drink Drunk: Do the direct start of Nickel Bag - does not change the grade.

The Irradicator: The flood revealed some interesting features and adds a few more moves to this climb. Grade unchanged. Bring a stick clip.

Illy Down: The start looks possible but will probably be quite technical and hard. Unknown to me if this has been climbed post flood.

Ice Cream Head: Probably doable by traversing in from Illy Down or Subbacultcha. Unknown to me if this has been climbed post flood.

Ice Cream Head Direct: The flood left a boulder at the base to stand on so this hard climb is largely unaffected. Unknown to me if this has been climbed post flood.

Subbacultcha: A direct start looks doable but difficult. More feasible would be starting slightly to the right and traversing in - may need an extra bolt at the start to facilitate this. Unknown to me if this has been climbed post flood.

On the main wall, it looks like 2 link up bolts have been added between Neoconstructionist and Where's Mom. I'm not sure what this linkup is.

New route Nyctophobia, 13a, 9 bolts, 20m. Just to the right of Last Dance.

New route Last Stop 305 Bus, 10 bolts, 20m. Shares the first 2 bolts on Nyctophobia before heading right. 2 fixed chain draws. Should be good to go, better confirm with JD before getting on this.

New route Nitro, 12c, 15 bolts, 35m? Just right of Lose Yourself at the Junction. I did this with a 70m rope and had tons of rope left. I think a 60m is fine. To the right of Nitro is another project.

Alex Megos sending and clipping the chains on Full Nelson, the latest 5.14d in Canada
and solidifying Acephale as the hardest wall in Canada.

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