On August 5th, 2020 Choss Boy Daniel Alacoque was featured on CBC's Le TeleJournal Acadie as "Newfoundland's rock climbing expert."
I (Daniel) present the sport of rock climbing in a thrilling video chat interview and photo/video montage with CBC correspondent Mathieu Masse. I am deep into my comfort zone whenever I talk about climbing. Yet, it's always a challenge when I speak in French. Let me know what you think in the comments.
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The Anderson River valley is home to the stunning Steinbok Peak. Two bold (read: dirty and scary) routes go up its nose: the Northeast Buttress (Grade IV, 5.9, A1) and the Edwards-Spagnut (Grade V, mega sandbag 5.10+). The Edwards-Spagnut has only been repeated once in 2007 by Sonnie Trotter, Jon Walsh, and Will Stanhope. Here's a random fact: the summit of Steinbok Peak was used as the setting of the 1992 movie K2 since its gently sloping Southwest face allowed the film crew to hike right up to the summit. Just Northeast of the epic Steinbok Peak lies Ibex Peak and then the conjoined peaks of Les Cornes and Chamois. Les Cornes is the most well-traveled peak in the Anderson Valley because it hosts the Valley's only high-quality modern routes, most notably the Springbok Arete (Grade IV, 5.11a) and it's unfortunately-named variation: the Sprung Cock Erect (SCE). The Valley was an alpine climbing hotspot in the '80s, '90s, and early 2000s because a network of active logging roads and trails led right to the base of the peaks. Currently the Valley is seldom visited because the roads have been decommissioned by the forestry industry. Nick Brown, Nick Hindley, and I (Daniel) planned to stay in the Anderson River Valley from July 5-10, 2020. Our first goal was to climb the Springbok Arete on Les Cornes and our second goal was to attempt an ascent of the Northeast Buttress on Steinbok Peak. July 6th, 2020: “C’mon! Let’s move!” Sverre was motoring through the scree lining the beach of the idyllic Djupfjord near the hamlet of Henningsvær in Lofoten, Norway. I had never seen the Norwegian, typically laconic and soft spoken, move so swiftly. “Those bastards were trying to run past us!” He said. What bastards? There were two climbers who had tried to run ahead of us, he explained, thus claiming their spot ahead of us in cue. He had spotted them just as we were setting off from camp, their heads bobbing up and down above the chest-high grass by the road. Watching Sverre move through the boulders ahead, I could not help but grin at myself. “He’s getting this thing,” I thought. The boulderer is becoming an alpine climber, intent on moving as quickly and lightly as possible. This would be my second ascent of Vagakallen; Sverre, a boulderer from the verdant hills of North Trondelag, was still relatively new to the mountains. The GoPro I had with me practically burned in my pocket. It was a beautiful clear morning and we had arrived the evening before in Sverre’s van with moods as high surrounding peaks and with no agenda except to have fun and challenge ourselves in the mountains. Check out the GoPro edit in the link below! For a more detailed trip report of the North Ridge of Vågakallen, check out the post I made from last year’s ascent. |
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