JANUARY
On the heels of being named National Geographic’s Adventurer of the Year for 2014, Canmore’s Will Gadd kicked off 2015 in the grandest – and most viral – of style by climbing a mostly frozen section of Niagara Falls, the first person to do so legally and, more notably, on lead. Belayed and seconded by Canmore ice climber and ACMG alpine guide Sarah Hueniken, Gadd rated the route a wet and noisy WI6.
Canmore skimo racer Michelle Katchur-Roberts finished third in the 2015 Dogtooth Dash Canadian Ski Mountaineering Championships at Kicking Horse Mountain Resort in Golden, B.C., securing her spot on the Canadian national team to compete at the 2015 ISMF World Championships in Verbier, Switzerland.
FEBRUARY
Canmore climber Becca Frangos took top spot in the women’s junior category at the Canadian National Youth Bouldering Competition in Burlington, Ont. Bow Valley climber Simon Yamamoto came third in the youth A boys category.
MARCH
Michelle Katchur-Roberts took advantage of ideal temperatures, bluebird skies and fresh powder on the downhill to win the women’s category at the Ken Jones Classic Ski Mountaineering race at Lake Louise Ski Resort.
APRIL
Canadian Rockies big mountain skier Trevor Sexsmith partnered with Ian Button to make the first ski descent of the northwest face of 3,562-metre Goodsir South Tower, which he followed up the next day with a solo first ski descent of the West Couloir on Goodsir Centre Tower (Rae Peak).
The Rockies’ classic alpine route, The Wild Thing on the north face of Mount Chephren, saw its first Japanese ascent by the dynamic duo of Yamada Toshiyuki and Takeshi Tani.
MAY
With support from the 2014 John Lauchlan Award, Rockies’ alpinists Jay Mills, Eamonn Walsh and Carl Diehl made three first ascents in a remote corner of the Yukon’s Kluane Mountains, including the North Ridge of the Wiesshorn (III), and a peak east of Mount Kennedy, as well as an easier first ascent of a straightforward glacier/snow route, all accomplished after dangerous conditions steered them away from their original more challenging objectives.
JUNE
On his home turf of Ha Ling peak above Canmore, Jay Mills climbed two big new routes on the mountain’s northwest face: Whatever Floats Your Goat, climbed with Steph Kish, and a second route, Mills/Irwin, with fellow ACMG alpine guide, Banff ’s Kris Irwin.
JULY
Sponsored by the Jen Higgins Memorial Fund through the Alpine Club of Canada, Rockies climbers Anna Smith and Michelle Kadatz climbed two world-class routes in remote Baffin Island; the Scott Route on 2,015-metre Mount Asgard (25 pitches, 5.11) and the 650 m, 5.10+ South Buttress route on Mount Loki, likely just the second free ascent.
AUGUST
Teams of professionals and skilled volunteers worked through hot sun, wet snow and blowing wind and hail to build the Alpine Club of Canada’s newest hut, the Louise and Richard Guy Hut, located on a rocky saddle above the des Poilus Glacier. The winter use only hut will provide shelter for skiers traversing the Wapta Icefields area between the ACC’s Bow and Stanley Mitchell huts – not to mention some turns on Mont des Poilus.
SEPTEMBER
Veteran IFMGA/ACMG Mountain Guide Pierre Lemire was announced as the recipient of the 2015 Summit of Excellence Award, a respected honour presented annually at the Banff Mountain Film Festival to recognize an individual who has made a significant contribution to mountain life in the Canadian Rockies. Beyond his contributions to the guiding community, Lemire was recognized for his exquisite black and white photography.
OCTOBER
Sarah Hueniken captured third place at the 2015 Red Bull White Cliffs competition, where climbers ascended the overhanging chalk cliffs at Scratchell’s Bay on the Isle of Wight. She was the only Canadian to make the podium.
Canmore’s Jay Mills added another first ascent to his year, climbing a new big alpine mixed route on the north face of Banff National Park’s Storm Mountain with Rockies master Ian Welsted and Maarten Van Haeren. They named the route Canoeing to Cuba in honour of former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau’s attempt to visit Fidel Castro in Cuba travelling by canoe.
NOVEMBER
Rockies alpinist, IFMGA/ACMG mountain guide and frequent contributor to the Canadian Alpine Journal and numerous climbing magazines, Barry Blanchard added a new star to his resume with his being award the high-calibre Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature for his alternately soulful, raucous, emotionally charged and highly adventurous memoir, The Calling.
DECEMBER
Canmore-based Sarah Hueniken wrapped up her year by raising the bar for female climbers, becoming the first North American woman to climb the extremely difficult grade of M14, which she accomplished by being the first female to climb the testpiece route The Mustang P-51 at The Fang Amphitheatre in East Vail, Colorado.
