A Return to Sender Story
High Society
My first trip to Mount Nemo was in 2003 and it was a memorable one. I visited the five-kilometre-long west-facing crag when I was a Golden Horseshoe resident. I’ve always had a special place in my heart for the limestone along the escarpment. I had just returned from a trip to Val-David in Quebec. We drove out for a week of climbing on ancient granite. The climbs were harder than I thought but by the end of the trip I’d climb a few 5.11s. My goal during my inaugural Nemo visit was nothing more than to onsight the steep and storied High Society.
If you’re unfamiliar with this classic pocket route, it was established top-down and first climbed in the early 1980s by David Smart at 5.10d. It was shortly after Smart added a bolt on rappel to his climb Moby Fly at Cow Crag. At the time, bolting on rappel was frowned upon, but Smart was ahead of his time. Canadian author Chic Scott mentioned the bolting in his book
on page 291. He wrote, “Following Smart’s climb disparaging articles appeared in club newsletters, the traditionalists threatening to remove the bolt. In retrospect it all seems a little silly considering the route was barely 10 metres high. Not long after, another Smart creation called High Society increased the controversy. It was the same clash of attitudes that was happening across North America at the time. For several years there was tremendous resistance to the new approach, but Smart persevered and eventually the top down, pre-bolted route became the norm. In fact, it could be argued that Smart was one of the first Ontario climbers who considered the local crags to be an end in themselves than just training for bigger routes elsewhere.”
The first time I read that, I just had to see what all the fuss was about. After all, it was almost two decades earlier and climbing had come so far. I assumed because I had climbed a few 5.11s that it would be a gimme. The climb starts up a scrambling corner, which was more committing than it appeared. You “scramble” up to reach Morphine Ledge. It’s an exciting and fun start to such a steep bolted wall. From the ledge, you head up the corner before tick-tac-toeing up the face. I managed to gain the wall and start up the fun “jugs.” Near the top I was hit with a deep f lash pump. I tried to shake it off, but there was no chance. I looked up, so close to the anchors. I was hoping someone would look over the edge at the top hold out a bottle of water and pour it on me. The heat of the day added to my pumpy situation.
I made a few desperate grabs upwards and pitched off. I didn’t onsight it and I was too pumped to try again. We walked down the crag and passed the numbered markers at the base. They’re there in case someone falls from the top and needs to call for a rescue. The rescuers will ask what marker is nearby and head there to cart you out.
I moved from the Toronto area that year and didn’t return until this summer. I never expected to be back at the base of High Society, but fate would have it that I returned. My Nemo-area friends urged me to give it another try. After all, I had 13 years more experience. So I made the casual approach through the forest and down the trail to the base. I racked up with some nuts and cams for the lower “scramble.” I brought my partner up and readied for the 17- bolt, 30- metre adventure.
The bolts are a little spaced in parts, about three times as far as you’d find in a climbing gym. It wakes you up. As I moved up the wall I thought about the decades of history that route had been part of. It’s been featured in guidebooks, been talked about in pubs around Canada and had been the focal point of controversy. I didn’t get pumped and I clipped the anchor. I tip my hat to those route developers of the early days who were thinking ahead of their time.
Next on the list is Christina’s World, another Smart route but at the hard grade of 5.12d. Found at Old Baldy, it took 14 days during the first ascent to send. Local Leslie Timms said, “Old Baldy is also home to my favourite route in the Beaver Valley: Christina’s World, a long, steep and exposed 5.12d.” I wonder how many times I’ll have to return to sender.
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