50 Pitches, 78 km, 1 Day: Beaver Valley Epic

A 50-Pitch, 78 km, Selfpropelled Mission in Beaver Valley

The early wake-up call was just the beginning of “the eager beaver challenge,” a plan to do a lot of climbs at multiple crags self-powered, in a day. Dustin Johnston-jewell and Elan Marko woke up at 3 a.m. on Sat. July 13, 2019, in a friend’s cottage in Kimberley, a small town in Beaver Valley. The rather arbitrary challenge was simple: each climber must climb all the sport routes 5.9+ and under at the four major Beaver Valley crags with no outside support in under 24 hours. The routes were based on those listed in Ontario Rock Climbing: The Best Of Southern Ontario Climbing Guidebook. The four major Beaver Valley crags being Old Baldy, Metcalfe Rock, The Swamp and Devil’s Glen are part of the Niagara Escarpment, a limestone outcrop that meanders across southern Ontario from Niagara Falls to Tobermory.

In order to be entirely self-powered and time-efficient, they cycled between the crags, parked their bikes at the trailhead and ran to the base of the cliffs, all while carrying their gear. For the climbing portion, “multi-pitch climbing” rules were applied: the first climber would lead the route and the second climber would follow and clean the route on toprope.

The original concept of the challenge came from Amir Fishman (local climbing guide) and James Howell, friends of Dustin and Elan’s. Dustin and Elan further defined the challenge, establishing the rules that would dictate the self-supported style, and began to plan the Eager Beaver in 2016 at a climber’s pub night. A few beers deep, the two sat at a poorly lit table in the basement of a bar in downtown Toronto, and wrote down all the sport routes 5.9+ and lower; they had their list. To get an idea for the amount of time it would take, the pair spent a day at Mount Nemo, a limestone cliff just outside of Toronto, climbing 30 pitches in eight hours. With a rate of approximately 16 minutes a pitch, the team calculated that it would take slightly over 13 hours to climb all the routes in the Beaver Valley. Add in about 70ish kilometres of hilly cycling, a few kilometres per crag to run in and out, and a slower pace due to fatigue, and the sub-24 hour goal seemed quite attainable.

Speed and 24-hour endurance challenges are nothing new in the world of sports; especially in climbing. Yosemite in particular holds a long history with speed and 24-hour climbing challenges; some made famous by pros, such as Tommy Caldwell, Libby Sauter, and the little-known Alex Honnold. Let’s be clear, Dustin and Elan are committed weekend warriors, and do not hold sauce in comparison to these rock elites. But, perhaps like their rock heros, Dustin and Elan love a good challenge and the idea of some type-2 fun in their own backyard.

At 4:07 a.m., they started jogging from the Old Baldy parking lot to the base of the cliff. The parking lot would be the start and finish line to their challenge. It was dark when the two set off, having only their headlamps to light the way. Both carried with

them a small pack filled with gear, food (mostly bars and gels) and two litres of water. The plan was to use natural springs at Metcalfe Rock and Devil’s Glen to refill their water. To save weight and space, a photocopy printout of the relevant guidebook pages was used for wayfinding.

“When we started, the stoke was pretty high,” said Dustin. “We’d eaten an enormous breakfast, including bacon, eggs, toast and more bacon, taking an adage from obstacle training course pro and all around badass, Ryan Atikins, that it’s better to carry food in your stomach than in a pack.”

By 5 a.m., their climbing and photographer friend Will Tam showed up at the top of the cliff just in time to take pictures of their last route at Old Baldy. They ran back to the parking lot to load their bikes and ride to Metcalfe Rock. They made make great time when they left Old Baldy, but there were still many challenges. For example, the country roads between Old Baldy and Metcalfe Rock had been freshly resurfaced with gravel making for a grueling and inefficient first ride of the day.

Every decision in their challenge was made intentionally, such as: choosing the gravel road to go from Old Baldy to Metcalfe Rock instead of an alternative paved road saved the two over 20 km of biking and more than 20 minutes. Similarly, the order of the crags – going from Old Baldy to Metcalfe Rock, Swamp, finishing

Metcalfe Rock has the highest concentration of sub 5.10 climbs (19 pitches) of all the Beaver Valley crags.

at Devil’s Glen and biking back to Old Baldy, was chosen to save the easier and longer cycling for the end; completing the busier crags early in the morning before the weekend crowds arrived; and to make the most out of the natural springs for refilling water.

At 6:17 a.m., Dustin and Elan locked their bikes to the signage board in the Metcalfe Rock parking lot and began their run into the crag. Along the way to the cliff, the two dropped off their empty water bottles at the natural springs which they would use to fill up on their way out. One trick to staying hydrated during their challenge was to drink water while belaying using a backpack filled with a water bladder; that way both hands were still on the rope and their thirst could be quenched. They also carried water on their bikes, drinking while riding between the cliffs.

Metcalfe Rock has the highest concentration of sub 5.10 climbs (19 pitches) of all the Beaver Valley crags. Additionally, because of the easy approach, access to the top of the cliff, and high volume of moderate routes, Metcalfe Rock is a popular crag for guiding companies and hikers, making it a very busy place on summer weekends.

Finishing this crag before the guiding companies arrived was a priority, especially on popular routes like Serpentine 5.8, a two-pitch sport climb commonly used to teach multi-pitch climbing. Other popular climbs like Jug City 5.9 are found in tight corridors that can only accommodate a few groups at a time. Despite climbing regularly at all four of the Beaver Valley crags over the past decade or so, both had not visited Metcalfe Rock in some time, requiring a little wayfinding, followed by onsighting some never before attempted routes. Luckily, the guiding companies and their clients started hiking in just as Dustin and Elan were packing up. It was around 9:30 a.m. when the two made a quick pitstop at the spring to wash off the morning sweat and top up the water bottles before they jogged back to their bikes

The next crag was The Swamp, a relatively new crag with a wide range of climbing grades. Although the 5.6 km between The Swamp and Metcalfe Rock was the shortest bike of the day, The Swamp hosts the longest approach as well as the longest stretch of cliff line. The two arrived at The Swamp parking lot just after 10 and by the number of cars in the lot it was clear that

Dustin and Elan would not be the only climbers at the crag anymore. In fact, on the jog in they ran past a couple groups of climbers on the approach trail, and were greeted by others arriving to their first climb. Another challenge presented itself: waiting in line for a route while trying to maintain momentum and sustain an efficient pace. Despite being a busy Saturday during the summer high season, other climbers were very supportive and allowed them to climb first. With just four routes left at The Swamp, the weather suddenly turned for the worse. Clouds were moving into the valley and they had finally reached their saturation point. To make the best use out of this forced downtown, the two

refuelled with snacks while huddling under a tree. Their tactic was to replenish their bodies with fluid and high energy snacks throughout the day as well to continue moving so that their muscles do not tense up, a trick they learned when climbing 30 pitches at Mount Nemo in preparation for this challenge.

After the rain stopped, they completed The Swamp routes. They had each climbed 39 routes; there was only 11 routes left for them to climb at Devil’s Glen. It was just after 1:30 p.m. when the two ran out of The Swamp and returned to their bikes. At this point 7.5 hours had gone by, putting their sub-24-hour goal within grasp.

From the Swamp to Devil’s Glen is a 26-km ride, and then from Devil’s Glen back to the finish line at Old Baldy is an additional 35 km. The two made it to Devil’s Glen without any issues. Because it was early afternoon, the easier warm-up routes near the start of the crag were unoccupied. The two climbed the three popular warm-up routes before hiking deeper into the crag. Devil’s Glen was chosen as the last crag because it is the farthest crag from the starting line, had the second fewest number of routes to climb and there is a natural spring in order to refill water. With

just two routes left to climb and a 35-km bike ride to the finish line, Dustin and Elan filled up their water bottles one last time. The end was near and it was just after 5 p.m. when Dustin casted off to lead the final route of their challenge. As soon as Elan finished cleaning the route and was lowered to the ground, Dustin and Elan high-fived, cheered and quickly packed up.

All-in-all the two biked a total of 77.7 km, climbed 50 pitches each and ran a lot of trail.

“We were both getting tired near the end of the routes,” said Elan. “We had basically eaten all of the gels and bars, and were ready for a hot shower.”

At 7:33 p.m., they arrived back at their car in the Old Baldy parking lot where they began their challenge 15.5 hours earlier. The look of relief, fulfilment, and even joy could be seen on Dustin and Elan’s faces as they fist-bumped and congratulated each other. Neither climber ever fell while on a route, no one tripped while running and there were no flat tires while biking. Perhaps luck was on their side this time or they left a healthy margin for more suffering to be added for future challenges.

All-in-all the two biked a total of 77.7 km, climbed 50 pitches each and ran a lot of trail. While packing up their equipment, Will asked, “Would you do it again?” to which Dustin replied, “Yeah, I would. There’s definitely an opportunity to improve the time. But now that we’ve defined the eager beaver, it’d be pretty awesome to see someone else come out and give it a go.” There you go, reader – challenge accepted?