Rare Alpine-esque Ascent in Quebec

Sens Unique

M6+R, A1, 200 m is a remote 5.10 summer route that follows an esthetic rock pillar in the Hautes-Gorges-de-laRivière-Malbaie Park. Climbed in 1974 by Quebec legend Claude Bérubé and Stephan Fr ick, Sens Unique is rarely climbed because of its location and low rock quality on the third-pitch. Yannick Girard and Louis Rousseau climbed it on Feb. 7, in “normal” northeastern winter conditions: high winds and spindr ift. The temperature was between - 19 and - 28 C which caused temporary hypothermia and frostbite. After a 25- kilometre ski and a four-hour approach through thick brush, they climbed until dark and bivouacked on route. The following day they completed their 48-hour round tr ip. Climbing Sens Unique for its first winter ascent was, in Rousseau and Girard’s words, “An opportunity to fulfill our alpine dreams on the gentle rolling hills of easter n Canada.”

Jonny Simms