Marc-Andre Leclerc Pushes the Limit in Rockies
Marc-Andre Leclerc spent much of the winter in the Rockies and made his presence known when he soloed three hard routes on the Stanley Headwall in one day. First he soloed the 150- metre French Reality M5 WI6+. It was not the first solo of the route. He then rappelled and made his way to Nightmare on Wolfstreet, a welltravelled, but never soloed M7+ WI6+. He climbed the first two pitches and then finished up the wall via The Day After les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot, which crosses Nightmare. Two routes were not enough and after he returned to the slope, Leclerc went and soloed the classic Nemesis WI6+ 150 metres. It was one of the most impressive solo days in the Rockies for pure ice and mixed climbing.
At the start of spring, Leclerc teamed up with Slovenian Luka Lindic for an ascent of The Greenwood/Locke on Mount Temple. The pair then climbed a new route on Mount Tuzo, which is one of the lesser-known mountains in the Valley of the Ten Peaks near Moraine Lake. Its large northeast face had been attempted over the years, but never climbed. They established The Lindic/Leclerc M7+ WI6+R 1,100 m over a few days. After the climb, Leclerc wrote, “This morning we looked a bit anorexic but are otherwise stoked to have established The Lindic/Leclerc on the northeast face of Tuzo. The route could certainly be climbed with a bivy in the middle, but due to our late start the first day we made the two bivies instead. Overall the route is a great quality and serious outing with both difficult ice and mixed climbing on a big alpine face.” The pair then climbed two other new routes in the valley, including a new big route on the north face of Neptuak, before making an ascent of The Andromeda Strain on Mount Andromeda.
Leclerc then made the first solo ascent of the Emperor Face on Mount Robson via Infinite Patience, a big grade six mixed route. He spent four days alone in the wilderness and shortly after his ascent, he said, “Already I have been asked how fast I was, but I honestly cannot tell you how many hours the Emperor Face took me to climb. I began when I felt ready and I reached the top at sundown. I also don’t know how long the hike back to the road took me as well, but I do know that descending through the changing ecosystems back into the world of green lushness and deep blue lakes I felt more peace than I would have had I been counting my rate of kilometres per hour.”