The Bold and Cold

Brandon Pullan Rocky Mountain Books

The Bold and Cold will inspire you to want to climb the routes everyone wants to climb in the Canadian Rockies. From rock routes through classic ice and mixed routes, up to the biggest and baddest, the routes covered are the stuff alpinists’ dreams are made of. Brandon Pullan has written more than a guidebook; he includes the back story to make armchair mountaineer and active climber alike feel the draw.

Ten years ago, Brandon and I found our separate ways to Canmore. Back then budding alpine climbers had only one easy source of route information, the notorious Route descriptions were short, some routes were unrepeated, and estimated times were those taken by the hard-men of the day. For more detail people would peruse journals and defunct magazines, and seek out word of mouth accounts. compiles all the previous information available on these routes in one package. By generous use of the words of the first ascensionists, the reader gets a clear picture of what the routes entail. None of the lore is lost, but the mythical takes on manageable form.

A young newbie to the range could do worse than adopt the book as an abbreviated apprenticeship tick list. They would be following in the footsteps of the most legendary of Rockies alpinists, the deceased Dave Cheesmond. In the ’ 80s Dave tore through a good number of the 25 routes, a list bequeathed to him by earlier innovator Urs Kallen. Dave established the first ascent of three out of five Titan routes highlighted in the book.

The 25 in the list are no longer so exclusive. A similar list of George Lowe, Barry Blanchard, Raphael Slawinski or Jon Walsh routes would be equally as challenging. Give Marc-Andre Leclerc a few more years and cutting edge will have been revolutionized. That said, no one person yet has climbed all 25 Bold and Cold Rockies routes. It will be the climber eager for the Cheesmondesque experience who manages to tick them all. For the rest of us, it is a well-told tale worth enjoying.–