Pont Rouge Revival

In the 1990s, Pont Rouge in Quebec was the go-to ice climbing area, thanks to the Festiglace Festival. This winter, Stas Beskin and Jeff Mercier added some hard new routes. Beskin climbed the new Songs of Norway M8 WI6 and PR Reborn M8 WI6, which top French climber Jeff Mercier repeated. Mercier then added his new line, a serious mixed route that connects daggers and steep rock. He called it Snow Storm M8 WI6. Photographer Tim Banfield said, “Snow Storm seems like a fitting name. Dany Julien bolted the route in a snow storm and then when a snow storm changed our plans, we unexpectedly ended up in Pont Rouge for a couple days. While we were climbing, the snow drifted in over three feet deep and we had to pack it down with snowshoes for the car, just like a runway in Alaska.”