The season was wrapping up and it looked like I would have one last chance for some alpine rock climbing this year. At the last moment, I recruited Avi to head to the Valhalla Range in British Columbia to climb the ultra-classic South Ridge of Mt Gimli on September 16, 2023.

Our morning started with one of the easiest alpine approaches I’ve ever done: the perfectly maintained Gimli Ridge trail brought us to the base of the route in less than an hour and a half of casual walking. There were some other parties ahead of us, so we had an extended snack break at the base of the route before Avi racked up for the first pitch – 35 meters of fun jams, laybacking and a cool sequence into and through the intimidating roof. I took the uneventful second pitch before Avi tackled the direct (left) variation of the third pitch, which is run out on 5.7 terrain before ascending a 5.9+ dihedral. Both of the other parties allowed me to climb through on the next pitch to pass them – sweet! We were now out in front and able to climb as fast as we liked.

I chose to belay about 10 meters above the “Lunch Ledge” to stay out of the way of the other teams who would soon be arriving there. Avi swung through and relished in 70 meters of wonderfully exposed 5.6 cracks which led to a nice belay below the crux roof pitch. I had been stoked to lead this pitch all day, but also felt some intimidation because 1. roofs are hard and 2. climbing 5.10a with a backpack on while placing protection is hard for me. I swallowed my trepidation and started up the pitch on excellent 5.6 cracks. Arriving at the roof, I placed a solid cam and inspected the moves before breathing deep and committing. This sequence was the stuff of dreams: major exposure, cool moves between good holds and a memorable ninja kick out left to a crystal. All of this allowed me to reach better holds above and pull through without any drama. I had done a good job extending my pieces below the roof to limit rope drag and continued another 30 meters before I built an anchor. Avi led one more 5.6 pitch to the point where we unroped and scrambled several hundred meters to the summit of Gimli.

On the summit, we met a couple of friendly guys who had just climbed Sailor Jerry. This was their fourth (!) trip up Gimli this summer so they had the descent completely dialed in. We scrambled together down the East Ridge and parted ways in the basin below, where they had to retrieve a backpack from the start of Sailor Jerry. From this basin, we scrambled slabs, went down a grassy slope, and found a rappel anchor where we downclimbed some exposed mid-fifth class terrain to avoid the rappel. This was a nice, direct descent that brought us back to the start of the route and the trail that leads back to the car. In the Valhalla Rock Guidebook (see strategy notes below), this is marked as the Mountaineer’s Route. If you descend the standard East Ridge route, you avoid the rappel (or 5.5 exposed downclimb) but add in several hundred meters of additional elevation loss and gain to get back to the start of the route.

Overall, this is a super high quality and mellow day out. We took 11.5 hours car to car, despite losing at least two hours waiting for other teams along the way. There is a lot of debate over the grade for this route; Peter Koedt (one of the first ascensionists) admitted that pitches one, three and the roof pitch are clearly much harder than the original 5.7 grade. On the other hand, the modern guidebook grade of 5.10a feels a bit soft because the hardest moves are not sustained for more than a body length or two. Come ready for legit, old school 5.9 climbing, which we all know is 5.10a anyway. My ethos around climbing grades is this: What is the lowest grade I can call the route with a straight face? In this case, I say 5.9+.

Strategy Notes

There’s lots of beta online for this route. Additionally, the route is outlined in Fred Beckey’s 100 Favorite North American Climbs. The best source of beta for Gimli is Valhalla Rock by David Lussier and Cam Shute. Conveniently, they offer a free preview of the guidebook that covers Gimli. You can access the preview here – as of 9/28/2023 the file is available. Please let me know if the link is dead and I may be able to share the file with you.

Additional online beta:
North American Classics
Mountain Project

Gear Notes

Double rack of cams from .3-3, offset nuts, single rope.