[TR] Valhallas - Gimli, Asgard, Niselheim - 8/11/2016

[ilias]

Trip: Valhallas - Gimli, Asgard, Niselheim -

 

Date: 8/11/2016

 

Trip Report:

Lisa and I spent 4 days in the Valhallas. A beautiful area and one I will have to come back to do more climbing in the future. Gimli is the classic everyone hears about, but there are like a hundred routes in here, ranging from moderate ridge climbs to hard 5.11 and aid big wall climbs.

 

For the climbs we did, we mostly went by Steph Abegg's beta as well as a trip report from Supertopo, all linked here:

http://www.stephabegg.com/home/tripreports/britishcolumbia/valhallas2

http://www.stephabegg.com/home/tripreports/britishcolumbia/gimli

http://www.supertopo.com/tr/South-Ridge-of-Gimli-Peak-A-Lesser-Known-Canadian-Classic/t12165n.html

 

On the first day (Aug 10), we hiked in to Gimli camp and hunkered down as the clouds and wind swirled around us and periodic showers came down.

 

On the second day (Aug 11), we woke up to clearer skies and got up to climb Gimli (S Ridge, 5.10a, 7p). Clouds rolled in in the afternoon, and we climbed into the mists high on the S ridge until it cleared up again. We then returned to camp and packed everything up, and hiked over the Gimli-Niselheim col down into the Mulvey Lakes basin, where we set camp. This basin is absolutely beautiful, rivalling the Enchantments basin. The descent from Gimli is an extremely well cairned class 3 down scramble, luxury!

 

Day three (Aug 12), we climbed the SW ridge of Asgard (5.7, 5p). Asgard has multiple climbs on solid rock on its south face, but the south ridge offered more of a rest day after doing Gimli the day before. The views from Asgard offer the best position to see the Valhallas range. We got back to camp early and enjoyed the lake. Beta on this route is limited so here's a bit:

- Start by scrambling up slabs to the col below the SW ridge of Asgard. These are unprotectable near the beginning but fairly secure class 3-4 climbing.

- Climb up the crest for a short bit (~10-20m) and then turn left of the crest into a deep dihedral / shallow gully that parallels the crest just on the left. Climb up this feature for ~ 2 pitches, then exit right onto the crest when it becomes easy to do so.

- Climb 1 more easy pitch up the crest and then scramble to the summit.

I'm not actually sure where the 5.7 climbing was on this route, it mostly felt 4th - low 5th. There might have been an occasional move that could be called 5.7 but there was definitely never any sustained 5.7 climbing.

 

Day four (Aug 13), we packed up camp and headed back up to the Gimli-Niselheim col, from which we quickly climbed Niselheim NE Ridge (5.7, 4p). The first two pitches had some wickedly exposed 5.7 moves with adequate but not abundant protection. Heady! Descending the other ridge of Niselheim involved some careful class 4 downclimbing, and at one point we set a rappel for a section we didn't want to down climb. From there, we headed back to the car, a mere 1 hour down the trail from Gimli camp.

 

See my entire set of photos here:

https://goo.gl/photos/eRzNgW79v4QJUV617

 

Gimli highlights

 

Route:

About to head off to climb:

Me belaying Lisa up P1, another party waiting to follow:

Lisa leading up into the clouds on P5:

Looking back down from P5:

Following Lisa up the crest:

Me after having just pulled the roof:

Looking back down from above the roof as Lisa belays me on P6:

Summit pano:

Heading down into the basin, Gimli behind:

Rainbows beside Gimli over basin:

 

Asgard highlights

 

View of Asgard as we descend into the basin:

Start Asgard by scrambling up the slabs:

Looking back at the basin from the start of the slabs:

Looking down P1:

Scruffy corner climbing up P3:

Nice views from the top as we start the descent:

View of Gladsheim and Dag:

Back to camp early, time to practice our alpine urgency:

 

Niselheim highlights

 

Taking star photos that night, before we headed up Niselheim (right) in the morning:

Stars over Asgard, even got one of the meteors from the Perseids:

Exposed 5.7 climbing near start of Niselheim:

Niselheim summit views:

 

 

 

Gear Notes:

Rock gear, all used extensively:

Cams - Singles: 0.1-0.4, #3, Doubles: 0.5-2

Nuts - one set

Slings - 13

 

We also brought ice axes and crampons. Never used the crampons, but we did take out the ice axes for the snow just below the Gimli-Niselheim col. It's low angle and we could definitely have done without them, but since we had them they were nice to have in hand. Approach shoes are sufficient.

 

Approach Notes:

Approaches are always so nice and easy in other places compared to the Cascades. 1.5 hours up beautiful trail to Gimli camp. A quick tromp across a well cairned boulder field up to the Gimli-Niselheim col. A steel cable is bolted to the mountain side for the couple barely exposed moves coming down from the col to get to the snow towards the Mulvey lakes basin. The basin is wide open, no bushwhacking to get around to anywhere.

Edited August 18, 2016 by ilias

[Alex]

are they really calling that 10a now? ok

 

I like your star photos

 

its fer sure a nice area but such a long drive from anything else, it will always been a place for road tripping..

[JasonG]

I really need to get in there, thanks!

[ilias]

are they really calling that 10a now? ok

 

Yep that seems to be the consensus. The route is mostly 5.8 and used to be rated 5.8+ but the roof move is definitely 10a and I guess standard practice is to rate things by the individual hardest move. The move protects really well though and also you can pull through it on gear so you don't need to be a 5.10a leader to climb this route.

 

I found the first pitch to be more difficult than the roof pitch, as it is very sustained 5.8/5.8+ climbing.

Edited August 18, 2016 by ilias

[genepires]

 

I found the first pitch to be more difficult than the roof pitch, as it is very sustained 5.8/5.8+ climbing.

 

truth there!

very cool photos.

 

But Alex, Lisa would be a much more pleasant climbing partner than me!

maybe I should have sunbathed in my undies?

Edited August 18, 2016 by genepires

[Daphne H]

Great shots! This area looks unreal.

 

Totally agree with your comment that climbing in the Cascades makes all the other approaches seem chill in comparison!

[Priti]

Wow! Yes! So beautiful!!! Those peaks has such wild angles and inspiring names. This has been on the list for three years, some day I'll get out there. Looks like you guys had a super fun trip

[olyclimber]

From what I've gathered in the last 5 minutes, everyone on on CC.com (except me) goes climbing in beautiful stunning locations with beautiful people. That is pretty awesome, I'm actually super happy for you. Jealous..but happy for you! Thanks for the TR...this is awesome stuff that I think I could actually pull off, so super inspiring.

 

Thanks for the TR.

[ilias]

Wow! Yes! So beautiful!!! Those peaks has such wild angles and inspiring names. This has been on the list for three years, some day I'll get out there. Looks like you guys had a super fun trip

 

Hah yep this one's been on all our lists since our first Bugs/Sir Donald trip Jealous of your plans this weekend! Crush it!

[mrkittles13]

Awesome! I've climbed Gimli but have wanted to check out some other climbs for years. How was the approach road? Last time I heard, it was closed...

[ilias]

Awesome! I've climbed Gimli but have wanted to check out some other climbs for years. How was the approach road? Last time I heard, it was closed...

 

Was open to the trailhead and in great shape. There's a boulder on the road not far from the end but anything besides an absurdly huge truck would make it around it fine.

[G-spotter]

Asgard from the NW - Sw ridge on the right

[ilias]

Nice view of Asgard! What a perfect looking pyramid.