Tuesday, September 4, 2018

Plutonian Shores - 5.9, 185m (7 pitches)

Raven Crag on Sulfur Mountain viewed from Banff.
Plutonian Shores is in the centre of the photo and is the full height of the cliff

Happy to get to this route, has been on my and LK's radar for a couple of seasons.  Great easy day out, short approach, excellent rock quality, well bolt protected and a fun grade. Plutonian Shores is located at Raven Crag, significant place. Raven Crag is home to Canada's current hardest sport route, "Fight Club", 5.15b !

Topo and approach beta here. 
The routes is about 185 metres tall with 6 pitches of climbing, pitch 3 is just a short fourth class traverse of about 15 metres.  The grading is a bit harder than it felt, but not really sandbagged. The first two pitches felt above grade stated, but the crux pitches were properly graded, maybe a tad harder than the grade indicated? LK led pitches 1, 3, 5 and 7, leaving the interest crux pitch (pitch 6) for my enjoyment. This pitch is solid 5.9 (maybe harder, or I am a wimp), but the two cruxes are well protected. I had a tough time finding good hands on the cruxes, but once I got them, the moves were super fun! Overall the rock quality is excellent, only a few pebbles on some of the ledges. The day we did the route it was super cold and windy, maybe with an average temperate of +8?  Wind chill was nasty and it was hard to stay warm at the stations. Easy walk off the top. Highly recommend this route. 


LK leading up pitch 1 (5.5)
OSWB topping out on pitch 1, photo by LK

OSWB leading pitch 2 (5.7), photo by LK.

Traverse to station at base of pitch 4. 

LK leading the lower section of pitch 5, "A Murder of Crows".
Long (50m) and solid 5.8 for much of the pitch. 

LK leading up the last pitch (pitch 7), solid 5.7 moves.
Unstable and cold weather for our climb

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