Water of Life
V, 600m, 5.10d (free for leader)
Little Face of Mt. Macdonald
Roger's Pass B.C.
Tony McLane and Niall Hamill
Sept 22-23, 2020
The line is a free variation to the original 1974 Waterman route.
Tony McLane, humble warrior
looking down the crux pitch, brilliant crimp edges at the crux on bomber rock. A single bolt (spot the freshly drilled dust) placed from a free stance by Tony.
lots of splitter rock, lots of big detached blocks, too.
The author, putting his landscaping experience to work while improving the comfort of the bivouac ledge, just after sunset on day 1.
photo: Jon Walsh
Topo showing routes as of September 2020: The North Pillar and Little Face of Mt. MacDonald (2,883m), showing approximate location of known routes. The North Pillar is ca 1,000m high, and the Little Face is 500m to 600m. (1) North Pillar (Kay-Walsh, 2005). (2) North Pillar Direct (Relph-Walsh, 2010). (3) Prime Rib (Moorhead-Walsh, 2003). (4) Waterman Route (Waterman-Waterman, 1974). (4a) Water of Life (Mclane-Hamill, 2020). (5) The Blind Watchmaker (Dorsey-Van Oort; incomplete line shown, as of 2016; dotted line shows 2016 connection to Position of Comfort). (6) Position of Comfort (Ammerlaan-McLane, 2016). (7) Dorsey-Mackaness, 2015 (the climbers found older pitons on this line). (8) Haley-Schaefer, 2014 (climbed during off-route attempt on Primal Rib; the climbers continued up the northwest ridge to MacDonald’s summit). (9) Short Ribs (Cummings-Sproul, 2009).
Rack: doubles from 000 c3 to gold Camelot, single 3, single 4. Double set of wires, 14-16 slings, including 2-4 double shoulder length. No pitons necessary for leading but those could be useful if bailing.
Tony dropped his cell phone from the rappels, so we lost half of the photos from the ascent. If anyone finds it up there, im sure he would be happy to get his SIM card back! Thanks to Canadian Alpine Tools for the hammer used on this ascent, Thanks to Jon Walsh for his high-res photo of the wall. Thanks to Harry Van Oort for fixing the via ferrata in the approach gully.
