The Essential Sweet Dreams

by Kit Moore

Where is John Turner? I'd like to meet this man, who had the courage and imagination to put up routes like FM in the Adirondacks, Recompense in New Hampshire and the Joke at Bon Echo. I'd especially like to thank him for putting up Sweet Dreams, my favourite Bon Echo route. Turner set up Sweet Dreams in 1960, but it wasn't until 1992 that I first climbed it, when a friend asked me to lead the third pitch, assuring me it was "only 5.8" and had a big flake and piton at the crux.

Cliff, Leo and Hugh on SweetdreamsBon Echo Provincial Park is located on the shores of Mazinaw Lake, just a few hours' drive from Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal. Trad climbers from those areas are attracted to Bon Echo by Mazinaw Rock, a massive granite rock face rising as high as 100 metres over a distance of two kilometres along the east side of the lake.

Like many Bon Echo routes, Sweet Dreams requires a boat to reach the base of the climb, which begins at an obvious wide ramp near the north end of Mazinaw Rock. Unless you or your partner is willing to swim back later, a second boat is required. Rappelling is severely restricted at Bon Echo, and the nearest descent route is a long swim away. On weekends, most ACC climbers avoid the swim by staying at the Toronto section's hut, where the $10 daily camping fee for ACC members ($20 for non-members) includes free boating to and from climbs.

Pitch 1 of Sweet Dreams is a well-protected warm-up, no harder than 5.5, leading to an exposed belay stance where the ramp disappears after 40 metres. This ramp is sometimes more than a warm-up; for example, try leading it the day after a heavy rain, as I did a few years ago. The rock looked dry, but halfway up the ramp, and 25 feet above my last piece, I realized the lichen-covered rock had turned to a slippery, soapy slide. Although I couldn't move up or down, I was able to find a small stance and try the old British climbers' trick of wearing socks over climbing shoes. It worked…the rest of the ramp destroyed my socks, but the Brits' ingenuity literally saved my skin.

The next pitch, a short 5.7 traverse, is where the climb starts to get interesting, and bears the Turner signature. The traverse looks and feels impossible, but it isn't. After stepping left and around the ramp, you find yourself standing on a thin half-hidden ledge against a blank overhanging face, still gripping the top of the ramp to keep from falling off the wall.

Michalik on the traverseYou begin moving left along the traverse, looking down at the water 50 metres below and feeling for footholds as you go. After finding a tiny jagged hold for your left hand, and traversing left another metre, you carefully match with a right-hand finger and look left for the next hold. Just before your right hand lets go, your left finds a small flake and you move more easily to the end of the traverse. Grateful for a small cam placement, you make an awkward layback move and raise your still trembling body up into a right-facing corner that leads to a comfortable belay ledge.

Since 1992, I've climbed Sweet Dreams at least 30 times, and the view of pitch 3 from this ledge still intimidates me. From the right end of the ledge, a series of flakes leads up an overhanging crack to the crux of the climb. Most of the original crux flake disappeared five years ago, when a hapless climber broke it and nearly decked on the belay ledge. A tiny wobbly flake now remains as a key hold for clipping a bolt at the top of this section. This bolt replaces the original piton, which failed several times, and could no longer be trusted. The crux moves were originally graded 5.8 but most Bon Echo regulars now rate them 5.9 or higher.

Careful feet and some burly moves take you past the crux, into what I call the Sweet Dreams position, lying on your side on a severely sloping ledge in a shallow cave of black cokey rock. Now it's time for the fun part of the climb. A few juggy overhang moves and laybacks take you to the base of a huge pink flake flecked with green lichen, with 5 metres of hand-jamming in a wide crack (save a #3 Camelot for the upper section here).

The crack ends at the top of the flake, and a few steps take you up to an optional belay at a boulder. I usually stop here to avoid rope drag and to maintain voice contact with my partner, but some climbers prefer to make a few more moves and belay from the top gully.

If you do Sweet Dreams in July, be sure to check out the blueberry patch here; it's the best at Bon Echo. When you're full, head well back from the cliff until you cross an obvious trail, taking you left to the ACC hut, or right to the rappel and descent routes. These are described in detail in A Guide to Rock Climbs at Bon Echo (3rd edition) by Stephen Adcock.

Why is this route still a favourite after so many ascents? For me, Sweet Dreams is the ideal mixture of Bon Echo climbing, still within my limits and still exciting. Each pitch presents a different challenge…first slab, then traverse, then overhanging cracks. Long after I've stopped climbing, not for many years I hope, I'll remember sitting or hanging on the Sweet Dreams belays, gazing down at the sparkling water below me and enjoying the pleasure of those moments, all set against the spectacular Bon Echo background.

Thank you, John Turner, wherever you are.