Sherborne Lake - Belated New Routes Update

Four of us - Dave Broadhead, Justin Bryant, Jason Kuruc, and I (Danylo Darewych) – hiked into Sherborne Lake to take a look at the Highlander on Sunday, February 24. It took us while to get to the Highlander, however, because we kept seeing unclimbed ice (to the best of our knowledge) on the approach in, and kept stopping to climb said unclimbed ice after saying that we would “just take a look”!

Beach Boys, Sherborne Lake with Good Vibrations visible on leftHere are the first ascents we put up (please correct us if someone’s climbed these before):

Beach Boys, WI 3+, 20m. FA Jason Kuruc, Justin Bryant.
Fat flow on the right end of the crag. Some 15 metres of near vertical ice followed by some easier ice up and left to a belay tree a little further back.

Good Vibrations - Dave Leading[/b], WI 4+, 18 m. FA David Broadhead, Danylo Darewych.Good Vibrations - Dave Up Higher
A just-attached vertical pillar 4 metres to climber’s left of Beach Boys in the centre of the crag. Very thin and delicate start, questionable screws, one semi-decent- but-not-very-restful stance half-way up, better more solid ice to the top. Pumpy throughout. Belay/ rap tree right at the top of the route.
Named after the vibrating sounds the column made when struck with tools or crampons. (The column was much fatter and more protectable two weeks later).

Beach Boys and Good Vibrations are the first obvious fat flows on the approach towards the Highlander (Grid Ref: 762032 on Map 31 E/2). They are some 300 metres past the start of the portage from Big Hawk Lake (taking the start to be between the cottages at the edge of Big Hawk Lake), on the right (north) side of the narrow south-eastern arm of Sherborne lake as you’re walking in, and before you hit the snowmobile trail (#16) that cuts across that arm of Sherborne Lake (the snowmobile trail is 440 m from the start of the portage). There were other columns of ice to the left of Good Vibrations on the overhanging section of the crag, but they hadn’t touched down yet.

Turning Japanese, Sherborne Lake - Justin LeadingTurning Japanese, WI3, 13m. FA Justin Bryant, Jason Kuruc.Rhymes with Art, Sherborne Lake - Danylo Leading
Longest, fattest, steepest, right-most flow on the crag.
Named as a result of a discussion we had on the meaning of the song title.

Rhymes with Art, WI 3-, 9m. FA Danylo Darewych, David Broadhead.
Less-vertical flow (2 good stances) 4 metres left of Turning Japanese. Annoying branchy top-out.
Let’s just say that while I was climbing I had digestive problems from the souvlaki I ate the night before.

Turning Japanese and Rhymes with Art are the second obvious fat flows on the approach towards the Highlander (Grid Ref: 760035 on Map 31 E/2). They are on a smaller crag on the right (north) side of the narrow south-eastern arm of Sherborne Lake as you’re walking in, some 120 metres past the snowmobile trail (#16) that cuts across that arm of Sherborne Lake (or 550-600m from the start of the portage). There are 5 smaller flows to the left of Rhymes with Art, varying in length from 5-8 metres, which we took turns soloing on.Danylo soloing on ice left of Rhymes with Art, Sherborne LakeDave soloing, Sherborne Lake

A note on Highlander. What an impressive piece of ice! We only succeeded in climbing the first (easier) pitch. Even that made for interesting climbing – Dave had to hack his way behind the ice-curtain half-way up and step over a gaping hole (“the laundry chute”) to gain the traverse ledge to the second pitch. He came close to gaining the pillar of the second pitch, but questionable pro and some delaminating ice shut down the attempt. “A bold and committing route” indeed.

Gazing in Awe at the Highlander, Sherborne LakeHighlander, Sherborne Lake - Dave at cruxFYI - Highlander is 1100m from the start of the portage. From the parking lot/marina the hike across Big Hawk Lake to the portage is 1755m. Highlander is 2745m in from the parking lot/ marina.

Sins of the Father, Wild Goose Chase (“The Falls”?), and Ukrainian Mafia were all in good shape, but we didn’t climb them.

Danylo Darewych
Grid references courtesy of Jason Kuruc.
Distances (measured using GIS OBM information) courtesy of Justin Bryant.
Photos courtesy of Dave Broadhead and Justin Bryant.