By Will Meinen
Brandon on the Mad House
New routing is my favourite type of climbing. As Forest Gump said, it's "like a box of chocolates; you never know what you gonna get." I hiked up an unmarked drainage on Mt Rundle with Brandon Pullan several weeks ago.
The Mad House: WI 4+ 300M -- View More Photos from Will's route on Flickr
He had gone up about three years prior, and spotted a gem that needed to be climbed. He snapped a photo, and tried to entice friends to return to climb the route. Nobody took the bait, until me. Call me a lucky bastard, or just call me up for anything cause I'll never say no.
The hike wasn't very motivating, but as soon as we got there we quickly forgot about the ankle-retching scree and snares of alder thickets. It was almost too good to be true; a classic route in all aspects. The location was as alpine as it gets, the line was striking and obvious, and the weather was cold with plenty of spindrift. The climbing was never too hard, but always engaging. It was especially engaging for me because I forgot my harness and had to tie a good ol' fashion swamy belt (which inspired very little confidence).
At the top of the route we traversed a ridge and walked off Mt. Rundle and headed back to the car, and to the pub for dinner and drinks.
Not bad for the first day out on ice this season..
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