Gitnadoiks’ Moon Dog Arête
THE JOHN LAUCHLAN AWARD FOR 2020
The John Lauchlan Award is awarded annually to lightweight Canadian teams pursuing bold, non-commercial climbing objectives. For 2020, but Covid-delayed, two teams were announced as winners. This is the second profile and you can see the profile of the first here (link). See JohnLauchlanAward.com for more information. The ACC has been proud to support the JLA since its inception. - ed
Moon Dog Arete – objective and approach
An unnamed peak with a spectacular 1000m arête lies close to the center of Gitnadoik River Provincial Park in BC. Our team will approach via jet boat up to Alistar Lake and then bushwhack 12km to the beautiful mountain cirque to establish a basecamp. Alternately, we will charter a helicopter to drop us near the alpine lake below our proposed route.
Once our basecamp is in place, we will climb the striking arete in alpine capsule style, taking all of our food and gear with us in an attempt to free climb the arete with as little fixed protection as possible and as much of the route as we can in a single multi-day push.
Our Team
Our team includes Ryan Van Horne, Mike Loch, Drew Leiterman and myself. The team has a strong all-around mountain and remote expedition background. From the BC Coast Big Walls, to Patagonia, Alaska, Pakistan, Africa and the Rockies this team is well versed in a variety of disciplines to climb this beautiful 1000m alpine rock feature.
Following the spirit of John Lauchlan
This remote, coastal alpine trip speaks to the bold, adventurous spirit of John Lauchlan by travelling in a lightly explored area where information is hard to come by, few peaks are named, adventure is guaranteed and you’re likely to have to deal with a number of uncertainties: all things that get this team stoked to go!
Thanks
Our team would like to thank the John Lauchlan Award committee for selecting us as recipients as well as Powell River-based Stay Wild Keto for their support of 32 dried food meals which we’ll use on the trip.
Do you have a trip that would qualify for the John Lauchlan Memorial Award?
Submission deadline for award applications is December 31st each year.
Award amounts are based on funding, and the budget requirements of each particular trip. Recipients are announced at the Banff Festival of Mountain Films, held annually on the first weekend of November.