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Nahanni becoming magnet for climbers

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Adaptive climbers Jim Ewing, left and Mo Beck climb the Lotus Flower Tower in Nahanni National Park Reserve in August. Taylor Zann/Sterling Rope Company Inc. photo.

Climber Mo Beck’s first remote climb was in the area of Nahanni National Park Reserve known as the Cirque of the Unclimbables, but she says word is spreading that it hosts some of the most scenic climbing available.

The Colorado-based climber says she was preparing for the trip, which took place this past August, for a year leading up the time she and her friend Jim Ewing arrived.

“I was feeling almost cocky about it until the helicopter kind of came over the ridge and I saw (the Lotus Flower Tower peak) for the first time. That's where I went, ‘Oh my gosh.’”

While Beck says the 670-metre ascent of the Lotus Flower Tower is the “crown jewel” of Nahanni for climbing, park superintendent Jonathan Tsetso says, “other less-known climbing areas such as Mount Nirvana and the Vampire Peaks are seeing modest increases in climbers.”

Tsetso says a steady average of 37 climbers have visited the park annually over the last six years, but this past summer nearly doubled that number, with 57 climbers in 16 climbing groups – “our highest number ever,” he said.

Adaptive climbers Jim Ewing, left and Mo Beck climb the Lotus Flower Tower in Nahanni National Park Reserve in August. Taylor Zann/Sterling Rope Company Inc. photo.
Adaptive climbers Jim Ewing, left and Mo Beck climb the Lotus Flower Tower in Nahanni National Park Reserve in August. Taylor Zann/Sterling Rope Company Inc. photo.

Beck says the Cirque was bustling with climbers while she and Ewing were there, saying they saw around other six climbing parties in the area at any given time they were there..

“Even though it's really hard to get to – and it's not cheap to get to, to be honest – its popularity is definitely exploding,” says Beck. “Word is out, the climate there and the scenery is just amazing.”

Beck and Ewing are both adaptive climbers, she having been born without her left hand and he having lost his lower left leg three years ago after falling 15 metres during a climb.

“That was kind of his kick in the pants to go do the things he had been putting off,” says Beck.

Ewing had long had his sights set on the park, she says and invited her along on the trip, which was filmed for a documentary called Adaptive, to be released next year, presented by Sterling Rope Company Ltd.

Beck uses the stump of her left arm with some medical tape to protect the skin, but Ewing takes “adaptive” to the next level.

“Jim had a couple different feet that he used and I think the one that you use on the actual summit day was one he built in his garage. He's a big engineer, tinkerer and so he just wasn't happy with the market-ready climbing feet, so he made his own.”

The two slept in bivy bags on a ledge in the middle of their ascent and when they woke up, Jim was violently ill. Despite his flu-like symptoms, they pushed on, albeit with assistance from the film crew which had set up lines to the top – rather than the climbers’ original plan to go up unassisted, anchoring in along the way.

If that still sounds hardcore, Beck says she felt a bit shown up by other climbers in the area who had paddled for a week with their climbing gear to get to the area and spent the rest of their time climbing. She says she was one of few parties that just flew in.

“They're way more hardcore than I was,” she says.

Tsetso says paddlers still make up the vast majority of Nahanni visitors, with 727 travelling the park’s rivers this season.