Ontario Climbing

Ontario’s Nathan Kutcher is obviously in fine climbing form as yesterday he onsighted You’re My Hero M12+ at the Hall of Justice area located outside of Ouray, Colorado. Kutcher spent the last two months training in Russia, and it clearly seems that all that work is paying off.

“I'm climbing really well right now,” says Kutcher. “The day before I warmed up by onsighting Andres's route that's graded M11, but it felt more like M10 to me.”

Located at about 10,000 feet in elevation, the route You’re My Hero M12+ is approximately 35m long and climbs out of an impressive cave-like formation. The route starts on a short easy section and transitions to a steep roof that leads to less steep terrain and finishes on a vertical wall. The crux comes just before the slab at the top. It took Kutcher about 30 minutes to climb the route.

“I climbed it comp style, meaning there was no trickery - tools were for hands only. There was no wrapping of arms or legs around the tools to rest,” says Kutcher.

Nathan Kutcher is one of Canada's top ice climbers. He's established numerous difficult mixed climbs including the traditionally protected ground-up ascent of Metamorphosis M10 R. He is on the Canadian National Ice Climbing team and competes internationally on the World Cup ice climbing circuit. In 2012, he defeated a strong field of international climbers and won the prestigious Ouray Ice Festival in Colorado.

You can follow Nathan Kutcher’s climbing adventures at http://mixedmomentum.blogspot.ca/