Starstruck
5.9 330m, Sport
Gear: 10 quickdraws, 4 alpine draws, 70 m rope
First Ascent and Ground Up Bolting:
Tim Taylor and Andrew Abel
Why FREJYA?
While exploring the first rock climbing route on this face we were humbled. What an incredible gift it was to be the first team to develop a ground up MP route in the zone!
Starstruck is positioned about 500 meters to the east of the famous ‘From Nordegg With Love’. This double black via ferrata was the first development in the zone and we wanted to pay homage to its name. Frejya is the name of a Norse goddess of love and hopefully we can keep the love theme going up here.
Get out there and enjoy the love!
Approach:
Park on the south side of the road as you would for the Via Ferrata From Nordegg with Love. Cross the highway and follow the well established trail all the way up to the start of the Via Ferrata. From there traverse across the base of the wall rising for around 300 meters. The view opens up and the trail begins to descend slightly. At this time you have a skyline view of the low angle buttress where the route starts. Hike under an ephemeral waterfall (Freyja Falls) and gain the ridge to the base of the buttress. A cairn and some green flagging tape mark the start of the route. Look five meters left of the trees with flagging to find the start of the route.
Beta
Pitch 1: 5.7 35 m
(Pictured) Start up a broken section of rock, pull a little bulge then clip the first bolt. Follow the bolts on amazing rock trending left. Mid pitch you will step onto a ledge and move left to clip a bolt before climbing straight up a groove to the next bolt (out of sight). Arrive at a ledge system where the belay is to the right
Pitch 2: 5.7 35 m
(Pictured) Follow the bolts trending left and leading up to a belay on a nice ledge under two small bulges.
Pitch 3: 5.9 25 m
(Pictured) From the belay climb up and clip a high bolt then step slightly right. Pull the first crux bulge and trend left to a second bulge. Pull the second crux and climb through amazing rock to the belay.
Pitch 4: 5.9 40 m
Follow the bolts as they trend left on amazing prickly rock. You can climb the first 30 meters and split up the pitch at the ledge if you choose. Alternately, climb this pitch in its entirety and extend pieces to help minimize rope drag.
Pitch 5: 5.5 35 m
(Pictured) Follow sparse bolts up easier terrain to a belay on a nice slanting ledge.
Pitch 6: 5.7 30 m
Head up trending right and then up to a belay on a nice ledge.
Pitch 7: 5.9 35 m
(Pictured) Head left clipping nicely spaced bolts with a 3-finger pocket that gets you through the crux. Once past the crux, head up then trend left on a ramp to the belay.
Pitch 8: 5.7 35 m
(Pictured) Head up clipping bolts on good rock to a nice ledge with a belay.
Pitch 9: 5.4 30 m
Head out left clipping a bolt, then follow a nice little path to another bolt with a ringbolt hanger on it up high. Walk through the slope to the base of the waterfall where you can belay on a tree.
Pitch 10: 5.7 30 m
(Pictured) Start climbing on the right side of the waterfall, eventually crossing it just below the lip of the small caldron after bolt three. Climb up the left side of the waterfall on nice compact stone. Once you pull over the final few steep moves, trend up and left to a bolted station.
Descent:
Bushwack to the picnic table at the top of ‘From Nordegg With Love’ or rappel the route. We recently worked to establish a path down to the picnic table. Follow the indications of broken dead branches and cairns where we could find rocks.
All rappels are set up to work with a single 70 m rope.
**Reversing pitch nine can be tricky for the second on descent. If the leader feeds the rap ring, the second can be back belayed off it easily as they down climb to the station**