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This article pays tribute to marc-andré leclerc, a visionary alpinist known for his boldness, speed, and skill in solo climbing. Born in canada, leclerc began climbing at a young age and quickly gained a reputation for his daring feats. He influenced by various climbers and faced numerous challenges, but his love for climbing kept him pushing boundaries. This article includes quotes from leclerc and those who knew him, as well as a list of his notable climbs.
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(Left) Marc-André Leclerc nearing the top on Wicked Gravity (5.11a) while free soloing above iconic Lake Louise, Banff National Park.
Photo: John Price
/ (Right) Marc-André Leclerc.
Photo: Scott Serfas
MARC-ANDRÉ
LECLERC
VISIONARY ALPINIST
E WAS LATE FOR OUR MEETING. As I sat waiting in the Maclab Bistro, I was amused by his text: “I’m here … struggling to find Maclab.” This outstanding climber, who had mentioned that he was going for a quick run before our meeting, now seemed lost on the Banff Centre campus. Eventually he arrived, his face beaming with an unforgettable smile, his tall, wiry frame pumping with energy, as if he had just run a marathon.
Later that evening, I noticed a posting by Marc on Facebook
Editor's Note: This feature article had all but gone to the printer when we learned that Marc-André Leclerc and his partner Ryan Johnson had gone missing after climbing a new alpine route on the Mendenhall Towers near Juneau, Alaska, and were later presumed dead. With our print date fast approaching, we were faced with the decision of whether or not to run the piece, which features an interview with Marc commissioned and conducted back in June 2017. We decided to move it forward as a tribute to this extraordinary climber, and extend our gratitude to Bernadette McDonald for her assistance in revising the piece on such short notice. –M.W., March 2018
A wunderkind of alpinism, Marc-André Leclerc quickly built a reputation for boldness, speed, skill and a level head. Born in Nanaimo, B.C., in 1992, Marc lived on Vancouver Is - land until the age of four, then grew up in Pitt Meadows and Agassiz. A middle child, he benefitted from parents who loved the outdoors. His father Serge introduced him to the world of water – both above and below – and his mother Mi- chelle instilled in him a love of hiking. She also encouraged his interest in climbing. Hopeless at organized sports, Marc complained that he had little hand-eye coordination and was simply too short. Even after topping out at 188 centimetres, he moaned that all he gained was height: the hand-eye issue remained. But climbing! That was something else entirely. By the age of ten he was already climbing hard competitive - ly, and romping up 3rd- and 4th-class peaks. “Climbing was the first thing I was good at,” he said.
He started climbing outdoors at small, neglected crags near his home, scrubbing off the moss, searching for bolts. He saved up his money and bought his first rack – five pitons. “All right, this is mountain climbing!” he thought. He even managed to rescue his dad on a devious slab route at the age of 14. “My first rescue,” he proudly recounted. “When I returned to school on Monday, friends asked about the weekend. I said, ‘Well, I saved my dad’s life.’ They didn’t believe me.”
He credited these early experiences with instilling in him a solid base for problem-solving, going light, mov - ing quickly and keeping calm. Years later, he carried that knowledge to another level when he made the first solo ascent of the Corkscrew route on Patagonia’s Cerro Torre. “The conditions were out of control but the climbing wasn’t,” he wrote on his blog. “I just went slow. As best as I could, retaining control. I reasoned that if it was going to improve, I would just climb faster. Otherwise, I would just go down.”
MARC WILL BE REMEMBERED most for his solo climbs: Patagonia's Cerro Torre, Mt. Robson’s Emperor Face, Mt. Slesse in the Cascade Mountains by a number of routes, and countless rock and mixed routes around the world. He loved soloing, climbing alone, often without a rope, and explained the thought process: “You can be really re - laxed when the climbing is easy. You can think about other things, your life situation, the world situation, and then when it starts to get harder, everything goes into real fo - cus. And that’s the trick … relax, then focus. Save your energy for when you need it. It’s strategic.”
HE WAS UNPRECEDENTED
IN THE ROCKIES FOR THE
VOLUME AND SPONTANEITY
OF HIS SOLOING. HE CLEARLY
LOVED WHAT HE DID, WHICH
WAS A BEAUTIFUL, IF FRAGILE,
EXPRESSION OF CLIMBING.
- RAPHAEL SLAWINSKI
Although largely self-taught, Marc cited a number of climbers who influenced him: Canadian ice climber Guy Lacelle, who was killed while solo ice climbing at the Boz- eman Ice Fest; Scottish Himalayan climber Dougal Haston, who died in an avalanche while ski touring above Leysin, Switzerland; Squamish rock climber Andrew Boyd; solo climber and BASE jumper Dean Potter, who died in a wing- suit accident in Yosemite; Swiss alpinist Ueli Steck, who died while solo climbing on Nuptse; solo rock climber Alex Honnold; and, of course, Reinhold Messner.
When I expressed some concern over the fates of several of his examples, Marc explained that he was well aware of the statistics surrounding soloing, the recurring tragedies within the “tribe.” He even recalled a recent close call when a cornice collapsed on him while he was ski touring on Mt. Slesse. The resulting fall rattled him. “When I went home, I was thinking about it really deeply. What is the risk worth?” The next morning, he learned of Ueli's death on Nuptse.
“At first I was so surprised. Then I was sad. Then I got in - spired to train harder…. I know that I do a dangerous sport, but some of those guys are a bit different .” He paused to re - flect, and added: “Then again, Ueli was pretty together.”
with a Slovenian is awesome. He is so badass.” About Brette Harrington: “I’ve never climbed with someone who picked it up so quickly … so gifted, so intuitive.” He noted that the dynamic of climbing with her was different from climbing with his other partners. “With her, there’s no need to ne - gotiate. If there’s a whole bunch of splitter cracks, she just goes. She loves them. At other times, when it’s chossy, with snow on top, then that’s my element, so I lead the entire thing. It makes sense.”
Marc seemed immune to the idea of competition. Almost. His Patagonia partner, Colin Haley, and he appeared to have a slightly competitive relationship, albeit a healthy one. “He is one of my best partners,” Marc claimed, laughing as he remembered their experience in Patagonia. “I was at his heels on Torre Egger. I didn’t know it then but it was like his lifetime project. And I wouldn’t shut up about it … finally, I slowly started to realize how important it was to him.” And then Marc upped the game by climbing it, alone, in winter. With forthright honesty, he added: “When I did it in winter I kind of knew that I had done something that he couldn’t do. It was too hard for him, not on a pitch-by-pitch basis, but more in the overall concept, the imagination and the belief to actually try it.” Patagonia veteran Rolando Garibotti understood the scope of Marc’s imagination, claiming that his solo climbs were “of a level of difficulty and commitment previously unheard of, not only in Patagonia, but anywhere.”
ALTHOUGH MARC BECAME FAMOUS for his Patago - nia climbs, one of his groundbreaking climbing achieve - ments, which took place in 2016, was much closer to home: Infinite Patience, an iconic and difficult route on Mt. Robson. “When I got off the bus and saw Robson for the first time … it was April and it was so snowy and it was the biggest mountain I had ever seen in my life,” he said. “I got to the bottom of the base and I could hear the wind from the lake and from the Emperor Ridge and I’ve never been so intimidated.” As evening fell, Marc be - came calm. “I realized that I was approaching the route with a healthy amount of respect, and that the King [Mt. Robson] also respected me and my ambitions in return,” he later wrote on his blog. “I was being drawn toward the mountain in a search for adventure, by a desire to explore my own limitations and to also be immersed in a world so deeply beautiful that it would forever be etched into my memory.” Marc drifted into a deep sleep. When he woke, hours later, he could see “a vague light in the eastern sky," so he began.
The first ice pillar was harder than expected: brittle and steep. Eventually, the climbing eased, but a giant cloud capped the peak. Just as he began considering retreat, the cloud split, revealing the upper part of the mountain. He continued to the top, suffering terrible pain in his feet. Worried about frostbite, he decided to rest on the summit. “What a bivy!” he declared, remembering the sunset on top of Robson. He dug a trench on the summit plateau, crawled inside his flimsy bivy bag, removed his boots and placed a water bottle under his head. “It was so, so cold, with strong winds,” he said. “I tried to make another water bottle and I overfilled it and spilled it on myself. I knew I had to get out of there.” His fingers were so cold that he couldn’t put fresh batteries in his headlamp. “That was like the climax of the climb. Cold fingers, batteries … such a small thing.”
He finally managed the fiddly task and started down- climbing the west face. When he reached a sheltered pillar, he stopped and looked back. There loomed the enormous shadow of Robson. “This singular mountain shadow and me as this tiny little person who had just had this amazing adventure,” he recalled. “And I was really there. All alone. It was a very important moment in my life.”
When I asked how long his stunning ascent had taken, he admitted that he had no idea because he wasn't wearing a watch. “I began when I felt ready and I reached the top at sundown.”
MARC WAS A YOUNG and ambitious climber. He was also a sponsored climber with a growing reputation and fol- lowing. He acknowledged that this could lead to unhealthy pressure: “It is undeniable that I have been manipulated by the media and popular culture and that some of my own climbs have been subconsciously shaped through what the world perceives to be important in terms of sport.”
But Marc understood what was most important to him and tried to discard the things that were not. One essential mo - tivation was aesthetics. “If it’s not beautiful, I’m not real - ly interested,” he said. He took a look at the South Face of Aconcagua but walked away because it wasn’t beautiful. The Torres – beautiful. The Emperor Face – beautiful. Two routes in the Rockies that met his criteria were the north faces of Mt. Alberta and North Twin. When I asked him about the Greater Ranges, he suggested the North Face or West Wall of Changabang, the North Face of Thalay Sagar and the South Pillar of K2. Finally, there's what he considered a “fanta - sy climb” – the Shining Wall of Pakistan’s Gasherbrum IV, climbed in 1985 by Voytek Kurtyka and Robert Schauer.
Marc would have considered climbing it with a partner, but wondered if that would have been much of an advantage, since the protection is so bad on the route. “It’s such a beau - tiful face,” he enthused. “Climbing for me is a combination of aesthetics, adventure and athletics.”
Despite his hard-ass performances and ambitious objectives, Marc was a cerebral person. He wanted to write a book about his experiences, but as he wrote on his blog: “One of the great contradictions of climbing writing is that the bigger and deeper the experience, the more difficult it is to write about.” However, he wasn’t afraid to keep learning, adding, “Of course the journey of learning never ends, but I've come to believe that the natural world is the greatest teacher of all, and that listening in silence to the universe around you is perhaps the most productive way of learning.”
Marc seemed to me a gentle and considerate soul as he talked about the people close to him. “I try to not worry my mother,” he said, with a genuine look of concern on his face. “Or others,” he added, almost as an afterthought. When he reflected on his life in the mountains to date, it was his Infinite Patience solo on Mt. Robson that reso - nated most deeply. “I feel like I’ll be really lucky if I ever have an experience like that again,” he said. “It’s impossi - ble to put your finger on.”
A Note from the Author: I have never met a climber with Marc’s rare combination of thoughtful intelligence, inspired creativity, brilliant talent and unassuming modesty. He was unique. I feel so privileged to have known him and am deeply saddened that his flame burned so briefly. – B.M.
