BURSTOn April 14, Connor Runge made the first ascent of The Great Canadian Oil Change 5.14c in Skaha Bluffs Provincial Park in British Columbia. The new route is on Great White, one of Skaha’s most impressive walls. The route is 40+ meters long and it packs a punch – pumpy throughout with cruxy boulder sequences.
“Yes!” said Runge on Instagram. “The Skaha proj went down yesterday. After fighting my way through the crux I rested in a knee bar and survived the last 20 meters, crimping my way to the top of the newest addition to Great White.
“Last spring Brandon Dobroskay had the vision for the line, Adam Tutte slammed some bolts into the cliff, and I projected the route a few times before returning in the Fall with [Anna Hazelnutt]. After a difficult fall season, I came up empty-handed until returning this spring, where I teamed up with a lot of rad people and sent the rig. Stoked for the new addition to the bluffs.”
Runge is based in Western Canada. He has repeated many of Squamish’s hardest sport pitches, including Spirit Quest 5.14d, Young King Dave 5.14c, and Killer Queen 5.14b. In summer 2023, he made the first ascent of Spectre del Norte 5.14c at Paradise Wall, linking Spirit of the West 5.14a and Queen Bee 5.13c via a hard boulder problem. In the fall of 2025, he established a variation of Creepshow 5.13d in the Grand Wall forest called Banana Man 5.14d, paying tribute to late climber Dave Tan. Last year, Runge and Anna Hazelnutt made the first free ascent of El Chaman Loco, a 14-pitch 5.14b in El Salto, Mexico. The line has yet to see a continuous free ascent.
To learn more about his The Great Canadian Oil Change first ascent, I reached out to Runge. You can read our short interview below.
Interview with Connor Runge
Brandon Dobroskay had the vision for the line, and Adam Tutte bolted it. How did you find out about it?
Brandon was on a tear last spring (and still is) with new routing in the Skaha Bluffs. He was seeking out cool new lines to fill out the existing classic crags that dot the canyons of our beloved bluffs. He saw the potential for a cool 40-metre line up the Great White panel – possibly the most iconic face in Skaha. He told Adam about his interest in the line, and Adam went out and bolted it! I was training in the bluffs that spring and was at the crag sending the existing 5.13+’s when Adam bolted what became the Great Canadian Oil Change.
What drew you to the line?
The line is sick! I mean, how could you not want to rip a long, singular, hard-looking pitch like that? Doing a new line up to the most epic face in the Bluffs is an absolute dream for me, so when I saw it, I was super keen to take it on.
Can you give a brief breakdown of the route?
For sure, after cruising up the beginning slabby apron at the bottom of the cliff, the route goes into a power endurance 5.13+ section, probably around 5.13c, for 20(ish) metres, ending on a good hold at the mid anchors of an existing 5.13a, Air Test. After shaking off the pump, you have to rage this nails boulder problem that felt pretty difficult. After many attempts, I climbed through the bouldery crux into a strenuous knee bar, a medium rest, that allowed me to find some sort of recovery for the next 20 metres of 5.13+ terrain. A punchy 5.13c crux on tiny edges leading into 5.12 climbing that guided me to the anchor and ended my journey on the Great Canadian Oil Change.
What unlocked it for you this season compared to last?
I actually returned with the mindset that I was going to find “better beta” this season, but I ultimately couldn’t find anything better than what I was doing last year. I really focused on a lot of training this winter while I was away in Colombia. I would do a lot of finger boarding after days out climbing that allowed me to get my fingers on a new level, lots of upper body training, lots of time climbing, and lots of flexibility training. I also had a pretty good bouldering trip to Morocco that really helped me with the crux. I just had to get better, stronger, and more flexible.
The post Connor Runge Opens Epic New 5.14c in Skaha appeared first on Gripped Magazine.