Camera + Laptop + Plane Ticket
We headed back to Lake Louise Falls to cap off what has been an amazing two weeks of ice climbing. Leading the last pitch over 100 meters above the base of the falls is something I’m not going to quickly forget. On the way back we found a promising looking bouldering line…
Click for more photos… Ok so we didn’t actually take to the ice sculptures with our axes, promise!
Walking up the frozen, blue-ice creekbed through Grotto Canyon has to be one of the more interesting approaches I’ve made. “His” and “Hers”, twin 15m ice pillars along with Grotto Falls set the tone for the day. I managed a lead on Grotto Falls and Hers before some mixed climbing to finish the day… We will all sleep well tonight.
Click for more… Even some Climbing! Thats me on “Hers”
The sun came out to shine as we drove the 200+ kilometres into British Columbia to the Gibraltar Wall. At around 150m tall it was to be climbed in 3 pitches. Turns out the sun was shining a little too hard for the ice and only the first two pitches were safe. It was however a great view down the valley from 100 meters up.
Well, I’ve been a little tardy of late with the updates. I’m going to blame it on the weather closing in on Canmore… Yesterday we trooped our way to Johnston Canyon, It’s a tourist spot with a nice pathway all the way to the main falls. The wall you can see is 55m tall at one end and very steep!!
Click for more images… some of ME!! That is Patrick leading up the far end of the canyon.
As I sat having breakfast the clouds rolled in, then the snow came down. So it was off to somewhere protected for the day’s climbing. Bear Spirit set the stage for some top-roping on grade 4 ice and a little M7 mixed. As we walked down the gully to the car the temperature began to plummet. It’s now -17 degrees Celsius.
It’s set to get to -30 degrees tonight and then warm up a little for tomorrow.
Jessie gave us one last piece of advice as we roped up… “It’s simple, Just don’t fall!”, and we didn’t. The last day of my Ice climbing course saw us lead* the four pitches up Chantilly Falls. A truly awesome day.
Thanks to Jessie for taking my camera up with him.*Leading a climb involves dragging the rope up behind you, placing ice screws in the ice as protection. If you fall, you fall past the last screw before the rope grabs. This is instead of the customary “top-roping” where the rope is secured at the top of the climb before you start.
The aim for today was to climb steeper ice in the morning and then overhanging mixed (rock and ice) routes in the afternoon. We hiked a good hour from the trail head into a place called Bear Spirit. The main ice pillar was about 15m tall and the surrounding rock routes were very, very overhung.
Click for more! All in all, another successful day. Props to Sarah for tearing up the mixed route.
Two pitches into the climb up Louise Falls is a mammoth cave with a spectacular view out over the lake and back to the Chateau.
If the ice doesn’t touch the ground… No problems. Mixed climbing means using Ice Tools on rock and ice to get to the top.
Click for more It’s just as much fun as climbing the ice…
I told you there was more to come, and here it is. Ice climbing in the gorge of Hafner Creek, Alberta Canada. Following a short hike you reach what could be described as an ice antitheatre. Streams cascade down the walls of the gorge and freeze to form the ice flows you see below.
Click For More For the record, Ice Climbing is Awesome!
