• Sept 25 – Brewer Buttress 5.6 (Castle Mountain, Banff)
• Oct 9 – Aftonroe 5.7 (Guides Rock, Banff)

Related posts:

1. Plenty of rock climbing
2. Rock and alpine continued

• July 24 –  Ha Ling NE Face 5.6 (Ha Ling, Canmore)
• August 1 - Morningside 5.7 (McGillivary Slabs, Bow Valley)
• August 4-6 Abbott Hut
• August 5 – Mt Lefory West Face II (Lake Louise)
• August 6 – Mt Victoria SE Ridge II attempt (Lake Lousie)
• August 12 – Mothers Day Buttress 5.6 (Cascade Mountain, Banff National Park)
• September 4 – Pitter Patter 5.8 attempt (McGillivary Slabs, Bow Valley)
• September 5 – Takakkaw Falls 5.7 (Yoho National Park)

Related posts:

1. Plenty of rock climbing
2. The best moderate ice climbs in The Rockies

• June 5 – Gooseberry 5.8 (Tunnel Mountain,  Banff)
• June 10 – Morningside 5.7 (McGillivary Slabs, Bow Valley)
• June 22 – Joy 5.7 (Mt Indefatigable, Kananaskis Country)
• July 1 – Brewer Buttress 5.6 attempt (Castle Mountain, Banff)
• July 2 – Highlight 5.8 (Kid Goat, Bow Valley)
• July 3 – Twilight Zone 5.6 (Kid Goat, Bow Valley)
• July 6 – The Fold 5.8 (Mt Kidd, Kananaskis Country)
• July 8 – Ha Ling NE Face 5.6 attempt (Ha Ling, Canmore)

Hopefully more details to follow.

Related posts:

1. Winter rock

After the ambitious but ill-timed outing to climb some rock back in March it was time to head back to Kid Goat wall and climb a multi-pitch route to really get this season going. I headed out with Jordan after a rough night of very little sleep and it looked like I was going to have to cancel but in the end I troopered on and in 45 minutes we went from rush hour in the city to trailhead in true Calgary fashion.

With the recent snow over the weekend we were worried that the routes would be wet but they looked in fine condition from the trailhead so we went for it. If you’re familiar with this crag you know that the first 15 minutes or so of the trailhead involves walking past a garbage dump. Not the most aesthetic approach but it’s over quickly. From there the trail is obvious and in about 30 minutes we were at the base of the routes. It was quite busy on this morning but we were game to climb any of the four routes so we just picked the one that had the group furthest up. We started out on Grey Waves (5.8) and because the party ahead was on this route we planned to finish on Keelhaul Wall (5.6) which intersects Grey Waves at the second belay.

We debated taking packs or not, we also debating rapping the route or walking off. We had a single rope but we didn’t want to carry packs and shoes so we decided to rap and if anyone started behind us we always had the option  for an uncomfortable walk off in rock shoes.

Jordan set off and linked the first to pitches which included the crux. He did a great job of route finding and in no time had me on second and I was climbing up. I was moving confidentially but probably a little too fast. Around 10m up my feet gave out and I fell onto the top rope before I knew what had happened. It wasn’t even a hard section but like I said I was trying to move too fast. This is a bad habit I developed ice climbing this past winter. I spent so much time following routes that I stopped paying attention to technique and treated every pitch like a race to the belay. Obviously things got better once I started to lead on ice and I started to pay attention again on second. I need to do the same on rock. I also need to lead on rock soon.

I got to the crux and it took me a few minutes of trying different holds and feet placements before it went for me but it went without hang dogging so I was pleased.

The rest of the climb was a lot of fun and unremarkable. Jordan really did a fine job leading every pitch and soon we had topped out.  TO save some time we decided to tandem rappel. It was something new for me but Jordan guided me through the setup and soon we were rappelling side by side. We decided to rappel past the first set of bolts from the top and try to reach the second bolts from the top. Bad idea. We were 2m short with a 60m single rope. We stretched and cajoled until we could clip into the anchors from above then one of us got good footing and unweighted  the rope by climbing up a bit to allow the other person to down climb the last metre. We decided not to skip anymore rap stations.

All told we were just around five hours from car to car and I’m guessing just less than four hours on the route. Pretty leisurely but it was a great day out in perfect weather and company.

Related posts:

1. Mt Hector – Unfinished Business

Let me get something out of the way right at the start. The few days preceding this trip were the first significant warm days of this late Spring. A very active Spring avalanche cycle had started the day before and we were well aware of this when we decided to make this trip. Our plan was to start early and finish early as conventional wisdom dictates for these conditions. As the day proceeded we started seeing avalanche activity much earlier than we expected. The temperature was around 10 degrees by 11am and solar heating was intense. This has been a strange year for snow and the snowpack has been challenging all winter. It also became apparent that we were in for a long day due to not being able to move very fast so our early finish was in jeopardy. Given all this, I feel in hindsight we should not have exposed ourselves to the risk presented by these factors and hazards. On the descent the snowpack was isothermal and we had to travel through some hazerdous terrain. I feel we did so as safely as possible and took every precaution to deal with what we were facing but at the end of the day the right scenario was to not be in that situation. I don’t know if we got lucky, I think we made good decisions and we were in control. I would argue being in the alpine always requires a degree of luck but I completely acknowledge that we exposed ourselves to more risk than necessary. The rest of this post describes the trip as we faced it and doesn’t belabour the hazards and risks.

Mt Hector is regarded as a classic ski mountaineering objective. In the right conditions it’s possible to ski from your car to within 50m of the summit and after scrambling to the summit you can ski 1600 glorious meters back down to your car. To make the mountain even more appealing is the fact that it belongs to the covetted group of mountains in the Canadian Rockies with elevations higher than 11,000 feet.

The trailhead is located around 19km north of Lake Louise on the Icefields Parkway. We geared up and hit the trail by 9am making our way up Hector Creek with skis and skins. Travel was good and coverage was very good but it was obvious that full Spring thaw/freeze cycle was in affect. In no time we had reached the gully which represents the hazard crux of this route. There was a lot avalanche debris at the base of the gully and headwall. At this point we continued on skies until the frozen avalanche debris meant we had to proceed on foot.

The frozen conditions made for fairly good and fast boot packing so we made it to the top of the gully quickly at which point we decided the few layers we were wearing were too much so we stripped down  even further, basically down to t-shirts and it wasn’t even 11am yet.

We had reached the large alpine meadow where the snow was deeper and it was a very easy grade to ski up. We were also treated to another huge field of avalanche debris. We followed a track which took us down the middle of the meadow near some trees instead of traversing a higher line on a slope which could slide.  Eventually we got to another short steep section which was wind blown, rocky and frozen solid. Jordan and Chris dismounted the skies and boot packed it up but I decided to continue on skis. Without ski crampons that was a mistake. Near the crest of the steep section I slid backwards just enough to lose my footing and started to fall down the slope. There wasn’t any hazard at the bottom of the slope but I didn’t want to take my chances so once I saw some rocks sticking out I tried to make sure they would catch me without hitting them too hard. It worked and after some swearing and inspection I joined the guys at the top of the slope. This time I walked up.

From here you take a sharp right and can either ascend a long snow slope or hike up a moraine. After my experience on the previous short section of steep, icy snow Jordan and Chris decided to take off their skis and walk up the moraine. Ever the purist I decided to try the snow slope which offered great skining despite being long and steep. Those guys continued on foot on the moraine and I think I beat them to the top but I don’t know if they stopped to wait for me or each other so it’s hard to tell which path is faster.

Once I topped out on the slope we were in the shadow of Little Hector and also had our first view of the Mt Hector summit. Several hundred metres later we were on the glacier and decided to stop for lunch. We also decided not to rope up because there was so much snow and visibility was excellent.

After lunch we basically made one big push to the summit. Travel on the glacier was excellent. The snow was just soft enough to make for good travel without being too soft to require trail breaking. The grade is quite gentle until the last 300 vertical metres or so. By around 1pm or maybe a little later we heard and saw our first avalanche off Little Hector.  We continued to hear lots of activity from slopes to the East and a few more off Little Hector. I also saw a cornice failure triggered avalanche. We were in no danger on our skin track but we started thinking about the descent through avalanche terrain we had crossed earlier in the day. The temperature up to 3000m was still very warm but as we gained elevation we caught a Southerly wind and it got chilly so I donned my new Arc’Teryx softshell which I have to say performed very very well. Compared to my older North Face softshell I can only say that the cliché ”you get what you pay for” was reaffirmed for me once again. More on gear later.

After much slogging, hurting, drinking water, introspection, bargaining and just wishing the ascent would finish we made the last switchback for the summit block and finally caught up to Chris who had blazed a trail and was already in crampons and freezing while waiting for us. The summit of Hector is a rocky outcrop from the glacier and you reach a saddle between the true summit and a sub peak where a huge cornice greets you and overhangs the South side of Mt Hector. Being careful not to get too close to the cornice you have to hang out on this fairly steep slope to switch gear and go for the summit. We ended up digging out a ledge for ourselves and leave our packs and skis behind. We started for the summit with mountaineering axes. The first rock band was easily climbed and gave me some very pleasant flashbacks to ice climbing earlier this year. The snowy, rocky break in the block was vertical enough and required moves with the axe to make me feel at home. A short steep snow slope and another rock band later which was easier than the first rock band had us on the snowy summit with no more vertical metres to climb.

We smiled and took pictures and admired the amazing view. You can see clear to Lake Louise and Mt Temple and the endless summits around us. I’ll have to go back to my pictures and a topo to identify all the peaks we saw. It wasn’t very windy but having been on a glacier solar cooker all day made us feel the chill at the summit so after less than 10 minutes it was time to head down. Over the next few days I would reflect on that fact that you work so hard to attain a summit but when you get there, I don’t want to say you don’t enjoy it, but you’re hit with the fact that you’re only half way done your day and I personally can only afford myself a few moments of letting my mind go and enjoy the moment before my mind is back on task and thinking about the descent.

We downclimbed from the summit and back at our gear. Jordan hit us with the best surprise of the day. “Summit beer” he announced and busted out 3 cans of beer. Sweet! I enjoyed my sips but I knew I was dehydrated and didn’t think a can of beer would help the matter. We removed the skins from the skis and from the summit block had a very pleasant, easy and uneventful descent back to just above the alpine meadow were the snow conditions got much worse and we had to contend with the avalanche hazard we knew we’d have to deal with eventually.

I stepped out onto the slope where I fell earlier in the day and immediately felt the snow settle and Chris saw a crack propagate behind me. The snow was isothermal and I had broken through to ground where I could tell large boulders had created cavities under the isothermal snow which had now trapped my leg. I quickly and gently as I could dug out my leg and by now Chris had spotted some old tracks to skiers left which would allow us to move very quickly through this section and get to the bottom of the slope and out of harms way. I still had the unenviable task of slogging through the unsupportive snow to get to the old track but once Jordan and Chris had moved out of the way I made my way over and eventually joined them. That was descent crux #1 out of the way, now we had to get down the gully to Hector Creek. It was at this point we heard a huge crack and looked down valley to see a large avalanche streaming down the headwall cliffs over Hector Creek. We watched in silence until it was down to a stream over the cliffs and one of us commented that the avalanche likely hit our up trail and if we were 30 minutes faster … well you get the idea.

We continued on skis over the very heavy and unsupportive snow in the meadow above the headwall until we had reached the top of the gully. The conditions in the gully had completely deteriorated to the point were we knew we couldn’t ski it and had to proceed on foot. We went down the first section one at a time and regrouped above the final steep section of the gully which was now a very strong stream of water under a very weak looking snow bridge. Evidence of the avalanche we had seen 30 minutes earlier was everywhere and very sobering. I looked to our left and noticed a tree which would let us rappel down past the snow bridge and we were pretty sure a 60m rope would suffice. To be safe we decided the first person should be lowered to survey the rappel and have the full 60m to use. Jordan went first and was able to get down into the gully far enough to avoid the weak snow bridge but still on the avalanche debris. Then Chris lowered me and finally he rappelled and we move fast down the debris field and onto Hector Creek.

A 10 minute ski down Hector Creek on still good coverage had us back at the car and on our way home.

For a full picture galley please visit my Picasa album.

View Mt Hector in a larger map

Related posts:

1. Mt Hector (attempt)

The next morning we met our guide Jeff at Lagaan’s. We’ve done several trip with Jeff so we caught up on family and adventures and headed out to the trailhead.

Parked on the Icefields Parkway at the trailhead.

Mt Hector is a pretty awesome ski mountaineering objective if for no other reason than you can literally ski straight from your car and ski down straight to your car at the end of the day. Soon we were skinning up the drainage called Hector Creek I think. Thirty minutes later we were at the gully which the guidebook calls the crux of the ascent. Not because it’s difficult but because it’s a death trap in terms of avalanche exposure. At this point Jeff decided to do a quick refresher on avalanche rescue and safety. We got out our transceivers and right away we were confronted with the rental unit from MEC malfunctioning. We had tested it the night before but we were standing next to each other when we tested it and it turns out the issue was with range  finding. The gear malfunction was the crux of this day. We couldn’t continue and so we made plans to return the next day.

We were determined not to waste the day so when we got back to Lake Louise we decided to put on the skis and go to the back of Lake Louise and try to climb an ice route called Cable Gullies. This way we got some more mileage on our skis and we couldn’t really ask for a more beautiful place to idle the time away until we went back to Hector the next day.

Cable Gullies WI2 15m

On our way to Cable Gullies we got a great view of Lousie Falls which is in great shape for this time of year. I’ll leave it to the reader to decide what’s very very wrong in this picture. Hint; it has to do with the climbers.

Louse Falls WI5 110m

That evening we headed to Banff for a big pasta meal and back early to our hostel for a good nights rest.

The next morning we met Jeff again at Lagaan’s and we were off to the trailhead and up the drainage in no time. The first interesting part of this route is the gully which gains the alpine area and meadows below the glacier. There was a ton of avalanche debris in this area so we had to take off our skis and boot pack up the gully.

Boot packing up the gully.

After we topped out of the gully we put on our skis and continued through a meadow with sparse trees which was threatened by avalanche terrain from every side. We stayed in the middle of the terrain and slowly made our way out of the trees and up toward the moraine protecting the tow of the glacier. At the moraine we had to remove skis and put them on our packs for the long slog to the top. I’ve heard in other years this moraine can be covered in snow and it’s possible to skin up. I’ll believe it when I see it!

Ascending the moraine.

Stopping for a picture at one of the clear moments we had.

More moraine.

Climbing the moraine wasn’t that bad. Carrying skis on your pack is much more stable than it looks and soon we were back on the skis and skinning toward our objective. We hadn’t gained the glacier yet but we were close. I should mention the weather was fairly unstable on this day. The sun would try to peak out every once in a while but otherwise we had white out conditions. It was also snowing on and off and a cold wind would whip up to remind us that these are winter conditions in the alpine and Spring is nowhere to be seen.

We continued to the toe of glacier and decided to stop for lunch and see what the weather would do. We also geared up for glacier travel at this point. After around 30 minutes we decided to push on in the same conditions we had faced all day. With rope on we started ascending to the summit. Visibility would come and go and I would say at the most it was 300m when it was really clear. We hadn’t seen the summit block all day. Being on the glacier meant we were skiing over and between crevasses. We stayed climbers right to avoid the biggest holes we saw looming to our left. To our right was also the east face of Little Hector. It was reassuring to have those rocks features there to guide us but on our descent those very cliffs started spitting avalanches down as the new snow was loading the gullies.

Roped up for glacier travel.

We got to within 400m of the summit and our goal of reaching the top seemed less and less likely as the weather continued to deteriorate. Jeff stopped just before a crevasse and said that poor visibility was causing him to be reactive to crevasses as opposed to proactive which is the best way to route find and travel on a glacier. All the new snow was making the descent seem more and more appealing but it also become evident that we would have to ski down on rope because of the poor visibility and the fact that our up track was disappearing a few minutes after we passed by. The best decision was to turn back. I felt good up to this point. My conditioning seemed good for this route and I feel I would have been able to make the summit if we could have pushed on.

Ropes off on our way down.

The snow quality was very nice on the way down. After a short descent with the rope on we were off the glacier and were able to enjoy some very nice turns. I have to say I found the experience of skiing in an alpine environment very exhilarating. As if by some freak of timing the skies cleared up enough to let us see where were going down and it was stunning. In fact it cleared up enough that we stopped and considered heading back up. But that lasted for about 10 minutes before it was snowing horizontally and it was white everywhere.

We really enjoyed the descent on the new snow.

We did take a wrong turn to avoid the moraine we had to walk up and it turned out we had to gain some metres to get us back on track. For some reason this little off track excursion really killed me. My legs started feeling really heavy and I was very slow moving on the rock and snow we had to traverse and climb. In hindsight I think most of the affect was psychological. I had reserved myself to the fact that we were skiing all the way to the car and of course in the alpine you can never make such assumptions. I didn’t want to boot pack any more and my mind was telling my body to rebel. I need to work on this.

Ascending on the descent.

Jeff and Jonathan waiting for my slow ass.

I really was having a lot of fun!

Nothing like skiing in the alpine. It's wild and exhilarating.

We got back on track and skied all the way back to the first gully and were able to side step it all the way down to the drainage and in no time we were back at the car. And yes if we didn’t have to cross the road we would have literally skied to our car.

Overall it was a fantastic day. I was with people who’s company I enjoy. I got my first taste of a big ski mountaineering objective and I felt good about being able to complete it. I’m glad because this is as easy as it gets for ski mountaineering.

Gear wise I felt I was very well prepared. My ski gear performed awesome. For having new boots I didn’t get any hot spots and the skis performed very well despite not being as “fat” as most people venture into the backcountry with. My pack was perfect for carrying skis and very comfortable. My layers were perfect and I felt comfortable all day despite the intermittent cold winds that would whip up once in a while. I still need to get a decent soft shell as my old North Face shell is worn out and not very water repellent. Also I think I need to invest in a synthetic insulation layer. My down sweater would have been soaking wet even under a hard shell and rendered useless.

I’m planning to go back in a couple of weeks to finish this route. Stay tuned.

More picture here.

The GPS track below was from the SPOT messenger so it’s very rough but gives a good idea of the route we took.

View Mt Hector in a larger map

Related posts:

1. Grotto Falls Redux

Topping out on my first pitch of ice ever! Junkyards Dec 2003.

My first time climbing ice. I look happy so I must have enjoyed it. Junkyards Dec 2003.

My most memorable emotion is that I had fun. It wasn’t very cold despite how I look in the picture above and flailing my feet and arms into ice seemed totally natural. I even did my first rappel outdoors.

My first rappel outdoors at Junkyards Dec 2003.

A few days later we headed into Grotto Falls. We hiked in by headlamp which doesn’t necessarily mean we had an early start. This was December after all. By this point I had my own helmet but everything else was rented or borrowed. I now know that Grotto was in very thin conditions and it was way more vertical than anything I had climbed at Junkyards just a few days before. Chris led the pitch to the ledge and bolted belay and I followed. About half way up my crampon came off. I was so incompetent at this sport that I couldn’t even get the most important parts of it right. I do distinctly remember being able to continue climbing because there were these little foot ledges which I later learned meant the ice was very kicked out. I remember even commenting to Chris that I could have climbed it without crampons. Cocky even back then!

Topping out P1 Grotto Falls Dec 2003.

From there I belayed Chris on P2. Look how thin it was in comparison to this year. I know it’s comparing December to April but still. Chris would go on to place 2 screws on that pitch.

Chris leading P2 Grotto Falls Dec 2003.

Looking up at P2 Grotto Falls April 2011.

I put on my crampons properly and went on to finish Grotto Falls for what would be my first multi pitch ice route! From the top we had to rappel off a v-thread which was another first and pretty scary for a beginner.

Rappelling Grotto Falls Dec 2003.

His & Hers Dec 2003.

More pictures from my first ice climbing experience can be found here.

What’s interesting is that I never went ice climbing again until this season (2010/2011). I took 7 years off! I continued to indoor climb and the odd time out sport climbing. I tried my hand at some multi pitch trad climbing. Those attempts deserve their own posts. I also continued to hike but that’s about it. Then in 2009 I took a six day mountaineering course and it opened up a whole new world. Since then I’m scrambling more. I’ve done several alpine routes and having had a taste of ice climbing on Mount Aberdeen this past Fall I wanted to go out and try climbing ice again. My main goal was to get good enough to move on alpine ice very quickly. Even be able to lead some pitches. I have had almost 14 days on ice this season. I figure I’ve done around 40 pitches ranging from WI2 to WI5+. I’ve soloed Chantilly Falls. I’ve even led a few pitches. I don’t know if I met my goal for helping me move faster on alpine ice but it was a blast trying.

Related posts:

1. Chantilly Falls – Evan Thomas Creek
2. Troll Falls Ice Climbing
3. Practice building Abalakov anchors

I was bored and as I contemplated the end of ice climbing season, Full Metal Jacket started showing on TV and so I was inspired to compose this.

These are my ice tools. There are many like them, but these ones are mine.  They are my life.  I must master them as I must master my life.  Without me my tools are useless.  Without my tools, I am useless.

I must strike my tools true.  I must strike with more force than the brittle ice can offer in resistance. I must make it stick before I come unstuck.  I will.  My tools and I know that what counts is not the grades we climb,  the gear we adorn, or the approach we struggle with.  We know that it is the sticks that count.  We will make good sticks.

My tools are human, even as I am human, because it is my life. Thus, I will learn it as a brother.  I will learn its weaknesses, its strengths, its parts, its accessories, its picks and its grips.  I will keep my tools sharpened and ready, even as I am geared up and ready.  We will become part of each other.

Neither delaminating ice nor brittle ice will weaken our resolve. Before JoJo’s guidebook I swear this creed.  My tools and I are the senders of routes.  We are the masters of waterfall ice.  We are the saviors of my life. So be it, until every route has been sent and there’s no remaining first ascents.

Inspired by the Rifleman Creed. You might remember the creed from this movie.

Related posts:

1. Gloves for ice climbing

This got me and a friend thinking. What could we link together for a very fun day out in the mountains but be within our abilities? We want to start with something moderate this Spring so we’re thinking of ice and rock and it turns out there’s quite a bit to choose from in the Bow Valley or Kananaskis alone. Like Gadd and Slawinski who wanted to do something with the “classics”  but choose climbs of moderate grade. I defer to Will Gadd to define classic in this context.

“Classic” means it typifies its genre, and is a good day out on its own. None of these routes are cutting edge in difficulty, but all are respectable routes, the sort one could date and feel good about.

To fulfil our moderate requirement we’re thinking of ice routes in the WI4 range and rock routes up to 5.6. Moonlight would be an obvious grade 4 choice but I climbed it earlier this season and we both feel The Professor Falls (III 280m WI4) would be a better choice and give us a more alpine feel. For rock I think the only choice is on Yam. THE classic yam moderate route is probably Grillmair’s Chimney (5.6), although I’m lobbying hard for Easy Street (5.4) just to give us a chance of finishing this crazy idea of ours.

We’re planning to do this in the next few weeks. Do you have any suggestions for other moderate linkups?

Related posts:

1. The best moderate ice climbs in The Rockies

With this statement followed by some text messages and instant messages we had a plan. Routes on Yamnuska should be clear so we planned to do Grillmair’s Chimney. The final decision could only be made once we saw the route up close so we decided to take ice gear in case we had to go to plan B which involved climbing ice.

As we pulled off the Trans Canada Highway we could see that Yam was indeed in fine shape but it was a little too late to start on any of those routes so we went to plan B. I should note that during the drive up plan B changed to more rock and plan C become ice. We looked at Doorjamb Mountain and Loder Peak and a series of cliffs with short multi-pitch rock routes. We settled on Kid Goat and a route called Twilight Zone; four pitches, 5.6. As we scanned the cliffs we kept getting teased by the blue ice on Coire Dubh Integrale (500m WI3 (M5) 5.4-5.6) leading up to Loder Peak. The fact that we contemplated it is a little insane so that’s all I have to say about that.

Kid Goat it is. Chris is currently reading Exterme Alpinism so he proceeded to talk me out of taking my gaiters and even thought about leaving behind our headlamps. We have to travel light he said and besides the route is dry. I basically won’t go to the bathroom in my house without a headlamp so there’s no way I’m leaving it behind but I left my gaiters behind. Please note this for what I’m about to describe.

We head toward the dump (yes a waste dump in the Rockies) and the trail taking us to the base of the route. There’s nothing like walking next to a large heap of garbage in the foreground of one of the most beautiful vistas in the front ranges to make you hate all humanity. We note the gusting winds, I would estimate 40-60 km/h but otherwise the the skies are clear and the guidebook has clear instructions to reach the route  … in the summer. As we leave the dump behind we lose the trail and none of the landmarks are obvious under the snowy winter conditions. We end up heading into the trees and just bee lining for the cliffs of Kid Goat. I wish I could complain about the bushwacking but the snow drifts and post holing would make any bushwalking seem like a walk on a city path. At points we were wading through thigh high snow and the rest of the time we were post holing up past our knees. There’s no greater tease in the world than an unsupportive crust. Just when you think it’s going to hold your weight, the damn thing gives away and your cursing with a hard crust layer digging into your shins or thighs. These are the perfect conditions for gaiters, the ones I left behind in my car. These are also perfect conditions for proper winter boots. The ones I decided to wear but that Chris left behind because he thought approach shoes would be more appropriate. We kept bee lining because this was only supposed to be a 30 minute approach.

Finally we get to a clearing and we’re at the base of the final slope heading up to the routes. We left the car 1.5 hours ago. So much for the 30 minute approach. Ahead of us is a heavily treed 30 degree slope with thigh deep snow. Why am I all of a sudden considering avalanche hazard on a day which we thought we would be tip toeing through the meadow to climb warm, dry rock? We decide to forge ahead and this was the crux of the approach. The slope made the deep snow almost impassable but just over 2 hours after we left the car we had rock in front of us. But was it the correct route? We had no idea and because the base of the route was under a lot of snow we couldn’t look for the tell-tale cave which marked the bottom of Twilight Zone. We thought it was over to the climbers left but the slope we had to traverse looked pretty sketchy so we decided the best route is the one in front of you so let’s climb from here. We stomped out a 4 feet long by 1 foot deep snow ledge so we could gear up and got comfy in our new home. Making the transition from snow to rock was going to be tricky so we decided to climb the first pitch in our boots. Well my boots and Chris in his approach shoes. Sure enough just leaving the snow ledge to get feet on rock took several careful attempts but then Chris was off on lead.

About 10m up, having placed gear and clipped into a bolt he announces over the hallowing wind that he knows where we are. “It’s 5.8″ is all I heard after that.  Did I mention the wind had picked up a little? From our home on the snow ledge we were getting pounded by huge updrafts and gusts along the face of the cliff that would constantly force me to brace against the rock face as I belayed Chris. But he kept climbing and just below the crux decided he had to switch to rock shoes. He moved very confidently through the crux but it was slow going and at that point I realized we weren’t going to finish this route but the fun wasn’t over. I’ll skip over the boring rock climbing parts, this day was all about the approach and the conditions on what we thought would be an easy day on dry rock.

Chris eventually decided to bail. He said the moment he realized he had to bail was when an updraught was so strong that he was momentarily lifted off the rock as he was making a friction move. These were the worst wind gusts he’d ever led in and it wasn’t going to go today. But before deciding to bail  he setup a top rope so I could climb the crux. I did all my climbing in boots which was an awesome feeling. I don’t know why I feel so badass climbing in mountaineering boots. Sadly I had to hang on the crux, but I lowered to the bottom of the crux move and got it on my second try. I can’t believe how much fun it was. All my moves were confident and I felt strong despite all the ill feeling I had developed toward rock climbing this winter as my love for ice climbing blossomed. It was obvious that all the time at the indoor gym and all the ice climbing had helped. My arms were mostly in the right position, I had confidence in my feet placements, even with boots and I was constantly looking at my feet. My arms never got pumped and at one point I was so excited I was whopping and hollering into the insane wind. I knew nobody could hear me but it felt so good. Once I got to the bail anchor I got lowered and we packed up and made short work of the steep snow slope by plunge stepping all the way back to the the flatter trails. Of course on the way out we found all the right trails and realized we missed the correct turn off by about 100m which means we could have avoided some serious snow/bushwhacking.

It turns out we climbed the bottom of Grey Waves, a route to the climbers right of our objective and rated 5.8. We were nowhere near our goal for the day but it was a lot of fun. We were upbeat and the day reinforced my philosophy that outdoor pursuits are less about the achievements and more about two things above all else. Be safe so you can return home to your family and have fun so you can enjoy the pursuit and the people who choose to pursue with.

No related posts.