French Kiss - Dec 2

We met up with Jollin and Claudia to check out the Quick and Dirty area's ice. Suprisingly enough, I had never been into this area because of scheduling conflicts in previous years. The weather was finally cooperating for ice as it had been cold all week long.


The walk into the climbs was a dream compared to our previous two weekends of ice climbing - only 15 minutes! We arrived at the base in no time. Brad and I headed to the left most side of the amphitheatre to climb French Kiss, while Jollin & Claudia stuck right on the main Quick & Dirty route. The climbs were very, very wet, In fact, at times it was like standing in the shower as everytime I looked up I got water in my eyes. My gloves were squishy soaked by the end of the route, and the rest of me was equally wet. The lead was fun and varied, although I dropped a tool ahlfway up and had to come down to retrieve it.

After I descended, we pulled the ropes so that Brad could lead the route. This was his most challenging lead on ice to date, and after a case of the Screaming Barfies he reached the top.

We never had a chance to switch routes with Jollin & Claudia, as everyone was wet and ready to go. Another day!

Wall Lake - Nov 16-17

Again , early season ice fever had taken hold. And for good reason too! We had scouted the climbs behind Wall Lake in Waterton on a ski tour last January. However, these climbs are threatened by a large avalanche slope so early season ascents are essential. As much as we hoped that our timing was good, the weather had not cooperated. Weeks of warm weather had created marginal conditions for ice climbing.

Brad, Jarred, and I left the car on Friday night with our ice climbing and overnight gear in our packs. We hoped to spend the weekend in the Wall Lake area exploring various smears. Mother Nature had other plans for us. Right from the get-go, things were troubled. As we walked down the now closed Akamina Parkway, it started to rain. The rain continued as we climbed the Akamina pass trail out of the National Park and into BC. This was not our only barrier, as violent winds earlier in the week had blown down many large trees over the trail. After hiking for 2 hours and hurdling 30-40 trees, we arrived on the shores of Wall Lake. We set up the tent and settled in for the night.

In the morning, we woke up and packed up our ice gear with high hopes. It didn't last long though - on our way over to the climbs we heard a loud noise that was unmistakeably the sound of an avalanche roaring over our climbing path. That sound, coupled with the likelihood of encountering unconsolidated mush ice encouraged us to turn around. We abandoned hopes of ice climbing and went back to pack up our tent and sleeping bags.

On our hike out, we ran into Scott and Willis. They continued on to the lake to have a look at the ice, but it wasn't long before they joined us at the Kilmorey for a beer. You can't win them all, eh?

Rocky Mountain Road Trip III

For one week every February colleges and universities accross the country close their doors for "Reading Week". While this week is desgined to give students a break from the daily grind and perhaps a chance to catch up on reading, little reading is actually done. For the past three years, we've used Reading Week as an opportunity to head out on a winter road trip of the Canadian Rockies. And while the people participating in the Rocky Mountain Road Trip varies slightly each year, I'm proud to say I'm the only person who's gone on all three trips.

This year, Kelly, Jarred, Brad, and I had plans to head Yoho National Park. This park is a winter mecca that none of us had really spent a significant amount of time in. Our initial plan was to head west to Fernie for a night, then up the Radium highway to Yoho for several days. We hoped to get in a number of solid days ice climbing, and maybe a ski tour or two. Here's the summary of how the trip went .....

Saturday, February 17
Travel and Eating

I was tied up all day with a Cadet shooting competition, so we couldn't leave until that evening. When I got home, we got busy loading up vehicles and doing last minute checks to make sure we had everything we needed. There was no way we were going to fit all four of us (plus gear) in one vehicle, so Kelly and Jarred paired up in Jarred's vehicle, and Brad and I loaded up into mine (equipped with Brad's satellite radio, oh yeah!). After running some last minute checks and errands, we hit the road. We got to Fernie around 9PM, and Lezlie and Adam were there waiting for us. I work with Lezlie at the store, and this was the first chance I had to make it out to their Fernie "ski apartment". After Lezlie had stuffed us all with rounds of chili, buns, and desert we headed over to her friend's "cabin" to spend the night. The "cabin" was an incredible log home with multiple bedrooms and a hot tub. After some more cookies and conversation, we finally went to bed at 1:00 AM. It was such a treat to stay there.....

Sunday, February 18
Fernie and the Yoho trek

After sleeping in, we woke up to snow in Fernie. The snow was REALLY coming down in heavy blobs, and it was a really beautiful sight. We went back over to Lezlie and Adam's and Lezlie cooked a feast of a breakfast for us. Our original plan for Sunday was to leave early and climb some ice near a hot springs on the way up to Yoho. However, due to our late start and Lezlie's great cooking we were moving a bit slower than planned. Also, Kelly and Jarred were more than happy to spend week eating cookies on Lezlie's couch, so convincing them to leave took a couple of hours. We finally got out the door at around 2 PM, and were on our way up to Yoho! The first 30 minutes of the drive were stormy, but we had clear skies and roads the rest of the way.

When we finally got to Yoho National Park, we had difficulties finding the campground we were supposed to stay at. This resulted in us several illegal U-turns on Hwy 1 and navigating some snow filled pullouts. Jarred's car got stuck in one of those pullouts, and now we had the "fun" task of trying to push him out onto the #1 while avoiding traffic. After a bit of digging, a stranger stopping to help us, and a ghost car pulling over to turn his emergency lights on for us we got Jarred un-stuck. After another couple of "shithooks" and squeezing in behind a semi blocking the road we arrived at the campground.

We set to work setting up our tents. Jarred and Kelly decided to set their tent up inside the picnic shelter on a bed of snow, while Brad and I dug a snow pit out beside the cookshelter to set our tent up in. After a bit of work, everyone settled into bed for our first night of camping on the trip.

Monday, February 19
Ice Climbing - Hamilton Falls WI3 III

This was our first day of ice climbing, and we were anxious to get going after 2 days of lethargy. After consulting the guide book at breakfast, we decided to climb Hamilton Falls near Emerald Lake. Apparently it is a popular tourist spot in the summer and was an short but interesting place to climb in the winter. After driving to the parking lot and gearing up, we headed out on what we thought was the trail to the falls. After travelling a couple hundred metres, we were corrected by a skiier we ran into. From there we followed an old trail through the trees to try and meet up with the area we were supposed to be in. While we used up lots of engery and time doing this, it was pretty scenic and snowy. After meeting up with the correct trail and skiing up, we were at the base of the falls in about 30 minutes.

This was a cool spot to climb, and I was very excited to lead it. After gearing up, I headed up the climb which was short but enjoyable. There was a tense moment though, as at one point I accidentally kicked a hole through the ice to expose a 2 foot gap and rushing water underneath. This is generally not good in ice climbing, and made me a little nervous. However, it was good for a laugh when I got to look at it again on the way down. After I had built an anchor in solid ice up top, Brad climbed up to join me. From here we rappelled down, and let Kelly and Jarred have a turn at climbing it.

We all climbed the route a couple of times in a couple of different ways and had some fun. We had the most fun laughing at Jarred as he groaned and complained about the "leg cramps" he was experiencing a mere 5 feet off the ground. After packing up, we descended the trail we came in on, which was a little tricky on telemark skis with a heavy pack. I fell lots, and was tripped up a few times by sharp switchbacks and trees over the trail. When we got back to the car, we took a walk near the lake and Emerald Lake lodge. It was really beautiful there, and it definately looked like a nice place to stay. After a short time, we headed back to camp and made supper. Everything takes longer in the outdoors, and even longer yet in the winter. Once we were done our "housekeeping" we crawled back in to our our crowded tents and warm sleeping bags.

Tuesday, February 20
Ice Climbing - Johnston Canyon

We slept in a little bit later than we'd hoped, and by the time we got the stove going and Kelly and Jarred shook out of their tent it was already mid morning. After breakfast and a stop in Lake Louise to fill up water bottles, we were on the road to Johnston's Canyon, a popular tourist trap in both winter and summer. We hit the parking lot at 12:30 and were informed by a tour guide that there were already 12 ice climbiers on the falls at the end of the canyon. Because it was so late and we were too lazy to go anywhere else we decided to press on.

After hiking in and discovering a throng of other climbers, we geared up and waited for some ice to open up. I led the pitch and set up an anchor beside some Brits who'd come over for an ice climbing holiday. We played around on that stretch of ice for a while, and when the more difficult ice to our left opened up we jumped on it for some easy WI4. Brad even attempted a traverse onto a hanging icicle near the top.
At around 4:30 we decided to pack up and head for home. The hike out went by quickly, and before we knew it we were back at camp and tucked into our sleeping bags for the evening.

Wednesday, February 21
Waterworks - near Field

After a few days of sleeping in, Brad and I decided we would get an early start on the day and let Kelly and Jarred catch up. Brad's cousin Danny was coming out from Calgary to try ice climbing for the first time, and he was leaving early to accomodate our start time. Unfortunately for him, the rental agency didn't open until 7:30, so he was a bit later getting out to Field. To kill time while waiting for him we did a driving tour of Field. A very small town, but pretty nice.

When Danny arrived we headed out to the Waterworks, a small seep of ice that would be our playground for the day. We would have liked to have tried something longer or harder, but with the avalanche hazard and the size of our party we opted for a simpler choice. Trailbreaking into the route was difficult as there was often snow past our hips. Brad broke trail most of the way, which was no small feat with a pack on. After about 45 minutes we reached the base of the route and got set up. In no time, Jarred and Kelly joined us, as it was quicker for them to follow our trail. I led the short WI3 pitch and established an anchor up top. Brad seconded up after me, and we traversed right to set up a second anchor. This second rope (Danny's) would hang over a small rock band....making for some fun top-roped mixed climbing. We rapped soon after, and spent the day playing around on both rock and ice. Brad also did his first lead on ice, yay!

Because the climbing was limited and pretty easy, we packed up early. Kelly and Jarred were headed home that night, so they wanted to get an earlier start on the driving. After they packed up and Danny left it was pretty quiet around the campsite with just Brad and I. That meant an 8:00 bedtime was possible, which was awesome for recovery!

Thursday, February 22
Paradise Valley Ski Tour - Lake Louise

We woke up early and went about making breakfast and striking camp. Today we'd be leaving Field and heading to Lake Louise to do a ski tour in the Paradise Valley area. We made good time in the morning, and were in Lake Louise by 8. After fueling up and a few phone calls, we headed to the trailhead to gear up.

The trail started out following the Moraine Lake road, which was groomed for the first few kilometres. After that, we turned off into the trees, and made several turns before ending up on the trail into Paradise Valley. This is a popular summer trail that takes visitors past Mt. Temple and into the Grand Sentinel. The views were supposed to be fantastic, but after we broke out of the trees we noticed that clouds had started to roll in. The views were still beautiful, but clouds obscured the peaks in the distance. We continued to follow the trail for some distance, until coming to a fork in the ski trails. The guidebook was incredibley vague, as per usual (one paragrpah of description for 20kms), so we weren't really sure of which way to go. We ended up going right, and picking the wrong trail. The trail we followed was someone's descent route, and we ended up climbing a very steep hillside up into an alpine meadow. We were a little unnerved at this point, as the avalanche conditions weren't great and we could feel the snowpack squeaking underneath us so we made the decision to retreat. After taking our skins off, we ripped some turns through the fresh powder in the trees. Naturally, Brad fared much better than I, but I still managed to make it down with both eyes and all four appendages. From there, we skiied back out to the car and called it a day.

Soon enough, we loaded the car and headed east on the #1. We were extremely excited at the prospect of a shower that night at Scott and Jodi's house!

Friday, February 23
Ice Climbing - The Junkyards

We got off to a bit of a late start, as it was nice to enjoy the comforts of hard shelter. We'd been living out of a tent for the past four days, so sleeping in and laundry were high on the priority list. After we had a make-up session with civilization, we headed to the Junkyards for some easy Ice Climbing.

Brad and I set up a top-rope and played around for a bit before we were joined by Scott and Jodi. They'd finished their morning training, and had come up to try ice climbing for the first time. After gearing them up in our equipment and some delicated footewear switches they both gave it a go and had a great time. Scott particularly enjoyed it, as evidenced by his comment to me a few weeks later: "Things are going okay for me, but there hasn't been nearly enough ice climbing in my schedule". It was a relaxed day of fun.

Saturday, February 24

Cross Country Skiing

Travel Home

Once again, it took us a little while to get going in the morning - I was beginning to think that we'd caught Jarred and Kelly's affliction. However, we were soon at the Nordic centre for some cross country skiing. It was a beautiful day, and the trails were all in perfect condition as they had recently been track-set. This was Brad's first real experience at skate skiing, so for once I got to show him the ropes instead of the other way around. We had a great time exploring the trails of the centre, but definately felt the fatigue of the previous week in our legs. So after a few laps and some shooting with Scott we called it quits.

We were tired and ready to head home to our own beds. So we packed my car full of our gear, and headed home to Lethbridge. All in all, it was a fantastic trip. After all, it's not very often that you get to go ice climbing, ski touring, and cross country skiing in the perfect setting with some of your best friends. No complaints from me :)

Adventures in the Ghost Valley!

After much planning and discussion, Brad and I decided to head out on a mini-road trip on the weekend of Feb 10-11 to the Ghost/Canmore region. We planned to climb ice in the Ghost on Saturday, and cross country ski in Canmore on Sunday. I was super excited, as it was going to be an awesome weekend!

However, there were lots of setbacks from the get-go. Before we had even left Lethbridge on Friday afternoon, we were held up by an accident on Hwy 3. We wasted 45 minutes waiting in line to get on to Whoop-Up Drive, but we finally got out onto the highway. No trip through Calgary is complete without a stop at MEC, so we pulled in to go gear shopping (another favourite hobby of mine!). After an hour or so spent in the store drooling, and some big purchases, we got back out on the road. I was excited about our purchases, as we both got an awesome pair of softshell gloves on sale (!!), and Brad picked up a -30 down sleeping bag and a sleeping pad (!!). After stopping for a quick bite to eat in Cochrane, we were on our way into the Ghost region.

The Ghost river drainage is the first major drainage north of the Bow River (Hwy 1). It is northwest of Cochrane, and the turn-off to get into the area is only a few kilometres short of Rocky Mountain. I had been up here in October, but in winter and at night, everything looked very different. After some debating and map consulting, we turned off onto a rough secondary gravel road, with the hope that we were headed in the right direction. I was very unsure of the road we were on, and was really starting to think we were in the wrong place when we suddenly arrived at the top of the "Big Hill". The Big Hill marks the start of the descent to the Ghost River, and takes you into the 4x4 trails of the approach to the ice climbs. We were in the right place! We set up our camp at the top of the Big Hill, and were the only ones around. This was a relief as we knew the Ghost area and the route we planned to do were busy on the weekend, and we wanted to be the first in the next morning. After sorting our gear out and looking at the beautiful night sky, we settled into our sleeping bags for a cozy night outdoors at -20. Good times!

The next morning, we woke up at 6am to get ready for the day. After packing our gear up and a hurried oatmeal breakfast, we loaded into the truck to start the next portion of our adventure. Travel into the Ghost REQUIRES a 4x4 truck, as the roads are not plowed or maintained, and getting seriously stuck is quite common. Sure enough, 5 minutes into our drive, we were stuck about 150 m from the bottom of the big hill. We dug our way out, scouted a new route, and this time managed to make it about 200m before getting stuck. After digging out again, we were relieved to see another vehicle make it to the bottom of the big hill... at least we would have help. The guys in the other truck; Tyler, Taryn, and Rob, were mechanics from the Banff area, and for the next 40 minutes we alternated taking the lead, scouting routes, and getting stuck. We had finally made it through the worst snow by sticking close to the river, and were back on a decent trail when the crowds showed up. No word of a lie, car after car after car came down the big hill, and followed our well broken trail without a hitch. Bastards! We had done all of the work, and everyone else had simply shown up and driven in.

No less than 4 other vehicles followed us to our parking area, and as we got ready we could hear everyone talking that they wanted to do the same route as us. The race was on to get to the base of the route. The mechanic guys went out ahead of us, but luckily Brad and I hit the trail second, with another party tailing closely. Soon after we started walking, we came accross the first of 3 crossings of the Ghost River. Brad managed to skirt accross on a frozen log, but I slipped and plunged a boot into the icy water. After that, I gave up a little and tried to make a mad dash across the 1ft deep water to the other side with the hopes of staying dry. I failed miserabley. Both of my boots were now soaking and had squishy puddles in them. Ordinarily, this would mean the end of a day outdoors in the winter time, and I was quite upset. However, we decided to keep walking and planned to turn around if my feet started to freeze. We had come too far to turn back now!

After about 45 minutes, we reached the base of the route we wanted to climb. It is an ultrapopular climb called "This House of Sky". It is a series of small (5-20m) pitches that travel on 500 m through a canyon. The climbs were a little beat out by the amount of traffic that had been through there, but the route was fantastic. It was easy to see why it is one of the most popular in the Ghost. We soloed through most of the pitches as they were too short to rope up for, but we did use the rope for one longer pitch. When we reached the top of the canyon, we continued on up a bowl and met up with our mechanic buddies from before. After chatting for a while, we let them go ahead to a gulley on the right, while we checked out one to the left. The ice there was menacing, and we tried to climb a little smear around it, but got a little freaked and backed off. We ended up heading up the gulley to the right where the mechanics were, and hung out while they climbed the pitch.

After admiring the view for 30 minutes, I got a chance to lead the pitch up to the top. We were probably 100 vertical metres from the summit at this time, but we were running out of time to go for the top (next time). We started the descent with the mechanics, and they graciously let us rappel first as we were a smaller party. After 7 or so rappels and some downclimbing, we were at the base of the route and began our hike back to the car.

After 45 minutes of hiking and 2 more river crossings (I didn't care if I got wet this time), we were back at the truck. I finally got the chance to change into dry socks, after 9 hours of wetness. We exchanged email addresses with the mechanics and at 7:20, 12 afters we began, we drove out of the Ghost. It was a fantastic day.

We drove to Canmore that night and stayed at Scott and Jodi's. By the time we ate supper and showered, it was midnight, and we were exhausted after such a big day! Sleeping in the next morning was too easy, and we didn't get up until 11. This eliminated our skiing for the day, but we went to Banff to do a little shopping before heading home. Our journey wasn't over yet though, as an accident on the #1 and slippery roads made for an interesting drive home. In the end, it all worked out and our setbacks all weekend didn't get in the way of having a fantastic time!

Left Gulley - Ice Climbing, Waterton

Packing the night before

On Jan 28, Brad and I headed back to Waterton to do some ice climbing. This was my first time out this year, and his first time period. We were both very excited as we had shiny new gear that needed to be put to use and the weather was awesome! Once again, we left early in the morning to get on the ice before the sun had a chance to get at it. Our objective was the Left Gulley, an easy WI2 ice route that rambles on for 5 pitches on the south side of Mt. Crandell. After arriving and gearing up, we started our approach. The boys had been in here a couple of weekends prior and told us that the approach was 1.5 hours, but after doing some comparisons with info gathered from the internet, we concluded that they were in the wrong gulley. Our approach was pretty straightforward, and after 45 minutes of snow slogging, we arrived at the base of the first pitch of ice.

After putting our harnesses on and racking up, we reviewed some basics (you can never be too careful on the first climb!). Soon after that I was on my way up the first pitch. The climbing was easy, and the ice was super mushy due to the +10 temps the week before. It was so beautiful out, that I was relieved to find a spot in the shade to belay in after 60m of climbing. Usually it's the opposite in the winter, as we pray for sunny rest spots! I set up an anchor, and Brad climbed up.

In between the pitches of ice there were long snow gulleys that we unroped for and continued up. We climbed through 3 easy roped pitches and a bunch of snow gulleys before reaching the final crux amphitheatre. This area had a solid curtain of WI3 ice that had seen more shelter from the sun. As a result it was in much better condition, and the ice screws I put in were much more solid, but I still had to dig to get to the good ice. Up until this point, I had run things out quite a bit because of a lack of solid ice. After pulling through a 10m vertical section, it was an easy low-angled ice and snow ramp to the trees. Here, I set up our last belay and Brad climbed up while I enjoyed the views south over the Waterton Lakes and into Montana. Because of the warm weather, the lakes were almost completely thawed, and the snow was dissappearing. This was quite a contrast to the weekend before!

On the crux pitch

Once Brad got to the top, we took some photos, packed our gear, and prepared for the descent. After 45 minutes of scrambling down some scree and rock bands we were back at the car (8 hrs, car to car). Another great day successfully and safely completed! Climbing the Left Gulley was tons of fun, and only got us more excited for the ice climbing to come later in the season!