Yoho Valley Road

The Far Side area, "Hells Kitchen" is the fattest flow just right of center.

Spent a nice day out by myself on the Yoho Valley road. It was well above zero so I avoided the routes with big avalanche paths above them but found a couple sweet routes to climb. I started by going all the way back to the "Far Side" and climbed a nice route called "Hell's Kitchen (WI5, 150m)", it's not as bad as the name would suggest and was quite easy for the grade with perfect plastic ice. Feeling keen I headed back down the road to the "Iron Curtain" but bailed from about 30m up due to bad ice. It's in good shape though and I'd like to get back there with a parner before my ski tracks are gone! Before heading out I did a quick lap on Grovelling Gully (WI3, 80m).


"Iron Curtain", I tried the pillar on the right side of the main flow. The thinner line out right is WI4+.

All of the routes along the road appeared to be in great shape with the exception of L'Arimas de Algiers which is not fully formed. This might just be the most concentrated group of ice climbs anywhere in the Rockies, and yet almost nobody makes the 1hr ski to get back there! Weird!

J. Mills
http://www.cdnalpine.com/