Thursday, March 4, 2010

Nordegg Ice Festival


The Shunda wall at the Nordegg Icefest!

On the weekend I headed down to Nordegg to help run the annual Tri-Ice-A-Thon, a fun and friendly ice climbing festival for all abilities.

The fun started on Saturday with teams travelling between the three ice climbing walls for short skills clinics, some laps on the ice, and lots of cheering! I led the show at the Shunda Hostel wall while Barry Blanchard ran the Frontier Lodge wall, and Dave Edgar ran the COE wall. There were also lots of other great volunteers from the community and Edmonton outdoors shops. After a full day of climbing, the main event started at the Shunda Creek wall: the infamous SWIMSUIT COMPETITION! There were lots of great entries this year with lots of flesh and crazy costumes. My personal favourite was the team of Barry Blanchard and Mike Adolph saran wrapped together for some synchronized climbing! Check out the picture!


Mike Adolph & Barry Blanchard in all their glory! Photo: Jody Goodwin.
On Saturday night I gave an hour long slideshow to a large crowd at Goldeye Center. I showed pictures and talked about my trip to Alaska last spring and I think it went really well!

On Sunday, everyone headed out to the Cline Gallery for some more clinics from Barry, Mike, and myself, as well as the speed climbing competition and other fun events. There was also a big fire going for roasting smokies!


Me teaching a "steep ice" clinic at the Gallery on Sunday. Photo: Jody Goodwin.

It was a great weekend at Canada's longest running Ice Festival (10 years!) and I can't wait until next year!

J. Mills

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