Intermediate Ice Course - Step Right Up & Haffner Creek

Got a really fun group of 4 climbers together for last weekends Intermediate Ice Course. Everyone ended up having fairly similar experience levels so it worked out great!

Ice climbing on Step Right Up on Saturday. On Saturday we went into Step Right Up (WI2-3) and climbed all day on every single inch of it. There are a variety of lines to take so it is a great place to work on skills & techniques. By the end of the day, everyone was climbing with style and ready for more challenge on Sunday.

Ice climbing in Haffner Creek.

Sunday we headed into Haffner Creek to climb some steeper ice. There was already a large group in there, but fortunately Haffner has lots to go around and we found a number of fun routes to climb. Some of the climbs had sections of thin ice, so it was a good chance to learn some different techniques as well. We also spent some time practicing skills with ice screws, v-threads, and anchors. It was a full day out and by the time we made it back to Canmore it was dark. Only another week until the days start getting longer again!

Trying some mixed climbing in Haffner Creek.

Thanks to Trent, Justin, Donna, and Luke for a fun weekend!

J. Mills

CRAG Head Guide

http://www.cdnalpine.com/

Louise Falls with Shaun

Louise Falls from below.

Last Friday Shawn joined me for a great day of ice climbing on Louise Falls above Lake Louise, Alberta.

Midway up Louise Falls.

After a quick hike around the lake we plowed up to the base of the route through a few feet of soft snow. Two pitches of WI3 led us to a cave behind the crux pillar. The crux pitch was in much more difficult shape (WI5) than it is later in the season, but had some really good climbing. Above, a final pitch of harder-than-it-looks ice took us to the top. We decided to rappel the route instead of walking off.

Rappelling the bottom pitch.

Back at the base, we top-roped the bottom pitch a few times so Shawn could practice placing ice screws and get some more climbing in.

As always, it was a fun day on the ice!

J. Mills

http://www.cdnalpine.com/

Three days of ice climbing with Jarrid

Spent the last three days climbing like mad with Jarrid from Edmonton. He has done some ice climbing in the past & is a quick learner so we were able to get lots of good climbing in!

We started out with a day in Haffner Creek working on technique. We climbed every ice route in the canyon as well as practising some anchor building skills.

Climbing one of the ice routes in Haffner Creek.

On Tuesday we decided to do a multipitch climb and headed to the classic Guinness Gully (WI4) near Field, BC. The route is well formed but is a bit more difficult than usual. It provided good challenging climbing on every pitch, culminating in the long last pitch of sustained WI4. In order to practice more skills, we rappelled the route instead of walking off.

Topping out on the last pitch of Guinness Gully.

For our final day we attempted the route Masseys near Field, but encountered extremely fragile ice on the first pitch. After climbing the first 15 meters we decided to call it quits and head somewhere else. The climb will likely fatten up in the next few days and should be good to go pretty soon. After walking the short distance back to the car, we drove to Grotto Canyon where Jarrid did his first lead of the season on Grotto Falls. He cruised the route and it was a great way to end our three days!

Jarrid leading on Grotto Falls.

J. Mills

http://www.cdnalpine.com/

Intro Ice Course - King Creek & Wedge Smear

The first Intro Ice Course of the season was a great success! Six new climbers from around Alberta joined me for a weekend of learning how to ice climb, and everyone did excellent.

On Saturday we headed into King Creek and soon everyone was bashing away at the ice and working their way up the routes. Throughout the day we did five different climbs and everyone saw a vast improvement in their skills by the end of the day.

Sunday we hiked up to the Wedge Smear and had the area to ourselves! There is lots of variety in the difficulty of climbs, so everyone was able to challenge themselves on some steeper routes. We also spent some time practicing with ice screws and anchors. Enthusiasm was high and everyone climbed non-stop all day long.

I hope to see everyone from the course again in the future!

J. Mills

CRAG Head Guide

http://www.cdnalpine.com/

Yoho Valley Ice with Eric

The Pillars as viewed from Field of Dreams. Eric is just visible at the base.

Had a great day on Friday climbing some ice with Eric from Calgary. We headed into one of the most underappreciated ice zones in the Rockies, the Yoho Valley Road leading to Takkakaw Falls. The closest routes are only an hour of easy walking (or skiing), are visible from the Transcanada, and are really good!

After the approach, we started with a nice WI4 route called The Pillars or Ogden 7. Due to wettness, we took one of the harder lines on it and were rewarded with a good pump & some steep climbing. After rapelling off, we headed up a route just to the right called Field Of Dreams (WI5) which was in very difficult shape but provided some interesting climbing. We still had some daylight left so we walked a bit further up the road and climbed one of the many unnamed routes in the area. Eric led the first pitch of nice WI3, and we finished up a short steeper bit to the top.

Eric on Field of Dreams.

Overall it was a great day of climbing and we had all the routes to ourselves!

J. Mills

http://www.cdnalpine.com/