tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63427865290470159482024-03-05T08:28:51.266-07:00Canadian Rockies Alpine GuidesJ. Mills - www.cdnalpine.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16180004970920720646noreply@blogger.comBlogger182125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6342786529047015948.post-7514601739673427232017-11-17T08:08:00.000-07:002017-11-17T08:08:26.669-07:00Thanks for all the visits!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Although this blog was very popular for a number of years, newer technologies seem to have largely taken it's place. I stopped adding posts a few years ago, but will leave all the old posts up as long as possible as a source of inspiration and entertainment! <br />
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We are running more trips & courses than ever and still climbing non-stop around the Canadian Rockies! For more current updates you can check us out on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/CanadianRockiesAlpineGuides/" target="_blank">Facebook</a> or <a href="https://www.instagram.com/canadianrockiesalpineguides/" target="_blank">Instragram!</a><br />
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Thanks!<br />
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Jay Mills<br />
CRAG Head Guide<br />
www.cdnalpine.com<br />
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J. Mills - www.cdnalpine.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16180004970920720646noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6342786529047015948.post-79495900784364346142013-12-16T11:55:00.005-07:002021-11-25T10:51:41.625-07:00Another great summer in the Rockies!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Despite a raging flood in the spring (which unfortunately did severe damage to my house and many of my neighbours in Exshaw), the summer was otherwise one of mostly excellent weather! I was once again joined by many of my regular guests as well as some new faces for many great adventures around the Rockies. Since I was so busy fixing my house I didn't keep my blog up to date throughout the season, but here are some of the better pictures I got during the numerous ascents and courses. Enjoy! <br />
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<i><a href="https://www.cdnalpine.com/mountaineering/mt-athabasca/" target="_blank">Mt. Athabasca</a>, with the Slawinski/Takeda route (M5) climbing the thin snow gully into the rock buttress in the middle of the photo. </i></div>
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<i>Mark Taylor leading a mixed pitch on the Slawinski/Takeda route.</i></div>
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<i>An early season ascent of Mt. Abraham's Shoulder Route (III, 5.8) with Pat & Suzie.</i></div>
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<i>With Pat & Suzie on the summit!</i></div>
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<i>Jon walking the narrow ridge on an ascent of <a href="https://www.cdnalpine.com/mountaineering/mount-lady-macdonald/" target="_blank">Mt. Lady Mac's SSE Ridge </a>(II, 5.5)</i></div>
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<i>Enjoying the beautiful Grassi Lakes during an <a href="https://www.cdnalpine.com/rock/intro-rock-climbing-weekends/" target="_blank">Intro Rock Weekend Course</a>.</i></div>
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<i>A fun day with a group of Junior High Students learning to rock climb at Wasootch.</i> <i> Kids love this stuff!</i></div>
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<i>High on the NE Face of <a href="https://www.cdnalpine.com/rock/ha-ling-ne-face/" target="_blank">Ha Ling Peak </a>above Canmore.</i></div>
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<i>Getting cooked in 30C heat a few days after the flood on the multipitch Kahl Crack route.</i></div>
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<i>Chris on Yamnuska's notorious CMC Wall route (5.11b R), the hardest rock route I have guided so far.</i></div>
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<i>A 5.10 traverse pitch on CMC Wall.</i></div>
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<i>During an ascent of Pigeon Spire in the Bugaboos with three ambitious ladies and fellow guide Sarah Heuniken.</i></div>
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<i>The same crew on top of <a href="https://www.cdnalpine.com/rock/mt-rundle-the-rundlehorn-5-4/">Rundlehorn</a> route near Banff.</i></div>
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<i>Climbing the Perren Route on the way to Mt. Perren with a descendant of "The Spider of Zermatt", Walter Perren, himself.</i></div>
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<i>On the summit of Mt. Perren.</i></div>
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<i>A few pitches up the classic Geriatric on <a href="https://www.cdnalpine.com/rock/eeor-geriatric-5-8/" target="_blank">EEOR</a> near Canmore. </i></div>
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<i>High on <a href="https://www.cdnalpine.com/mountaineering/mount-temple/" target="_blank">Mt. Temple's</a> normal route with a family from the UK. Pretty rad family holiday!</i></div>
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<i>Enjoying the excellent rock on Cory's Groove with Chris & Mark.</i></div>
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<i>Camping out on Mt. Edith Cavell's East Ridge Route with the upper part of the climb looming above. What a campsite! </i></div>
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Now it's ice climbing season, see ya on the ice!<br />
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J. Mills<br />
CRAG Head Guide<br />
www.cdnalpine.com<br />
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J. Mills - www.cdnalpine.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16180004970920720646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6342786529047015948.post-69107202502609729312013-04-03T11:43:00.002-06:002021-11-25T10:55:25.207-07:00March Ice Climbing Adventures!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The last month has been action packed & full of great ice climbing with lots of fun guests! Starting with an Ice Skills Week then moving into a bunch of custom trips, it was great to get out with so many enthusiastic climbers! Here's some photo's from some of the climbs!<br />
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<i>Malignant Mushroom (WI5) in the Ghost with Trent & Chris</i> </div>
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<i>Shawn P. in Johnston Canyon on the <a href="https://www.cdnalpine.com/ice/ice-skills-weeks/" target="_blank">Ice Skills Week</a></i></div>
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<i>Scott doing some mixed climbing on the Ice Skills Week.</i></div>
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<i>And some leading the next day!</i></div>
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<i>Tyler D. leading on Nothing But The Breast (WI4+) near Nordegg on a rainy day. The next day we climbed Whiteman Falls (WI5) & Redman Soars (M5+) but my camera wasn't working (perhaps due to getting rained on the day before!). </i></div>
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<i> Looking up at Good Luck & Bad Dreams (WI4), another Nordegg classic.</i></div>
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<i> Climbing at Rehab Wall way up <a href="https://www.cdnalpine.com/ice/moonlight-snowline/">Evan Thomas Creek</a>.</i></div>
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<i>Looking up at the last pitch on <a href="https://www.cdnalpine.com/ice/the-professor-falls/">Professor Falls </a>(WI4).</i></div>
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<i> Kevin R. rappelling down after we climbed the Central Pillar on the <a href="https://www.cdnalpine.com/ice/weeping-wall/" target="_blank">Weeping Wall</a> in very difficult conditions.</i></div>
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<i> And Kevin leading the next day on <a href="https://www.cdnalpine.com/ice/guinness-gully/" target="_blank">Guinness Gully.</a></i></div>
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<i> Shawn P. nearing the top of Whiteman Falls (WI5).</i></div>
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<i> Rick S. doing his first ice lead in King Creek!</i></div>
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<i> Laura top-roping in Haffner Creek on the <a href="https://www.cdnalpine.com/ice/intro-ice-climbing-weekends/" target="_blank">Intro Ice Course</a>. </i></div>
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<i> Shawn part way up Redman Soars (M5+)</i></div>
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<i> And a day off from the ice to go skiing. Not as fun, but gets you to some rad places like the Rockwall in Kootenay National Park.</i></div>
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<i> Climbing in King Creek with Kyle & Landon, three days before Landon's wedding in Banff!</i></div>
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<i>With them again the next day in Haffner. We also climbed <a href="https://www.cdnalpine.com/ice/guinness-gully/">Guinness Gully</a> but I didn't get any pics. </i></div>
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J. Mills<br />
CRAG Head Guide<br />
www.cdnalpine.com<br />
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J. Mills - www.cdnalpine.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16180004970920720646noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6342786529047015948.post-46749803535731964622013-03-08T11:37:00.002-07:002013-03-08T11:37:22.529-07:00Whiteman Falls (W6) & Redman Soars (M5+) with Chris<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="http://www.cdnalpine.com/ice/climb/whitemans.htm" target="_blank">Whiteman's & Redman's</a> are two of the best climbs in the Kananaskis area, and I always enjoy heading into climb them. Chris joined me for the day and was keen to get on some steep ice & mixed terrain! <br />
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The day starts with an hour long ski down a closed road, and we were treated to a beautiful sunrise along the way. After the ski, we entered the canyon where a couple short bits of ice and some skirting around waterholes brought us to the routes. <br />
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<i>Skiing down the road at dawn.</i> </div>
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We started with Whiteman Falls, and found it to be in excellent shape with good plastic ice and easy climbing for the grade. The first pitch had some very cool climbing on ice mushrooms, and the second pitch was more sustained steep ice. We were up and down the climb in no time, so we turned our attention to the harder Redman Soars (5.10 mixed or M5+). <br />
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<i>Rappelling back down Whiteman Falls.</i> </div>
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Redmans is a sweet mixed route with about 55m of sustained drytooling & thin ice climbing. The crux sections involve torquing the picks in thin cracks and hooking some small edges. Chris hadn't climbed much of this type of terrain before, but didn't seem to have any trouble getting up it. <br />
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<i>Chris climbing through the slot on the 2nd pitch of Redmans.</i></div>
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After slogging back down the road we arrived at the car tired but psyched with the day!<br />
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J. Mills<br />
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J. Mills - www.cdnalpine.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16180004970920720646noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6342786529047015948.post-71712408702902897302013-03-06T08:51:00.003-07:002021-11-25T10:59:01.293-07:00Professor Falls & Water Hole with Jarrid<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Shortly after returning from a climbing trip to Patagonia, I met up with Jarrid from Edmonton for a couple of days on the ice. We had nice mild temperatures & plastic ice, always a treat when ice climbing! <br />
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<i>Jarrid approaching a very wet pitch on Professor's.</i></div>
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On the first day we climbed on our bicycles and pedaled into <a href="https://www.cdnalpine.com/ice/the-professor-falls/" target="_blank">Professor Falls</a> near Banff. Despite the great weather we were surprised to be alone on the climb all day. The first couple pitches offered some steep but hooked out climbing on great ice. A number of easier pitches brought us to the final crux pillar. It was in great WI4 shape and we were soon shaking hands on top. I usually rappel the route, but since many of the anchors are buried under ice this year we decided to do the walk off instead. Back at the bikes we completed the sketchier part of the day by pedaling back down the icy trail to the car. <br />
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<i>Jarrid leading a short section on Professors</i> </div>
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The next day Jarrid had to drive back to Edmonton so we chose a shorter objective and headed up to the Water Hole. The second pitch had melted out quite a bit since I was last there in December, but we managed to hook our way up the section of manky ice to thicker ice above. We then climbed a 5.4 pitch to reach the mixed climb above. The mixed pitch (M4ish) isn't too pumpy but has some very thin & balancy moves which make it rather challenging. <br />
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<i>Rappelling over the thin section on The Water Hole. </i></div>
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Jay Mills<br />
CRAG Head Guide<br />
www.cdnalpine.com<br />
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J. Mills - www.cdnalpine.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16180004970920720646noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6342786529047015948.post-31677770564391225622013-02-03T06:51:00.008-07:002021-11-25T10:59:58.970-07:00Guinness, Bourgeau L. & Coire Dubh with Kenji!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
To finish off 2012, I was joined by Kenji from Japan for a few days of classic ice climbing! He had climbed lots of ice in Japan, so we were able to do some great routes. He was very impressed with the quality of the climbing the Canadian Rockies and by the end of the trip was even talking about trying to move here! <br /><br />We started out by climbing <a href="https://www.cdnalpine.com/ice/guinness-gully/" target="_blank">Guinness Gully & Guinness Stout</a> which was a great way to get know each other and climb some fun ice! Kenji had no problems with the climbing so I knew we would want to find something harder for the next day. <br />
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<i>Kenji approaching Guinness Stout</i> </div>
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Up early, we hiked in to Bourgeau Left Hand by headlamp and were soon launching up the first 70 meter pitch of sustained WI4. The ice was in great shape and was really enjoyable. The upper tier of ice is the WI5 crux and was soaking wet on the normal line. Fortunately it is wide enough this year that there was a good dry line on the left which we climbed in two pitches. The final pitch starts off with several body lengths of very steep ice and we both got a good pump as we picked our way up it. We had only planned on doing the two days of climbing, but Kenji was keen for more so we decided to do another climb a couple days later. <br />
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<i> Looking up at the steep upper pitches of Bourgeau Left.</i></div>
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<i>Kenji nearing the top of the second pitch on Bourgeau Left Hand.</i> </div>
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For our final route we chose the excellent mixed route of <a href="https://www.cdnalpine.com/ice/coire-dubh-integral/" target="_blank">Coire Dubh Integral</a> just East of Canmore. The lower ice section is relatively easy, but the climb has about 8 excellent pitches of mixed climbing up nice rock features. Kenji had never done a mixed climb before, but by this point I wasn't at all surprised that he was able to pick it up quickly and cruise up pitch after pitch of climbing! As usual it was really windy on the top so we hiked down the backside into the canyons of Jura Creek instead of walking down the ridge. <br /><br />
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<i>Coming up through the challenging chimney on the 1st mixed pitch.</i></div>
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<i>Cruising up a nice corner higher on the route.</i></div>
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<i>Kenji & I on top of the route, trying not to get blown over by the wind!</i> </div>
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I had a great few days with Kenji and hope to be able to climb with him again in the future. Perhaps he will even find a way to move to the Rockies someday!<br />
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J. Mills<br />
CRAG Head Guide<br />
<a href="http://www.cdnalpine.com/">www.cdnalpine.com</a></div>
J. Mills - www.cdnalpine.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16180004970920720646noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6342786529047015948.post-74865459104621278012013-02-03T06:18:00.003-07:002021-11-25T10:58:16.486-07:00Ice Climbing at King Creek<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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After a nice Christmas break in Manitoba, I was back in the Rockies for a day of climbing with a group of guys who work together & who's company flew them down from Houston, TX for some ice climbing & team building. It was organized by Shawn P whom I have climbed with a bunch of times over the last few years. The others had never ice climbed, and for one of them it was his first introduction to Canada! Everyone was really enthusiastic and we were soon taking turns on all the ice climbs at King Creek. We even finished the day by top roping a challenging mixed route that has formed in a corner this year and is a really hard climb for your first day of ice climbing! <br />
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It was fun day of climbing & I hope they have been inspired to try some more in the future!<br />
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J. Mills<br />
CRAG Head Guide<br />
<a href="http://www.cdnalpine.com/">www.cdnalpine.com</a></div>
J. Mills - www.cdnalpine.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16180004970920720646noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6342786529047015948.post-19074903929178430532013-01-31T10:10:00.002-07:002021-11-25T11:00:57.452-07:00Ice Skills Clinic<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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After a great Ice Skills Week, I was joined by another great group of guys for a 2 days <a href="https://www.cdnalpine.com/ice/ice-skills-clinics/" target="_blank">Ice Skills Clinic</a>. Again I had met all three of them before so knew it would be a fun weekend with Mark, Chris, & Steven!</div>
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Saturday we headed into Haffner Creek and as usual got pumped silly on the steep ice & mixed routes. It was a good chance for everyone to work on both movement techniques, and leading skills like placing screws and building anchors. <br /> </div>
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<i>Steven leading on The Water Hole.</i></div>
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The next day we went to The Water Hole and a couple of fun pitches above. Since two of the guys had already done some leading in the past, they were able to lead us up the first two pitches of climbing and did a great job. Above we climbed the same thin ice pitch that I had done earlier in the week, but instead of scrambling around to the side we set up a toprope on a short but steep mixed corner which ended up being really cool climbing. So far this season The Water Hole has provided a lot of variety for a roadside route! <br />
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<i>Chris taking his turn leading on The Water Hole.</i> </div>
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On Monday, Chris stayed for a day of multi pitch climbing so we drove out to Field to check out some steep ice. Pilsner Pillar looked to be in great shape so we decided to give it a go. The climb was really sweet and involved some steep climbing on variable ice with lots of stemming onto the rock. Chris had never been on a WI6 before but didn't seem to have any problems and was able to follow me up it in no time! Since it was still early in the day, we headed across to <a href="https://www.cdnalpine.com/ice/carlsberg-column/">Carlesbourg Column</a> for some more climbing. The first two easier pitches went smoothly, but the main upper part of the route was mostly pouring with water. I made it part way up the edge of the ice but after 15 meters with no useful screws decided to call it a day. Despite not making it up Carlesbourg we still managed to get lots of good climbing into the day and were psyched! <br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ew-4vubYD1k/UQqhGVSYXKI/AAAAAAAACBc/0GN-TbuheD0/s1600/Pilsner.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ew-4vubYD1k/UQqhGVSYXKI/AAAAAAAACBc/0GN-TbuheD0/s320/Pilsner.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i>Pilsner Pillar in great shape!</i></div>
<br />
J. Mills<br />
CRAG Head Guide<br />
www.cdnalpine.com<br />
<br /></div>
J. Mills - www.cdnalpine.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16180004970920720646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6342786529047015948.post-71675402535159308182013-01-29T05:10:00.002-07:002021-11-25T11:01:49.278-07:00Ice Skills Week<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Spent an awesome 5 days ice climbing in December with Aaron, Tyler, and Kory on the <a href="https://www.cdnalpine.com/ice/ice-skills-weeks/" target="_blank">Ice Skills Week</a>. I had spent time in the mountains with all three of them before on various climbs & courses, and knew it would be a super fun week with lots of enthusiasm, laughter, and perhaps the occasional crude joke. Everyone was keen to get some experience leading on both single pitch and multi pitch terrain, and the avalanche hazard was nice and low so we had lots of great options. </div>
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On Monday we started out by getting nice and pumped at Haffner Creek. Most of the day was spent top-roping and honing movement techniques as well as working on strategies for placing ice screws in steep terrain. We also worked on some of the other critical leading skills like downclimbing, clipping draws with big gloves on, anchor building, and consciously relaxing on the ice tools. Downclimbing in particular is a skill that most climbers neglect to practice but is super important to get yourself out of a tight spot without falling. We finished the day dangling from our arms on some of Haffner's classic mixed climbs. <br />
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<i>Mixed climbing at Haffner</i> </div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-w0Hfht4iuMI/UQe4QtwtymI/AAAAAAAACAM/e7p7-O2iG0Y/s1600/IMG_2246.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-w0Hfht4iuMI/UQe4QtwtymI/AAAAAAAACAM/e7p7-O2iG0Y/s320/IMG_2246.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i>Doing some practice leading on the steep ice at Haffner</i> </div>
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Tuesday we took advantage of a rarely formed climb called The Water
Hole, as well as a new climb higher up the mountain side. The day
involved 4 fun pitches of climbing as was a great way to go through all
the multi pitch skills such as anchor building, choosing safe belay
locations, double rope techniques, multi pitch rappels, and generally
avoiding rope clusters with climbing teams of 3 or more. The first two
pitches were fun WI 3 ice, which was followed by a very cool but
unprotectable pitch of really thin ice. A short rock scramble and half
hour hike led us up to a great pitch of WI 4 above treeline with good
views over the Bow Valley. This upper pitch may be a new route this
year and was first climbed a few weeks before we were there. Descending
back down the climb gave us more opportunity to work on various
skills.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4hSjeScxjZM-hmow-FRWdrhTS51h9O8to1RWd3kiJ9-EDGQfx8kbJebKy5Xb5S6ZZWAXZWY78XYY-0wwAclZeatzoeDKu4KDT8QNWH5_63RD-cvblXktHTGSNg9BNUiDqGtU4oXfifbA/s1600/IMG_2256.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4hSjeScxjZM-hmow-FRWdrhTS51h9O8to1RWd3kiJ9-EDGQfx8kbJebKy5Xb5S6ZZWAXZWY78XYY-0wwAclZeatzoeDKu4KDT8QNWH5_63RD-cvblXktHTGSNg9BNUiDqGtU4oXfifbA/s320/IMG_2256.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<i> Climbing the ice above The Water Hole</i><br />
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With everyone feeling strong and confident about their climbing techniques we decided to spend the day doing as much lead climbing as possible. We headed into King Creek in Kananaskis and surprisingly had the place to ourselves. There are a number of nice WI2 & WI3 climbs and everyone took advantage and did some lead climbing. Leading on ice is a serious proposition with potentially high consequences in case of a fall, so I never pressure anyone to lead, but these guys were keen. Everyone climbed with really solid pick placements, placed good screws, and kept a cool head, the keys to doing it safely. <br />
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<i>Leading into a cool little cave on a route at King Creek</i></div>
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Wanting to put all the new skills to work we headed up to the multi pitch climb Rogans Gully near Banff on Thursday. Most of the climbing is reasonably moderate so it was a great place to give everyone the chance to lead on a multi pitch route. After the short approach, Kory took the front and did a great job leading up the first long pitch of ice. A few lower angle but really neat pitches up a winding canyon brought us to the next steep section. Aaron took over and cruised up the next harder pitch, which involved two steep sections of ice and a tricky topout on snow covered rock. Some more low angle climbing brought us to the final 45m pitch where Tyler took over and was faced with some surprisingly rotten ice near the top of the pitch. Despite the lack of good ice for screws near the top, he kept a cool head and looked solid as he took us to the end of the route. A fun scramble and rappel down the rocks to the right took us back to the car. <br />
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<i>Belaying below the first steeper pitch on Rogan's Gully.</i> </div>
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<i>Leading the steep middle steps on Rogan's Gully.</i></div>
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For the final day we decided that finishing off with a good pump on steep ice was the priority. We headed up to the mega classic <a href="https://www.cdnalpine.com/ice/guinness-gully/" target="_blank">Guinness Gully</a> (WI4) and moved quickly up the main pitches of the route. Wanting more, we continued up the gully to Guinness Stout (WI4+). A couple of easier pitches brought us to the main attraction, a sustained 45m section of near vertical ice. After 5 days of climbing it was a good challenge and workout for the arms, but the techniques we practiced throughout the week allowed everyone to do really well on it and enjoy the climb. <br />
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I look forward to doing more climbing with these guys in the future, and wish them luck on their continued ice climbing adventures!<br />
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J. Mills<br />
CRAG Head Guide<br />
www.cdnalpine.com<br />
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J. Mills - www.cdnalpine.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16180004970920720646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6342786529047015948.post-44008933230940718802012-11-28T10:49:00.001-07:002012-11-28T10:49:25.332-07:00Thriller (M9) & Dancing With Chaos (WI5+)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Let the ice bashing begin! After a bit of a slow start (by my standards) and a few days of drytooling up at the Playground Crag, I finally made it out to practice my favorite sport, ice climbing!<br />
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For my first attempted day out at the start of November, my friend Cian & I set our sites on the rarely formed Silver Lining (WI6, 5.9) which he had scouted out earlier in the week. After a campfire night on the David Thompson Highway, we get up early and headed out to the Icefields where we met our other buddy Jody Sutherland who had driven all the way from Squamish that evening! A casual 2 hour hike brought us to the base of the route wondering how we would get off the ground. It was super frustrating because the entire route looked fat for hundreds of meters, except for the 15 meters of slightly overhanging & unprotectable rubble at the start. A few false starts and half driven pitons later, we headed back to the car. It's rare to have an ice season that doesn't start with taking the gear for a few big walks! <br />
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A couple weeks later, I headed out with Cian again for some climbing on the Stanley Headwall. The route we had hoped to try didn't look well enough formed, so we opted to play on the ridiculously steep "Thriller" (M9) instead. After a few attempts we finally made it to the ice, which felt kinda challenging for the first ice of the year after climbing a big rock roof! <br />
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<i>The Thriller Cave with it's selection of hard mixed climbs. </i></div>
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<i>Cian hooking his way through the big roof on Thriller. </i></div>
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<i> And pulling onto the hanging icicle. </i></div>
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Although bolted mixed climbs can be fun, my real inspiration comes from multipitch ice climbs in wild places. So, I was psyched when my buddy Chris Delworth was in town and suggested we check out Mt. Wilson. Mt. Wilson has perhaps the best selection of ice climbs on the planet, and this year things are looking fat! We opted to try the rarely formed "Dancing With Chaos" and weren't disappointed. The route was in great shape, and was much easier than the guidebook grade of WI6. <br />
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<i>Approaching Dancing With Chaos, the second thin line on the right is "Frigging With Gear". </i></div>
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<i>Chris starting up the first pitch on beautiful quality ice!</i></div>
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Afterwards we made a short drive down the highway to the Weeping Wall to scope out conditions. Among others, the following routes appeared to be in good shape along the Icefields Parkway:</div>
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<li>The Icicle Fairy</li>
<li><a href="http://www.canadianrockiesice.com/ice-climbs/icefields-parkway-south/bow-falls-area/" target="_blank">Bow Falls & surrounding routes</a></li>
<li>The Shadow</li>
<li><a href="http://www.canadianrockiesice.com/ice-climbs/icefields-parkway-south/murchison-falls/" target="_blank">Murchison Falls</a></li>
<li>Virtual Reality</li>
<li>Balfour Wall</li>
<li>Transparent Fool</li>
<li>Virgin No More</li>
<li>Chocksondik </li>
<li><a href="http://www.canadianrockiesice.com/ice-climbs/icefields-parkway-south/cosmic-messenger/" target="_blank">Cosmic Messenger</a></li>
<li>Oh Le Tabernac and all the climbs above!</li>
<li>Near Death</li>
<li>Dancing With Chaos</li>
<li>Shooting Star (not sure about upper pitches)</li>
<li><a href="http://cdnalpine.blogspot.ca/2010/01/suntori-vi-m7-wi6-1500m.html" target="_blank">Suntori</a> (looks as fat as I've ever seen it)</li>
<li>Wilson Major</li>
<li>Phil Specter's Nightmare</li>
<li>Cadeau Cache</li>
<li><a href="http://cdnalpine.com/ice/biglines/polarcircus.htm" target="_blank">Polar Circus</a></li>
<li><a href="http://cdnalpine.com/ice/climb/weeping.htm" target="_blank">Lower Weeping Wall</a> - Central Pillar & Right Hand Side</li>
<li><a href="http://cdnalpine.com/ice/biglines/upperweeping.htm" target="_blank">Upper Weeping Wall</a> - pretty much everything</li>
<li><a href="http://www.canadianrockiesice.com/ice-climbs/icefields-parkway-north/whimper-wall/" target="_blank">Whimper Wall</a></li>
</ul>
Enjoy!<br />
<br />
J. Mills<br />
www.cdnalpine.com<br />
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J. Mills - www.cdnalpine.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16180004970920720646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6342786529047015948.post-50906399298923796532012-11-28T09:56:00.001-07:002012-11-28T09:56:32.100-07:00California Rock Climbing<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
After a very busy and action packed summer, my wife Jody & I decided to pack up the Corolla and head down to California for our off season. Along the way we visited City of Rock, ID, which I would highly recommend for it's great climbing & camping among the crags. From there we did the marathon drive to Bishop, CA where we spent a couple weeks sampling the various crags near town, and doing some multipitch climbing in Yosemite. Jody is a photographer so her photo's are far superior to mine, check out <a href="http://www.facebook.com/JodyGoodwinPhotography/photos_stream" target="_blank">her facebook page</a> for a few shots from our trip! <br />
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Here's a few of my own from our adventures!<br />
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<i>Jody taking photos in Yosemite during a break from belaying her single minded husband... </i></div>
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<i>Cathedral Spire from a climb we did on Upper Cathedral Rock in Yosemite. </i></div>
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<i>Jody on Braille Book, a really fun 5 pitch climb in Yosemite.</i></div>
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It was a great way to wind down after the summer, now for 6 months of ice!<br />
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J. Mills<br />
www.cdnalpine.com<br />
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J. Mills - www.cdnalpine.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16180004970920720646noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6342786529047015948.post-25026050316531595852012-11-04T09:40:00.003-07:002012-11-04T09:40:30.524-07:00Mt. Robson - Infinite Patience<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Alpine climbing in the Canadian Rockies takes a lot of patience. Years ago I lost track of how many times I've taken my pack for a hike to the base of big routes, or retreated from high on those same routes leaving behind yet another set of nuts & pitons, or even going for a long drive and ending the "attempt" without even leaving the parking lot. In the case of Mount Robson, I turned tail and drove away on both my 18th and 19th birthdays, which in light of having 90 pound packs and little experience was probably a good thing! Since then I have managed to summit Robson via both the Emperor Ridge & the Furher Ridge, but have also spent a night shivering in the scree at 8000ft before descending off the Emperor Ridge, wisely turned around at the Shieser Ledges on the South Face during a winter solo attempt, and just this year got shut down by conditions on the North Face. However, all this just makes it even sweeter when things work out and you are able to complete one of the routes you have long dreamed about. In this case, the combination of perfect weather, perfect conditions, and the perfect partner, led to one of the most enjoyable trips I've ever had. <br /><br />Raphael showed up in Canmore his customary 1 hour late, and along with Eammon Walsh, who had his own alpine plans for the obscure Mt. Quincy, we made the drive out to Jasper & Mt. Robson. We arrived at the Robson parking lot eager to get going, but road construction delayed us for a few hours and we were barely able to make it to Berg Lake before dark. We decided to camp at the river and start early the next morning. Given the summer temps, we knew that the ice pitch which had been used by other parties to access the Emperor Face wouldn't be formed, so instead we scrambled around to the right and traversed back into Infinite Patience where it steepens. <br />
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Once on the route, the climbing went much faster than we anticipated, and the climbing was relatively moderate. A couple brief mixed sections up to about M4 provided some good quality climbing, and most of the rest of it was on 60 to 70 degree ice gullies. Much earlier than anticipated we reached the Emperor Ridge, and climbed up a few pitches of rock & mixed terrain before finding a beautiful bivi site. At this point we realized that it would have been reasonable to climb the route as a single-push, but didn't regret our choice to camp as we gazed out on an incredible sunset on a clear & windless evening. <br />
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The next morning we continued up the ridge and soon reached the infamous gargoyles (crazy double cornices on a very exposed ridge). I'd climbed them once before, and was looking forward to going through them again. Raph took the lead and set a blistering pace as we simulclimbed up, over, and through them to the summit. Only 2 or 3 hours later we stood on the summit feeling elated, although a bit winded from the fast pace! <br />
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The descent down the South Face is undeniably dangerous due to serac hazard, but we were able to move really quick and were only exposed for brief periods and it went smoothly. We spent a lovely night at the hut and then down to the trail the next morning. We arrived back at the car feeling psyched about our climb, and keen to return to the Emperor Face for a shot at one of the harder routes in the future! <br />
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For more pictures & a different perspective on the climb, check out the writeup on <a href="http://raphaelslawinski.blogspot.ca/2012/10/infinite-patience.html">Raph's blog</a> as well. Here's some of the pictures I got:<br />
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<i>The North Face & Emperor Face on Mt. Robson. (Taken on an earlier trip in August). Infinite Patience takes the rightmost snow & ice gullies on the rocky Emperor Face on the right.</i></div>
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<i> Raph leading into the start of the ice gullies.</i></div>
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<i>And traversing out of the gully on 5.7 rock. </i></div>
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<i>A bit more rock.</i></div>
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<i>And following me up a great mixed pitch about 2/3rds of the way up the route.</i> </div>
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<i>Raph continuing up some fun veins of thin ice. </i></div>
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<i>Our kick-ass campsite perched above the Emperor Face with Mt. Whitehorn in the background. </i></div>
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<i>Moving along the Emperor Ridge. </i></div>
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<i>Raph contemplating the long stretch of gargoyles ahead! </i></div>
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<i>And shortly thereafter finishing them off! </i></div>
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<i>All smiles on the sunshiny summit.</i></div>
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<i>Only 10000 feet to descend.</i></div>
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<i>One for the ladies! Raph never misses a chance to walk around in his underwear. </i></div>
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J. Mills<br />
CRAG Head Guide<br />
www.cdnalpine.com</div>
J. Mills - www.cdnalpine.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16180004970920720646noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6342786529047015948.post-6352224834117564752012-10-02T11:53:00.002-06:002012-10-02T11:53:17.712-06:00September rock climbing adventures!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
September was perhaps the best weather for rock climbing that I have ever seen in the Rockies, any month of the year! Day after day of perfect weather & blue skies were almost too good to be true.<br />
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Throughout the month I had a number of guests join me for rock climbs ranging from introductory days at Wasootch to 5.10 routes on Yamnuska, and also did a few days of rock climbing on my own. Here's some pictures from a variety of climbs!<br />
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<i> About a month ago, fellow guide Eric Dumerac put up a new route on the left-most tower in this picture of Mt. Andromache (beside Mt. Hector) and reported good quality rock. So, a couple days later I hooked up with Mike from Nordegg and did a new route on the tower marked above. The rock was mostly reasonable, and there was good climbing up to 5.9+. Most of it protected well, but one pitch was pretty crumbly and serious. </i><br />
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<i>Mike leading on pitch 5 or so of our Andromache route. </i></div>
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<i>Dan & Tesla joined me for another climb in September, and we chose the classic route Kahl Wall (5.10a) up on Yamnuska. It is an excellent climb with lots of challenging sections and we all enjoyed the day! </i></div>
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<i>Dan on one of the last pitches on Kahl Wall. </i></div>
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<i>Spent a great couple days climbing with Chris & his daughter from Victoria. They had some previous climbing experience, so after a day of single pitch climbing skills we headed up to Kid Goat for a multipitch adventure. In this photo we are about half way up the classic "Grey Waves" route (5.8). </i></div>
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<i>Chris finishing the last pitch of Gray Waves. </i></div>
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<i>After an earlier failed attempt at doing a new route on the Windtower with Raphael Slawinski, we headed back up to try a new variation to the excellent 5.10a route. After climbing about three quarters of the existing route, we moved left and followed cracks and corners for about 150 meters of climbing up to 5.9 until joining the 5.6 ridge route. It was a fun variation with some good climbing, but not as good as the original route. </i></div>
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<i>I also had a couple larger rock climbing groups in September, including a group of 10 from the Canadian Air Force, and a group of 8 people who work together at AMEC in Calgary. Both days were spent at Wasootch, and everyone did tons of climbing and kept me busy moving ropes around all day! Hopefully a few of the climbers have been motivated to get into doing more climbing in the future!</i><br />
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<i>Finally, Nicole & Ren joined me for a fun weekend of rock climbing. They had never rock climbed before, so we spent Saturday at Wasootch working on various skills & techniques. They picked it up quickly so we decided to tackle a multipitch climb the next day. </i><br />
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<i>On Sunday we headed to Kid Goat and climbed the classic route Keelhaul Wall which is one of the best introductory multipitch climbs around. The height and exposure was new for them, but they did a great job and really enjoyed the climb. Afterwards we did a bit more climbing near the base of the wall. </i></div>
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J. Mills - www.cdnalpine.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16180004970920720646noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6342786529047015948.post-72967166511474326472012-09-25T13:09:00.001-06:002021-11-25T11:02:50.482-07:00Castle Mtn - Superbrewers (III, 5.9) with Mark<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
In late August, Mark joined me for an awesome day of climbing up SuperBrewers on <a href="https://www.cdnalpine.com/mountaineering/castle-mountain/">Castle Mountain</a>. Mark & I have done a number of climbs together now (including Mt. Louis, East Ridge of Edith Cavell, Yamnuska, and Coire Dubh) so we were looking for something with LOTS of rock climbing. Since SuperBrewers combines Ultra Brewers & Brewers Buttress, it makes for about 16 pitches of great climbing and was a good choice for a big day out! <br />
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After doing the approach hike and a bit of scrambling, we soon started up the first steep pitch. I hadn't done the route in a few years and was quite surprised to find so many new bolts (mostly right beside excellent gear placements!). I'm not a big fan of the recent trend to add bolts to old classic routes since it diminishes the adventure, and makes it harder for aspiring alpine climbers to find good quality climbs to learn important gear skills on. In my opinion, the fact that it makes it easier for guiding is not even close to being an acceptable reason for adding bolts. We did have a laugh though when I hollered down that I'd found a bomber gear placement and then looked up to see a bolt right at chest height! Anyways, the climbing on the lower part of the route is fantastic and we really enjoyed pulling the steep moves on mostly good holds! After a few pitches of 5.8 & 5.9, we reached Goat Plateau where we took off the rock shoes and walked up to Brewers Buttress (5.6). A few hours and lots of fun pitches later we were on top enjoying the sunshine! It was Mark's longest rock route yet, but he did awesome and was clearly inspired to do more big climbs in the future! <br />
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<i> Mark looking up at the first pitch of SuperBrewers.</i></div>
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J. Mills<br />
www.cdnalpine.com<br />
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J. Mills - www.cdnalpine.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16180004970920720646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6342786529047015948.post-61222944311719071382012-09-25T12:54:00.003-06:002012-09-25T12:54:53.480-06:00Mt. Fay - West Ridge with Eric & Veronique<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Had a great trip up to the Neil Colgan Hut and <a href="http://cdnalpine.com/alpine/peak/fay.htm">Mt. Fay </a>in August with Eric & Veronique from Calgary. They have been climbing for a few years now and have become skilled climbers on a variety of terrain, and Mt. Fay has a bit of everything so it was a fun & challenging trip!<br />
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On the first day we left the Moraine Lake parking lot and headed up the Perren Route. This route is an excellent way to access the glaciers & hut below Mt. Fay. It involves a fair bit of scrambling, some 5.4 quartzite rock climbing, and 30m of climbing a fixed chain up a steep limestone wall! Once above all the rock, it is a short walk across the glacier to the hut.<br />
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<i>Veronique high on the Perren route with Moraine Lake & Mt. Temple in the background.</i> </div>
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The next morning we started at the crack of dawn and made our way across the glacier to Mt. Fay. Since the bergshrund was too large below the normal start of the West Ridge, we climbed an ice slope further West for 4 pitches, then scrambled over a small (but loose!) subpeak to gain the start of the ridge. The ridge has a number of sections of fun climbing on rock up to 5.4 in difficulty, and some wild exposure above the North Face of the mountain! After a nice break on the summit, we descended by downclimbing and rappelling the same route, and then back down the Perren Route to the car. It was a really fun trip and I hope to do some ice climbing with Eric & Veronique this winter!<br />
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<i>Nice morning light as we leave the hut towards Mt. Fay.</i> </div>
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<i>One of the rock pitches along the ridge.</i></div>
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<i>On the summit with great views!</i></div>
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J. Mills<br />
CRAG Head Guide<br />
www.cdnalpine.com<br />
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J. Mills - www.cdnalpine.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16180004970920720646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6342786529047015948.post-10161599638131928742012-09-25T12:41:00.002-06:002012-09-25T12:41:32.345-06:00Bugaboo quick hit - Divine Intervention (5.11b)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The <a href="http://cdnalpine.com/alpine/region/bugaboos.htm">Bugaboos</a> is without a doubt one of the world's premier alpine rock climbing destinations. However, despite it only being a couple hundred kilometers from my home in Canmore, I rarely seem to make the time to venture in there. This summer was no exception, but I did manage to squeeze in one climb with Raphael a couple days after our Mt. Alberta adventure. For our one day of climbing, we chose a newer route called "Divine Intervention" (5.11b) on the East Face of Bugaboo Spire. The route hasn't seen many ascents yet, so some spots were a bit mossy, but otherwise the climbing was spectacular! Given that I rarely have the chance to climb granite, I found some of the pitches quite difficult and was inspired to improve my granite skills in the future! <br />
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<i>East Face of Bugaboo Spire from the climbers campground. Divine Intervention climbs a bit right of center up the smooth face.</i></div>
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<i>Raph on one of the crux pitches. </i></div>
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<i>Raph preparing to charge another pitch of steep climbing! </i></div>
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<i>Trying to figure out where the last pitch goes!</i></div>
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<i>Me leading a fun, although somewhat mossy, 5.10 pitch high on the route. </i></div>
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J. Mills<br />
CRAG Head Guide<br />
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J. Mills - www.cdnalpine.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16180004970920720646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6342786529047015948.post-5903948893794833242012-09-07T12:19:00.001-06:002012-09-07T12:19:13.393-06:00Mt. Robson attempt & Helmet summit. <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i>Looking up at the North Face of the Canadian Rockies highest peak, Mt. Robson. The Helmet is the smaller peak on the left and we climbed it from the col between it & Robson.</i></div>
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August started with a great trip into my favorite mountain, Mt. Robson, with Aaron whom I've had a bunch of great trips with over the last couple years. He had just returned from an ascent of Kilimanjaro, the highest peak in Africa, which sounded like a really cool journey. The weatherman assured us that we were in for a week of beautiful high pressure, but as so often with the King of the Rockies, that was not to be. BC Parks claims the success rate for climbing Robson is only 15%! Given the difficulty of the routes, the long approaches, the wild glaciers, and the fact that the mountain creates its own weather, 15% isn't too hard to believe. <br />
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After a short bike ride & long walk, we reached the feature known as Dog Buttress and in pouring rain set up our tent near its base. The next morning the rain had stopped so we had a long day climbing up about 1000m of scrambling terrain to the base of the North Face. Although the climbing isn't particularly great, the incredible setting made for an enjoyable day, and out campsite was spectacular. It snowed & rained again overnight so we decided to head towards The Helmet, another 11000 foot peak attached to Robson, to see it we could reach it's summit and get a better handle on snow conditions. As I'd discovered while climbing Robson's Furher Ridge a few years earlier, the glacier in this zone is quite challenging. Some exciting snow bridges and lots of weaving around finally led us to the base of The Helmet. After a steep bergshrund crossing, 4 pitches of moderate snow & ice led us to the summit, or rather to the base of the giant cornice which is on the summit and would be foolhardy to step on. Even though the Helmet is clearly dwarfed by Robson, it is still a fun & challenging climb in it's own right. That night it snowed some more, and combined with the poor snow quality we had seen on the Helmet, we decided it wouldn't be a safe choice to head up on the North Face. To descend, rather than going back the way we came, we followed the glacier down towards Rearguard, and worked our way down fairly directly to Berg Lake. 2 rappels were required, and the bushwacking was pretty harsh for a while beside the lake, but this was a much faster descent than the normal way which traverses over to the Robson Glacier & Kain Route approach. I'd recommend this descent as long as you are comfortable building piton anchors for the rappelling sections. <br />
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<i>Aaron part way up Dog Buttress, with Berg Lake below. </i></div>
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<i>Aaron's favorite mountaineering pose on the glacier below the North Face.</i></div>
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<i>Our rad campsite with the Emperor Face & North Face behind. </i></div>
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<i>Crossing below the North Face at dawn on route to the Helmet.</i> </div>
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<i>Aaron on one of the steeper snow & ice pitches near the top of the Helmet. </i></div>
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<i>All smiles on top of the Helmet!</i></div>
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Although we did not summit Robson, it was still a really fun trip and both of us are keen to head back to the King next summer!<br />
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J. Mills<br />
www.cdnalpine.com<br />
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J. Mills - www.cdnalpine.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16180004970920720646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6342786529047015948.post-57931245344574867422012-09-07T11:44:00.000-06:002012-09-07T11:44:38.049-06:00New Routing Adventures<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Given that I started my climbing career in Nordegg, and there were a grand total of 3 existing rock routes that I had information on when I moved there, finding new routes to do has always been a priority for me. I love the adventure & excitement that goes along with venturing into new terrain. There are however some major downsides that keep most people from exploring new routes. First of all, you fail most of the time, which would be especially hard to accept if you only have limited days to climb in the first place. Secondly, many of the new routes you do succeed in climbing are gonna suck, that's just the reality of it. Black boogers from cleaning dirt out of cracks, long stretches of rubble covered slabs, loose rock, you get the idea. Finally, it can be downright scary at times, especially, if like me, you rarely bother to carry a bolt kit. However, at the end of the day there is something extremely rewarding and satisfying about having climbed a new route, and every once in a while you find a true gem. <br />
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Over the last six weeks or so, many of my personal climbing days have focused on exploring new terrain. Everything from a 20 meter sport climb in Cougar Canyon I named "Bronies" (google it!) which goes at about 5.12a, to a wildly adventurous new route (almost!) up the South Ridge of Mt. Alberta that went at V, 5.10+R. Here's some photo's from those and other adventures.<br />
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Back in early August, my friend Cory Boschman & I headed to the backside of Castle Mountain to see what we could find. I'd always wanted to take a look back there, and the hike to Rockbound Lake is quite pleasant. It turns out that there are numerous crack systems on nice solid rock. We chose a line near the middle of the cliff band and set about the climbing. Most of the rock was very good quality, and the climbing continuous in the 5.8 to 5.10a range with nice cracks. However, the dirt just didn't relent! There was so much dirt on the rock that the climbing felt quite insecure and I wouldn't really recommend it to anyone, unless you wanted to clean if first!<br />
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<i>Our route on Castle followed the mysterious thin red line... </i></div>
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Shortly after that I headed into Mt. Robson with Aaron, but I will write a separate post for that adventure. A few days after that I hooked up with Mr. Mount Alberta himself, Raphael Slawinski (http://raphaelslawinski.blogspot.ca/), who has 7 ascents to his name, undoubtedly more than any other climber. I guess he really likes loose rock! Anyways, our route tackled the unclimbed South Ridge which is the left-hand skyline as seen from the hut. It only ended up having 3 hard pitches, but they probably took us about 8 hours! I led the first pitch, which was horrendously loose 5.9 for about 60 meters. Raph headed up the next one which was mostly good climbing on better rock, although it had it's moments too. Although he tried to talk me into letting him lead the third pitch, I decided to give it a go. After 20 meters of hard but good climbing I pumped out and lowered off. So, Raph had his way and started up the pitch. After passing my highpoint, he promptly removed a hold from the wall and took a 20 foot fall onto the same piece of gear I had lowered off. Kinda like a scared squirrel who has fallen from a tree, he started climbing again the moment the fall ended. 40 truly terrifying meters higher he managed to build a belay. Following the pitch I couldn't believe some of the spots he managed to get pitons in, only the smallest Knifeblades however. A short step from there brought us to the ridgeline, which we followed for a number of ropelengths on easy 5th class but very exposed climbing. Eventually the ridge dead ended before joining the normal Japanese Route (V, 5.6), so we did two rappels to intersect that route. Neither of us felt like doing the descent in the dark, so instead of scrambling for an hour or two to the summit we decided to start rappelling. Although it was probably a good call, a couple weeks later we both admitted that we now regretted turning around so close to the top. <br />
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<i>Raph on the endless scree slopes that make up most of Mt. Alberta. </i></div>
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<i>Looking up at the steep part of our route. We started just right of center, then continued more or less up the middle to the top. </i></div>
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<i>Me leading the first steep pitch, trying not to disassemble the entire mountain in the process. Photo: Raph Slawinski </i></div>
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<i>Raph nearing the belay on the first pitch. </i></div>
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<i>Raph starting up the second pitch, which had some good climbing as well as some sketchy bits.</i> </div>
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<i>Continuing up the second pitch. </i></div>
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<i>Raph posing for the camera during the long ridge scrambling section. </i></div>
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<i>Mt. Alberta from near the hut. Our route climbed the left-hand skyline. </i> </div>
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<i>The North Ridge & N. Face of Alberta. Both of which are excellent hard routes. </i></div>
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The most recent new routing adventure I've had was on the Windtower near Canmore. A couple weeks ago Steve Holeczi & I climbed the 5.10a route up the NE Face and found it to be some of the best climbing I have ever seen in the Rockies, very highly recommended. Inspired by this, we figured we could probably find another good route on this large wall. The only other routes I know of up there are the Quebec Route to the right (5.11) and the Iron Butterfly, an unrepeated 5.11 A4 horror show up the main face to the right. Raphael got wind of our plan and took a day off work to join us. Unfortunately, this ended up being a more typical first-ascenting adventure and after 6 crappy pitches of mostly easy but runout & loose rock, we decided to bail. There is still something satisfying about trying though!<br />
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<i>Looking across at the NE Face of the Windtower at dawn.</i></div>
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<i>Steve leading one of the brief harder sections, trying not to knock too much rock on our heads.</i></div>
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With these new routes & attempts, only 99.999% of the rock in the Rockies remains unclimbed. I think I should be able to keep myself busy for many years to come. <br />
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J. Mills<br />
www.cdnalpine.com<br />
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J. Mills - www.cdnalpine.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16180004970920720646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6342786529047015948.post-23155170895441587172012-07-30T15:17:00.002-06:002012-07-31T09:41:19.802-06:00Summer Summit Summary (so far!)...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The last few weeks of summer have been action packed and full of great climbs & summits! I've been fortunate to have lots of really fun guests join me on a variety of trips & climbs throughout the Rockies. Here's a summary, in photos:<br />
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<i> I had trouble getting this guy to put his harness on, he was too busy eating I guess.</i></div>
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<i> In late June I ran a glacier travel course, it felt like winter out there!</i></div>
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<i> Hiking up to A2 with Luke & Hang on a beautiful day. Athabasca in the back.</i></div>
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<i>Nearing the summit of A2, on the very snow crux pitch.</i></div>
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<i> Had a great day up on the East End of Rundle climbing Geriatric with Jamine. </i></div>
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<i>She only had a couple days of previous climbing experience but did awesome!</i></div>
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<i>Spent a fun few days in the mountains with Andrei & Galena. Here we are approaching the N. Face of Mt. Andromeda.</i></div>
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<i> Looking up at the North Face of Andromeda. To make things more interesting we climbed one of the steep gullies through the rockbands to the left of the normal N. Face route. Lots of fu</i>n!</div>
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<i>On the summit of Andromeda.</i> </div>
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<i> A couple days later we headed up to Castle Mountain. On the first day we climbed Eisenhower Tower, and on the second day Galena enjoyed the scenery from the hut while Andrei & I climbed Brewers Buttress. </i></div>
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<i> As our finale we decided to choose something with lots of climbing but less walking, the classic NE Ridge of Ha Ling. </i><br />
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<i>Nearing the top of the NE Ridge on Ha Ling.</i></div>
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<i>Next, I had a great group of guys join me for an Alpine Skills Course. In this pic we are learning crevasse rescue techniques. </i></div>
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<i>Good times on the N. Glacier! </i></div>
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<i>Learning snow belaying techniques on the Alpine Skills Course. </i></div>
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<span style="font-style: italic;">Putting the new skills to use on Athabasca the next day.</span> </div>
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<span style="font-style: italic;">Lovely weather near the summit!</span></div>
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<i>On the summit of Mt. Cline after two days of climbing! Perfect views, we could count over 30 of the Rockies 11000 foot peaks from up here! </i></div>
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<span style="font-style: italic;">A few days later, Tyler & Mark joined me for some climbing at the Icefields. We spent the first day climbing & practicing rescues on the glacier.</span> </div>
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<span style="font-style: italic;">A beautiful sunrise as we approach the N. Face of Andromeda. Unfortunately it was way to warm out and we were forced to retreat. </span> </div>
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<i>Next, I was joined by a great group of women from Winnipeg, Squamish, and Minnesota for a week of alpine skills & climbing! </i> </div>
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<i>Nearing the summit of Boundary Peak on day 2.</i> </div>
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<span style="font-style: italic;">Cool atmosphere on the summit of Boundary Peak, with Athabasca in the back.</span> </div>
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<i>Practicing rock climbing skills at Kootenay Plains near Nordegg. </i></div>
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<span style="font-style: italic;">Climbing up the beautiful Windy Point Ridge near Nordegg with my old backyard in the background. I lived in Nordegg for over a decade before moving to Canmore.</span> </div>
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<i>On the crux section near the top of the Buckle above Windy Point Ridge. </i></div>
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<i>Back at the Icefields the next day, just chillin! </i></div>
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<i>Two of the women had to leave on Thursday night, but the other three joined me for an ascent of Athabasca. Here, we are reaching the top of the long snow gully on the AA Col route. </i></div>
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<i>On the summit of the Silverhorn, all smiles! </i></div>
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<i>Which brings us to the present. This weekend I had another really fun group for a glacier travel course at the Icefields. </i></div>
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<i>This used to be my favorite roadside viewpoint in the Rockies. Now it is being turned into a pay-only ridiculous tourist attraction for bus tours since Parks decided to sell the pullout to Brewsters (despite hundreds of thousands of signatures on the petition against it). I guess there are enough people who only want to view the wilderness through panes of glass to justify it. Sad.</i></div>
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Tomorrow morning I am heading out to attempt the North Face of Robson with one of my strongest guests Aaron (the air guitar guy!). The forecast looks great so I'm optimistic it will go well!</div>
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J. Mills</div>
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www.cdnalpine.com</div>
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<br /></div>J. Mills - www.cdnalpine.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16180004970920720646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6342786529047015948.post-49434989212861635912012-06-26T10:40:00.005-06:002012-06-26T10:40:52.264-06:00Another season of alpine air guitar...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Aaron joined me again this month for some climbing and training for our planned Mt. Robson climb in August. Those of you who were following my blog last summer may remember a number of photo's of Aaron air-guitaring on summits. <br />
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We started out with a day of ice & glacier skills review on the
Boundary Glacier. The next morning we got up really early and headed
towards the excellent North Ridge route on Athabasca (III, 5.5), which is
definitely the most challenging route on the peak. It was in very
snowy winter-like condition which added some extra challenge. The route has a poor reputation, but this is mostly due to people getting suckered onto the downsloping low angle left-hand side of the ridge. If you stay on the steeper ground, the climbing is excellent. We had a great day on the route, and good views to boot!<br />
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<i>Aaron scrambling through the rocks low on the route. </i></div>
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<i>Aaron leading one of the steep snow section. </i></div>
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<i>Spectacular positions high on the route. </i></div>
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<i>Classic mountaineers pose on the summit!</i></div>
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We had hoped to do a multiday climb on the East Ridge of Mt. Patterson afterwards, but the weather was not in our favour. So, we instead decided to do some rock climbing in the Bow Valley for a day. We chose the really fun route "Econonline (5.10a)" on the East End of Rundle. The climb went well and Aaron did great on the steeper climbing. The crux traverse pitch is a memorable one for sure!</div>
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We also had the pleasure of watching a mountain goat grazing on the cliffs nearby, you don't usually see them at such low elevations. </div>
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J. Mills<br />
CRAG Head Guide<br />
www.cdnalpine.com</div>J. Mills - www.cdnalpine.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16180004970920720646noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6342786529047015948.post-13780995881444669872012-06-06T11:04:00.002-06:002012-06-06T11:04:36.275-06:00Glacier Travel Course & Athabasca ascent<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
A couple weekends ago I ran my first <a href="http://cdnalpine.com/alpine/glacier.htm">Glacier Travel & Crevasse Rescue Course</a> of the summer. These are always fun courses, and are a great way to get introduced to mountaineering at the Icefields. I had a great group of 6 guys down for the weekend, and we were able to accomplish alot during the two days. <br />
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The first day was spent learning a bunch of rescue skills and anchor building, and everyone picked it up really quickly. By the end of the day everyone knew how to rescue a partner from a crevasse in a variety of situations, as well as rescue themselves by ascending a rope with prussics.<br />
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<i>Practicing crevasse rescue on Saturday.</i> </div>
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On Sunday, we headed up to the North Glacier on Mt. Athabasca and learned how to not fall in a crevasse in the first place! We also practiced moving with the rope on, steep snow climbing, ice anchors, and a variety of other skills. After spending a few hours on the glacier, everyone was still energetic so we decided to scramble to the top of Boundary Peak to get some great views.<br />
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<i>Roped up on the lower glacier.</i></div>
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<i>On the scramble up Boundary Peak with Mt. Hilda & A2 in the background.</i> </div>
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<i>A large serac fall avalanche off Mt. Kitchener. Cool! </i></div>
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On Monday, one of the course participants, Scott, joined me in an ascent of the North Glacier route up Mt. Athabasca. We had good travel conditions and great views! We moved up the route quickly and Scott did really well on his first big peak. The views from the top were awesome!<br />
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<i>Scott on the lower glacier with Mt. Kitchener, Wolley, Diadem, and Mushroom behind.</i></div>
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<i>Sweet weather on the summit!</i></div>
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Thanks to all the guys on the course, and especially to Scott for the fun climb on Monday. I hope to see you all again!<br />
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J. Mills<br />
CRAG Head Guide<br />
www.cdnalpine.com<br />
<br /></div>J. Mills - www.cdnalpine.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16180004970920720646noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6342786529047015948.post-18479773428764857942012-06-06T10:51:00.003-06:002012-06-06T10:51:33.062-06:00Alpine Adventures with Luke (Mt. Cline, AthaB, and Yamnuska)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Spent a great week in the alpine with Luke from Wisconsin in late May. Luke had come out once before for an ice climbing trip, but it was tons of fun getting to know him better and do some big peaks! <br />
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One of his main ambitions for the week was to do a more remote wilderness peak. We decided upon <a href="http://cdnalpine.com/alpine/peak/cline.htm">Mt. Cline</a> since it is rarely visited and would be fun climbing in it's current wintery conditions. <br />
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On day 1 we hiked up Thompson Creek to our basecamp in the giant boulders. Despite all the snow, travel was quite fast since there had been a good freeze the night before to keep the snow solid & supportive. There were a few small flurries in the afternoon and evening, but we were up early the next day to try for the summit. We had very poor visibility throughout the day, but the climbing conditions were mostly really good on firm snow. The crux notches are a heck of a lot harder when they are snowy though! Exciting times climbing up and down the first notch with a thousand foot drop below your feet and snow & ice on all the handholds! We reached the summit in good spirits and descended down the normal route past the Cline Lakes to camp. The next morning we packed up and hiked back out to the car. <br />
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<i>Luke climbing up the snow gully low on the route.</i></div>
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<i>Luke in the crux notch enjoying some fine winter climbing!</i></div>
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<i>All smiles on the summit of Mt. Cline.</i></div>
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For the next portion of our trip we decided to do some climbing at the Columbia Icefields. Since our day hiking out from Cline wasn't too tiring, we got up early and headed to the North Face Bypass route on Mt. Athabasca the very next day. Again we had very limited visibility, but the snow conditions were fantastic and travel was fast. After the traverse below the Silverhorn & North Face routes, we were able to move together up the snow gullies to gain the upper North Ridge. From here there are a few fun pitches on low angle rock & ice, then a really cool snow ridge to the summit. <br />
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<i>Luke on one of the icy sections high on Athabasca.</i></div>
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<i>On the summit, with a nice view of white on white.</i></div>
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After Athabasca, we decided to head back to the Bow Valley for a couple days of rock climbing. Unfortunately it started raining that night, and continued to be mixed snow & rain for our remaining two days. However, Luke was as keen to learn as ever so we spent a productive day at Wasootch rock climbing in our boots, building various gear anchors, practicing rescue skills, and perhaps getting just a little bit wet! The next day all the cliffs were snow covered, but we decided to have an adventure on the classic Grillmairs Chimneys route (5.7) on <a href="http://cdnalpine.com/rock/climb/yamnuska.htm">Yamnuska</a>. It was indeed adventurous, with snow & ice on the holds, and a mix of snow, light hail, rain, and occasional sunshine throughout the day. It was really fun climbing though, and very much felt like an alpine route in those conditions. We climbed almost all of it with gloves on, and never switched to rock shoes. <br />
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<i>Near the base of Grillmairs Chimneys.</i> </div>
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<i>Climbing up one of the chimney pitches low on the route.</i> </div>
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<i>Luke entering the cave/chimney system on the second last pitch. </i></div>
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Overall it was a fantastic week of adventure climbing, and Luke was always psyched about the wild conditions! I think he learned alot about mountaineering, and I'm sure will continue to improve his skills every chance he gets. He also taught me a ton of stuff during the week as he was always keen to share his encyclopedic knowledge of science, nature, and history. <br />
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J. Mills<br />
CRAG Head Guide<br />
www.cdnalpine.com<br />
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<br /></div>J. Mills - www.cdnalpine.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16180004970920720646noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6342786529047015948.post-16017171456101449412012-06-06T10:18:00.002-06:002012-06-06T10:18:34.567-06:00Yamnuska & EEOR with Dan & Tezla<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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So far the Spring rock & alpine season has been going great! Apart from lots of cragging in Skaha and the Bow Valley, I've had some really fun guiding days on multipitch climbs around Canmore. <br />
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In mid-May, Dan & Tezla joined me for two days of multipitching and we were lucky to get some great weather. We started with an ascent of "Pony Express" (5.10a) up on <a href="http://cdnalpine.com/rock/climb/yamnuska.htm">Mt. Yamnuska</a>. It was a really nice route on good solid grey rock. The crux comes on pitch 6 and is in a really cool position on a prow high on the cliff. <br />
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<i>Me leading on Pony Express. Photo: Dan C.</i></div>
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<i>Dan & Tezla enjoying the sunshine on one of the belay ledges on Pony Express. </i></div>
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The next day we decided to tackle a route called Econoline (5.10a) up on <a href="http://cdnalpine.com/rock/climb/eeor.htm">EEOR</a> (climber slang for "East End Of Rundle"). The climb follows some of the best rock on the wall, and has a really cool crux section where you traverse across a smooth wall with small handholds and very little to put your feet on. <br />
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<i>Tezla nearing a belay on Econoline.</i></div>
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All three of us had lots of fun climbing up on the classic walls of the Bow Valley, and Dan & Tezla both did great on their first 5.10 multipitch routes!<br />
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J. Mills<br />
CRAG Head Guide<br />
www.cdnalpine.com<br />
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<br /></div>J. Mills - www.cdnalpine.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16180004970920720646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6342786529047015948.post-32612579059591475832012-05-10T12:00:00.000-06:002012-05-10T12:00:21.796-06:00Shooting Gallery & Andromeda/Athabasca Linkup<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Had a great trip out at the Icefields with friends Raphael (http://raphaelslawinski.blogspot.ca/) & Juan on Monday. Our original plan was to try a route called Rights of Passage on Mt. Kitchener, but inspection with binoculars showed a large serac feature threatening the route. We decided it was too dangerous for our tastes so we came up with a calf-busting endurance-testing plan B. We settled on trying to do the Shooting Gallery on Andromeda (IV, WI4), continue to the summit, then descend to the AA Col and traverse over to Athabasca, then climb to the summit of Athabasca. It all went smoothly, and with lots of fast climbing we managed to complete the link-up. </div>
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<i>The Shooting Gallery is directly above the front climbers head.</i></div>
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<i>Heading up the lower snow gully.</i></div>
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<i>Me on the short crux pitch of ice (I won the rock/paper/scissors for the lead!)</i></div>
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<i>On the summit of Andromeda, 6 hours after leaving the car.</i></div>
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<i>On the way down Andromeda before marching to the summit of Athabasca.</i></div>
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J. Mills</div>
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CRAG Head Guide</div>
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www.cdnalpine.com<i> </i></div>
<br /></div>J. Mills - www.cdnalpine.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16180004970920720646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6342786529047015948.post-36554655751636957552012-05-05T12:19:00.001-06:002012-05-05T12:19:05.887-06:00Icy Snapshots<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I spent most of March and early April guiding full time on lots of fantastic routes with even more fantastic guests! It didn't leave alot of time for blogging & other computer endeavors, but here is the last month of ice season in photos!</div>
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During an attempt at a winter ascent of Mt. Murchison via Murchison Falls (WI4+) and the South West Face above: </div>
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Snowline (WI4) up Evan Thomas Creek:<br />
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Rappelling down Guinness Gully: <br />
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The famous Weeping Wall, which I guided a couple times in March, as well as an ascent of the nearby Mixed Master (WI4+, 5.8), but we forgot our cameras! <br />
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In the ice cave on the Central Pillar Route (WI5+) on the Weeping Wall: <br />
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High on Moonlight (WI4): <br />
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Below the crux pillar of Louise Falls (WI4): <br />
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Pulling into a small cave on Moonlight (WI4): <br />
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Mixed climbing at Haffner Creek: <br />
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The super-cool pillar of Tokkum Pole (WI5) in Marble Canyon: <br />
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Farzin practicing his leading by "guiding" me up Louise Falls! <br />
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Near the top of Louise Falls: <br />
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Through the slot high on Coire Dubh Integral (WI3, 5.7): <br />
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Sunshiny days high on Coire Dubh: <br />
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The SW Face of Murchison, we turned around at about 10000ft due to poor snow conditions: <br />
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Our beautiful campsite above Murchison Falls, hauling the pack was nasty but the incredible campsite was worth it! <br />
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It's rock climbing season now, see you in the hills!<br />
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Jay Mills<br />
www.cdnalpine.com<br />
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<br /></div>J. Mills - www.cdnalpine.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16180004970920720646noreply@blogger.com0