Yesterday, Jay Billing and I had the great pleasure to toy with the idea of ice climbing in October. The route Centaur rises about 300m off the goat glacier in Kananaskis and presents a mixed alpine endeavour. At 7 am we parked the car at the closed spray lakes campground and made our way up the old road through the still forest and soon after, the steep scree and rocks leading to the lateral moraines of the Goat glacier itself. As we dropped down onto the manzanita of ice, boulders and steep moraines the snow became deeper and deeper eventualy reaching about knee height.
We kicked steps to a nice ledge below the route and racked up for the pitch above, a lower angled corner to a roof and traverse right to more easier ground. The ice above that looked a bit thin and we had a chat after Jay tried the corner, maybe this was a bit too thin and a bit too early. The route was probably in climbing shape and perhaps do-able by guys like us but why push it for the first route of the year, right?
We busted down the moraines and scree and enjoyed the morning in solitude. Later on, while sitting at the Drake and enjoying a Guiness it was indeed a great day.
No comments:
Post a Comment