Guiness Stout

Had a great day of ice climbing in Field yesterday with my friend Drew. We climbed the mega classic Guiness Gully which then continues on the Guiness Stout with a bit of walking. The route "Stout" is positioned quite high on Mt. Denis, near the alpine in fact and it is a very cool place to swing the tools and look around. Its been years since I felt the ice climbing love I must admit but this year I am really feeling great to be out again. Skiing has become my center passion in winter time and although adventure and stellarness abounds when on skis, to me nothing compares to the risk=rewards that winter climbing can give. With the epicenter of ice climbing so close, its easy to take it for granted. I remember visiting ice climbers coming to Valhalla back when asking if its a good year for ice climbing, my standard line was "Its always a good year for ice climbing", its just that good all the time here!


Drew nearing the top of "Stout"

Screw cleanin'
Drew on the first pitch of Guiness Gully.

Thanks for the good day buddy!

Haunted By Ice

So today was a great day indeed in that great ice climbing mecca the ghost river valley, Alberta. Drew and I got the early start and drove in via the very new and improved "I can take my Vespa in" road, excited at the prospect of swinging the old hatchets around. The day dawned great for said climbing and soon enough we were ascending the frozen scapes.

Drew on top of "Anorexia Nervosa", a bad name for a good climb.
At this point, after doing the last pitch and belaying in the glorious sunshine, the wind picked up and flew me vertically for a few seconds, it was not enjoyable for either mind or body.
The route, a good one indeed.
Drew getting the final sticks, thanks buddy for a great day. Looking forward to some climbing and skiing after my next trip to the coast leaving Sunday.

Weeping Wall Weekend

A couple of weeks ago we enjoyed great weather for a couple of days based out of the Rampart Creek hostel. I had the pleasure of joining the company of Marc and Niall for a climb of Melt out and weeping wall. A great time was had as we climbed and climbed, ate some great dinners and climbed and climbed again. Over the last month or so we have been busy with orders, trade shows  and spending time with our new dog so it was great to have a full weekend to just get out there and be in the mountains. I am looking forward to more ice climbing this year as I probably wont be skiing until march or later. Its great to have so many options.

Marc after some steep ice, ready for more
Marc amidst the "sea of ice"

Niall, a classic guy and a classic route.

Mt. Wilson and Guiness Gully

What a great two days out in the mountains with friends this past Thursday and Friday. With the new gear box on the car we loaded up and shot north towards the hulking mass of Mt. Wilson and the routes Lady Wilsons Cleavage and Wilson Major. Bad roads to the wayside, we unpacked and cramponed up the frozen creek and the wonderful steps of Lady Wilson. Staying dry from the few deep water wells under the steps required panache and we realized that our boots are water-proof except for the hole on top.
Racking up on the highway, a truly great thing. We enjoyed nice temperatures and constant stand up comedy routines.
Mike firing the meat and potatoes of Wilson Major, a great lead on great ice in a great setting with a great coffee waiting at Laggans. More on the coffee, we actually did not enjoy the beverage because we ended up on the route until about 9pm. Yup thats right, with two out of four headlamps no less. I guess thats what you get when you have an accumulated climbing experience between us of 20 years? A great day and such a nice place up there. Dinner at the Lake Louise hostel followed by the log impersonation in bed.

Zach and I walking up to the last pitch on Guiness Gully in Field, BC. Another great climb .

The first pitch of Guiness in thicker than normal shape taking pretty good screws the whole way. After this we rappelled off to the delights of the Siding cafe and its great coffee and proper cappuccino skills as well as baked goods. Soon after we slid our way home on the trans-canada back to Canmore. Awesome. This ice climbing as of late has been really good, cant wait till the next time. Thanks to Amitai, Zach and Mike Treetops for a stellar weekend with good company as usual.

All photos courtesy of Amitai Gat.

Linda Ice Nine

So yesterday I got the chance to join my friends "team Israel" Amitai and Zach for a classic day of ice climbing in Lake Louise on none other than the mega classic, Linda Ice Nine. Jon and I had heel toed it over there once before this year during the film fest only to find sublimated ice and a not good ice situation. Coffee, tunes and driving ensued back to Banff where we juggled salmon quiche and beef buns during the opening reception of the fest....I digress. The weather and conditions in Lake Louise were great as we made our up the route and into the alpine climbing all but the last pitch which is still a tad on the thin side. Good times especially because my shoulder/finger/foot injuries that have been sticking around were non-hurting. Thanks guys! oohhh yeeahhh.

Wishbone

This last friday, Mike and I shot up the parkway for an alpine mission. We had our sights set on something that we heard was in but as we ascended the broken talus and lateral moraines to get there, our eyes caught sight of a cool line coming down and barely touching the ground- we decided to check it out...

Mike brought a big piece of french bread for lunch, not sure why this photo made it in here?
The aformentioned hike and the weather which proved to be wintery
Entering the chimney, as I was climbing this I heard a loud pop in my shoulder. Trying to weight bear was painful, I finished to pitch and Mike came up to the belay. Having dislocated his shoulder years ago, he had some good questions to ask me before we decided to go down. The thing was swelling up faster that a fish in the sun. This route will have to wait...
Mike killing it on the first attempt to get to the ice, good effort. Too thin for us- no gear, scary.
 Good times, Doc says its a "torn posterior rotator cuff ligament". Try saying that at 6am, or anytime for that matter. Either way I am off the sauce for a few weeks while I recover the arm, hopefully back at it in mid November!

Masseys Waterfall

It was great to pick up the phone the other day and hear my good friend Jonsonite say that he is coming down for a bit of ice climbing. Well, thats exactly what we did. After skiing so much this year it was nice to do some classic tool swingin'. A super day out ending at the truffle pigs in Field home of the 14 inch strudle and Kicking Horse Espresso roast...mmmm

Auto De Feu

Ghost River Wilderness: A Place To Behold

The name is long, but so is the list of positive words you can use to describe climbing in the Ghost River Wilderness. Driving through rolling hills and prairies splashed with the fire of a rising sun, watching the mist hover over the creeks and rivers as you blast down the gravel roads, coffee in hand. You cant really leave the Ghost the way you came in. No, part of you is still there climbing the frozen gulleys and falls, calling you for your next days off where you get to do it all again.

Just Another Hot Lap

With alpine fever, Mike Treetops and I blasted down the Icefields Parkway after work yesterday and had a stellar bivi under a full moon, calm skies and still air in front of the Athabasca Glacier. 2am rolled around and the skies opened up blowing things around in a very unfriendly manner, mostly snow into our eyes. Needless to say, when we awoke at 5am to try our route across the road the wind had zapped our reserves and we were left with the question, what now? Thankfully we had french press coffee and we drove north to Beauty Creek and the ice climb, "Shades of Beauty". After a snowy and scrappy first pitch, I brought Mikey up to where he promptly fired the steep and thin 2nd pitch, bottoming out 10cm screws here and there. The ice however was great and very climbable and we were stoked. The last pitch was probably the most fun as stemming between rock on the left and ice on the right is probably the most exciting thing you can do in this world. We topped out and high fived before getting the ropes stuck on the descent. Constant laughs and a really great ice situaton = awsomeness!

Half Horse Half Bird

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.

Icey ice

With the christmas work schedule being so tight, its nice to take advantage of mornings off to head off into the hills close to home and sample their offerings. This morning I had the pleasure of climbing with my good friend Jonson from Edmonton. The stoke factor is always super high when we are out and we hooted and hollered up Rogans gulley and a bit of Cascade waterfall before heading to canmore for breakfast and emormous talk, all before work at 1pm.

Gorillas in the mist

On thursday Greg Tos and I shot down the ol' trans canada highway towards that ice climbing mecca, Field to do the route "Superbok". At Field, all the climbs are named after beers and Its usually a good omen to have the route of choice's beer the night before the climb. According to my bro Jonsonite, Superbok was a really good summer ale that was brewed until a few years ago. A discontinued beer? Blaspheme! It appeared we were the first on the route this year as we postholed from pitch to pitch on a perfect warm and windless day, swinging the tools on a great waterfall. I must say that the day got the ice bug going again.......

Fitness the witness

So the last few weeks have been filled with early season ice hunting. It really makes no sense at all that we would be looking so early seeing that we have 7 months of winter ahead but for some reason, every year at this time the ice gear comes out, gets sharpened and is ready to go. Winter has a special attraction, thats for sure.
This fellow was spotted near the ice climb R&D a couple of weeks ago.J dog billing giv' n r on the rock below "coffee suckin' do nothings" we ended up trying this and another corner system to the right but both were a bit grim without a rock rack.
Approching "coffee suckin' do nuthin's", the route "auto de feu" is visible on the right. Even though we didnt climb the route, J and I had a great day out in the mountains drinking coffee, driving rally style and enjoying good comapny while trying to scratch our way up. Its great to know that winter is truly on the way and we will all be enjoying it soon.

ice on the rocks

Well, the ice season is off to a slow start this year, but thats okay because its going to be that much sweeter when everything is all formed up. The last three days have been spent hiking around with packs full of useless crap (ice gear) in search of the fabled frozen scapes, not yet to any avail.