Ice Climbing Road Trip – Canada February 2013


Posted by: dave c
at 22:56, March 12 2013.

For ice climbers there is no better destination in North America than the Canadian Rockies. I’ve climbed there many times over the years, but it had been a couple of years since I had made a pilgrimage to that Mecca. This year I jumped at the opportunity to make a return trip.

Since our plan was to spend several days climbing in the Ghost Valley plus a few days climbng along the Icefields Parkway, it made sense to take my truck camper, set up to be comfortable in cold weather and able to head into remote areas.

 Mike and I took 2 days to drive, to Calgary, meet Kevin at the Airport, then head to Cochrane, jumping off point for the Ghost.

Driving into the Ghost is always an adventure. On previous trips we have been stuck in snow drifts, have had to negotiate river crossings with large ice plates lining the edge of the river, and generally had exciting driving.

This time we had better conditions, except for the infamous “Blue Bridge Crossing” some distance before the Big Hill, where you drop steeply into the valley proper. In winter ice flows surround and often submerge the Blue Bridge, making routefinding a challenge. Scouting the crossing on foot we could see where other vehicles had fallen through the ice, into the water. Luckily we found a reasonable way to avoid these hazards and had an uneventful crossing, then down the Big Hill and into an area known as the North Ghost.

Our first climb was the moderate route “This House of Sky”, 500metres III WI 3-4+. A long rambling climb with many short ice steps, the rope stayed stowed until we reached the Grade 4 pillar near the top of the route.

 Right-click on an image, select “View Image” to see a larger version.



 

This House of Sky (THoS) was a good warmup for the next day’s climb, Beowulf, 670 metres,III WI4. Similar to the previous days climb but with more steep ice, Beowulf was a long rambling climb with short, soloable steps mixed with a few more roped pitches. Another fine climb.

 

 


 One part of the North Ghost that I hadn’t previously visited was the Valley of the Birds, so I was really looking forward to the next day’s outing. Our objective was “Yellow Bird” 30 metres,III WI4, a route that Joe Josephson calls probably the best climb in the valley.

A 20 meter pitch of WI3 leads to an impressively steep ice formation which we led as two pitches, setting up a belay in the cave at left. We then top-roped some more lines on the excellent plastic ice.


Since we still had a little daylight left we walked further up the valley to check out some of the other climbs. The Eagle, a challenging Grade 5, looked to be in difficult condition.


For our final day in the Ghost, we chose “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” (GBU), 45 metres, II WI 4-5+, a 2 minute approach from the parking area.



An excellent trip into the Ghost to climb some of the classic moderate routes.


After a night in Canmore, where we stayed at the Rocky Mountain Ski Lodge, we headed out for the next segment of our trip. Stopping at Lake Louise we wandered around the amazing ice sculptures on display there.

 




 The next morning we headed to one of my favorite climbs, “Shades of Beauty”, 120 metres, III WI4. The climbing was good, the weather not so much! Mike led the third pitch in full conditions.





Another fine day.

Mike and I had one more day left (Kevin would stay for another week of climbing), so we decided to climb another classic on the Weeping Wall. We chose the left side,180 metres, II WI4.

Only one other party was on the wall. They took the centre line, headed for the Weeping Pillar. We saw no other climbers all day, a rare treat on this popular wall. After that it was time to head home after a fine trip.

 

 



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