trainwreck

i just want to clear up a few things about the pics that dane posted. 1.) the shooting gallery does not require a hammer because there is nowhere left to place pins on it. there is a fixed two knifeblade anchor (as of last june) at the bottom of the crux and nothing else around (i.e. no cracks) for someone to place a pin. the crux and upper couloir will either take ice screws or nothing, no rock gear at all. so nomics on that route aren't that big of a deal. 2.) the pic of raph climbing the crux of Kitchener's Grand Central Couloir has nothing to do with nomics. everyone on that climb was using BD tools (with hammers!) 3.) if you're soloing the entire ice portion of the NF of Alberta what purpose would an adze serve? i am climbing on nomics for pure ice and mixed. they are some seriously amazing tools, for what it is worth, i use bd cobras (no adze) for my alpine/mixed climbs that require piton placements.

the guy in that video is Paul Valiulis, he died a month ago free diving in the caribbean. his sense of humor is unmatched, especially for a ACMG guide. he will be missed by many. he's got two more videos on youtube as well; one is the FA of a seriously sandbagged M9+ called 'G-sus' and there is a great one of him and ken wallator (a local legend) climbing pilsner pillar or nemesis or something. edit- sean elliot is the climber on G-sus, not paul.

the north face of athabasca is an easy III; don't even try to argue that it is III+/IV. the rock step is one body length, maybe two, so it is at most 5m. barry blanchard re-rated the crux at 5.8/M4 this spring which is fair, it is like five moves to mantle up into the upper gully so pretty easy for the grade, especially with the fixed pins. the grade IV's in the rockies are considerably harder than the north face of athabasca; the shooting gallery is an "easy" IV and the crux is twice as long, steeper, and is very poorly protected except in the spring when there is ice to place screws. you guys had about as good of conditions on the face as you can have; and i should know, i watched you climb. edit- i should also mention that athabasca is in Jasper National Park, not Banff.