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Banff Ice Conditions


Alex

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Hi "Lambone"

It was Webster's Smear indeed. When we did it, I though it was something like 3+/4 because of technical steep climbing near the top. But pretty mellow nonetheless. Cool route I thought.

Lucie's knee is getting better, thanks!

Eric.

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executive summary - lots of ice, most stuff in, big snowfall but it seems to be stabilizing, not too cold. cut the excuses - GO THERE!

 

*** took 20 hrs to drive from vanc to lake louise fri/sat 11/28-29 becuz of snow - stoppages on coquihalla, rogers pass, and kicking horse canyon (golden).

 

*** climbed louise falls w rob nugent, janez ales, and ade miller sun 11/30 - we were only party on it all day! crux column in typical-to-good shape. i'd call it "easy 5". there is a seldom-formed 1p 4+ on wall in trees to left.

 

*** climbed weeping wall right mon 12/1. i'd call it 4+; best line about 5m left of the dihedral on p2. two other parties on w/w: far left, and left side of centre, both looked 4-ish, ice is still kinda thin and wet in places, but not troublesome. a party attempted aerial boundaries, but came down.

 

>>lotsa ice on the right side of upper weeping wall, thinner on left. lots in snivelling gully too.

>> polar circus in in, but there was a lot of fresh snow (parkway closed for 2 days), and there were numerous natural releases visible on similar exposures further north becuz of the storm. give it a while, maybe, and let the locals be the avalanche poodles...

>>ice nine is an extremely thin pillar so far; happy days has touched down, so will get climbed later this season if there is not a cold spell to snap it off.

>>tons of good looking blue ice in lady wilson's cleavage.

>>oh le tabernac is in; ditto most lines in bowl above.

>>only had a brief glimpse of murchison falls, but looked fully in.

>>looked to be lots of snow in the gullies on the E face of chephren, so maybe the wild thing will be "in" come spring.

>> more ice than can be believed on E face of howse. too bad it's all grade 7 or whatever...

>> ditto for riptide...

 

*** climbed carlsberg tues 12/2. i suppose you'd call it "5", cuz there's lots of vertical "stepping", but the hooking is good, and you don't have to place screws off fully vertical positions. one pitch 58m to trees at left - rap slings and rings in situ - be careful to position the ropes carefully at the lip to ease pull (there are a couple knot-catcher grooves...)

 

>>there are tracks up to kronenbourg, and it's way fatter than the photo in waterfall ice ed.4. mighta got climbed?

>>pilsner is fully in, but looks hard - that's not at all unusual!

>>heineken and labatts in, but LOTS of snow in the gullies above. ditto masseys. didn't note guinness...

>> cool springs looks great...

>> silk tassel in, but again, lots of snow above.

 

### surprisingly, despite our worries about the snow conditions at field, we found the snowpack quite stable on the walk up to carlsberg. untypically for the rockies, it's not that cold (around -10C at night), so maybe a more coastal metamorphosis is going to take place, with the pack firming up in just a few days. i agree with the need for caution, and there were obvious hideous hazards on cross-loaded slopes all the way up the parkway (skiers at bow summit beware), but my feeling is it's coming around quickly. check the canadian avalanche association site, and when u get there.

 

see: http://www.avalanche.ca/weather/bulletins/index.html

 

>> at golden, essondale L and R look good (right looks superb, actually...). pretty nuts has been more or less destroyed by the highway construction. lady killer looked in; so did ice scream (but it gets lots of sun...)

 

it's great right now. go there...

 

cheers,

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We saw a party climbing Whimper Wall while we were gearing up for Weeping. Looks like a cool route, and would make a good alternative if Weeping Wall was crowded.

 

4+ is a stretch for the smear left of Louise Falls. Solid 3 in my opinion, with all the traffic it has gotten it climbs like a step ladder...it's thin though, careful with the screws!

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michael_layton said:

are the borgeau climbs still in (icewise, not avywise)?

mixed master?

 

Borgeau left is in and fat. We only did the first pitch. WI4-, then it looked like two short pitches of WI2/3 to the final WI5 curtain.

 

Borgeau right looked in, but looked thinner than borgeau left.

 

I'm sure you are aware of the high avy danger of both routes.

 

Conditions from 11/26.

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btw, for all of you wankers out there. areal boundries is in, for the first time since 1993!!!, so is ice-t. now go do it or i am calling your shit. if you don't do them you are just a bunch of sprayers.....none of that cascade, left weeping wall polar circus will count for shit. i am drunk as hell right now, so i don't give rat's fuck what you think about me cunts

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