Banff Conditions Report

[daler]

Hey all,

 

Have been in the Canmore area since thursday. Here is a report of what we saw and what we climbed.

 

First of all Avy conditions are very reasonable at the moment but make sure you check for yourself!!!! Lots of warm temps and sun so low elevation climbs in the sun are on the way out but anything in the shade or up high is in brilliant condition.

 

Thursday- We warmed up on Borgeau Left. Great climb still in shape although the sun is starting to work her love on it. Snow conditions on approach are great with a cow trail the whole way. 30 minutes to base of climb and two hours on route. Very possible to take a 5- line in the current conditions.

 

Friday- Aquarious to Rainbow Serpent. Some would call it a hard WI5 but I'll still give it a 6- as it was wild climbing on large mushrooms. Not very strenuous but very technical. Should be in for a awhile but aquarious gets more sun and is starting to feel the pain. bring a #2 camalot for the very top of aquarious to take to the sting out of the rock section. Rainbow Serpent is a must do.

 

Saturday. Pilsner Pillar and Rich and Abby's new M8 to the right called "one for the road" Super nice route with a nice job of bolting. Soft for the grade.

 

Sunday- Rest day

 

Monday- Went up to the Stanley headwall to climb French Reality or Nightmare on Wolf Street but both are a little thin. They will still go but we were looking for good conditions. Decided on Nemesis instead and skiied the rest of the way up and climbed it. She is in fat shape and a 5+ line can be had if you wander a bit. We just climbed up the middle at 6-. Had a water release to the left of me as I was bringing up my wife at the top. Probably 1000 gallons of water pouring over the lip. Missed us by 10 feet. Almost had a heart attack!!!!!!!!!!!!! Fucking wild.

 

All climbs were climbed leashless except the last pitch of Nemesis as I was feeling the pain!!!!!!!!! Hope this helps.

Giver!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Dale

Edited March 2, 2004 by daler

[Ced]

An addition to daler's report for those heading up for the ice fest this weekend. We were in Banff last week, all climbs were in fat conditions with the popular routes kicked out.

Louise Falls - A steal at a 4

This house of sky - a fun route, but we didn't slog up to the last two pitches at the top of the bowl. Ghost access was easy with a normal 4x4 ei. Jeep, Pathfinder...

Professors - Seeing alot of traffic 7 parties on Wed. probably due to Cascade falling. Second last pitch very wet, last pitch (crux)in good conditions.

Halfner - lots of ice.

Our rest day at Grotto saw the falls in the fattest conditions I've seen. His & Hers are in the sun and about a half to a third the size of normal. Mental jewelry seemed to have bigger holds, someone must be climbing with a prospectors hammer.

Cheers

Ced.

[geordie]

Surprised I didn't run into you since I managed to get to most of those last week too. You missed out on This House of Sky- those last two pitches were worth it. Locals say the route was the fattest they've seen. (Same with Profs)

[JUSTO]

Another follow up as of 3-2-04

 

Moonline-There but very thin @ bottom

Snowline-Had the most ice of the three/in about 3+ conditions

2 Low 4 Zero- No ice on the bottom

 

Nothing but the Breast- 1st approach pitch was thin with better ice above. Upper pitch was in good condition still

 

Murchison-Great shape. Upper pitch a little wetter than lower stuff.

Virtual Reality-Lower half is there, but upper is melted out

 

Panther Falls-Super fun route. Technical climbing for the grade. Make sure to just walk off the top. We chose to try to rap back down to our packs from above..much easier to walk back down.

 

Weepping Wall-Looked to be all there still, but could tell sun had been hitting it pretty hard.

 

Polar Circus-Looked beautiful, make sure to take a number the moment you arrive in Banff.

 

Bourgeau Right-Climbed by another Seattle crew and reported to be in fatter than normal conditions

 

Enjoy!

[J_Fisher]

Man, I'd pretty much written of ice for the season and was planning on spending some quality time on the new motorbike, but this has me psyched to squeeze in another trip north . . .

[J_Fisher]

All climbs were climbed leashless except the last pitch of Nemesis as I was feeling the pain!!!!!!!!! Hope this helps.

 

Dale, just curious. Do you carry leashes with you on big climbs but only put them on the tools if you think you'll need them? I've been noodling the leashless thing, but don't think I get out enough to justify new tools, esp. since there are so few M climbs around here. Besides, I'm weak and like my leashes . . .

[Alex]

Its really warm in the Columbia River Valley and Radium area.

Stanley Headwall looks about normal (ed. ah I just read Dale's post again, I heard that Nemesis was fat, but only saw French Reality from a distance)

Hafner in and fun.

Borgeau Right was in great shape, soft 4, great ice, classic.

all David Thompson climbs are in, basically -

Elliot Left in great shape, first pitch fat and sunny, wet, last pitch brittle, steep and technical hard 4.

Kitty Hawk fat.

Murchison, fat, will be there another 3 weeks.

Weeping Wall fat, but do it on a cloudy, cold day. Weeping Pillar is in, but ice isnt as good as on the lower wall.

Polar Circus, trade route, currently. People at Rampart were negotiating starting times with each other.

Louise in.

Shades of Beauty, Stanley Falls Senior in.

Tangle Creek in.

Panther in, Bridal Veil in but pretty stiff for a 3.

 

J_Fisher, I have been experimenting with my prophets, and modified two Viper Fangs to fit them. I have android leashes on them. On this trip, I seconded alot of pitches leashless, and lead a few easy pitches leashless too. When I lead, I put on the androids. At Hafner and elsewhere, it was nice having some type of tool you could drytool with without leashes, but clip in some leashes for harder leads.

 

I'm still a little too freaked out about dropping my tools (though I never have, come to think of it) or doing something dumb to start leading everything leashless just yet, but I think I will be there next year.

 

Alex

Edited March 7, 2004 by Alex

[mammut_rep]

J_Fisher,

I'm old, weak, and feeble, but I just climbed Polar Circus last Thursday with PU and did it totally leashless. It really isn't that much harder than climbing with leashes. One thing I noticed since using leashless tools is that your footwork and body positioning is much better because it has to be. I now discover many more "no hands" rests since my footwork is better. Don't waste too much time figuring out whether you want to try leashless or not. If you do, you'll just get older and weaker like me and everyone will be climbing past you. Try it, you'll like it...

[thelawgoddess]

I now discover many more "no hands" rests since my footwork is better.

i don't think leashless climbing is any harder than climbing with leashes; it's just different. (i actually think it's easier, but i'm just a little biased.)

[pu]

Polar Circus may be a "trade route" but, when we did it there was no one else around and there was surprisingly little walking considering how much ice there is to climb. Mammut Rep had no problem climbing it leashless although I was quite happy to have mine at the end considering I was a bit tired. I consider PC a must do if you're in the area and the conditions are right.

[glassgowkiss]

ok. the conditions just went to shit. avi danger is rated high, even below tree line. ghost was still very good, extremly windy on sat. it was dust storm from the dry lake in south ghost.

columbia icefields received about 20 cm of new. saw some parties on upper weeping wall. my tolerance for suffering is much lower with my old age, hence we ended up in cinaplex cave. i am so pumped today i can hardly type.

be careful out there, snow is distributed by high winds. there was an avi accident on mt stephen involving ice climbers, don't know any details.

[mammut_rep]

Lawgoddess,

I know you are a Grivel fan. Check these out...

[glassgowkiss]

i can't edit my earlier post, so here is an update. the accident (according to a post on ltv.com) was on Superbock. an avalanche shot right over 2 guys and hit one. he is recovering in a hospital.

it is 10C in Clagary today. it snowed quite a bit in the past few days and winds were very strong. colder weather is supposed to move in on wed.

[glassgowkiss]

curtain call is in fine shape with a lot of cool and hard climbing. let's say climbing leashless overhanging ice is a bit more work for your forearms. weeping wall, climbs on mt wilson and sunny routes in general are getting baked. temps are supposed to cool of a bit over the weekend, should help. the snow fall from last weekend is bonding quite good.

[BillA]

How about now? Is anything like say, polar circus, still in?

[fishstick]

As of last week PC was huge. Some of the southern stuff has been really burnt and has come down; ice 9 for instance. North facing stuff is thick, bombproof and surprisingly firm. Avo hazard has been all over the map, but might be best described as THE limiting factor late last week. Lots of wind and some fresh snow. Overall conditions are better than you’ll ever get here.

 

GB