specialed Posted November 9, 2004 Share Posted November 9, 2004 Headed up to the great north over Thanksgiving. I've taken four roadtrips to watefall ice climb around the parkway and I'd like check out some other spots. I've heard Kanaskis gets good early season ice. Any recomendations or beta for routes there or other places to check into? Looking primarily for longer grade 4 and 5's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
layton Posted November 9, 2004 Share Posted November 9, 2004 kids falls, a bridge to far, R&D, moonlight/snowline are all fun and could be in. I'd like to try whiteman and redman soars (in?). Also i've never heard of anyone doing, but parallel falls, cabrio, centaur, and imaginary goat look fun and early season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rat Posted November 9, 2004 Share Posted November 9, 2004 you might try selenium falls (aka spray river falls) near banff. it's a pain to break the trail later in the winter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
specialed Posted November 9, 2004 Author Share Posted November 9, 2004 You ever done Urs Hole or Arterial Spurt Rat or Mike? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
layton Posted November 10, 2004 Share Posted November 10, 2004 you might try selenium falls (aka spray river falls) near banff. it's a pain to break the trail later in the winter. when is this normally climbable by, i never hear of anyone doing it, but of course, i wanna. i don't think you'd enjoy urs hole or ariel spurt except as a good day out in the hillz. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dru Posted November 10, 2004 Share Posted November 10, 2004 selenium falls had a brit die 2 or 3 years ago - abalakov failure. its in the anam. the pix make saddam's insane look like good fun. sea of gapers on rundle is a wi-4 right now, supposedly oh yeah the canmore hotel for sure pete! special deals on ice tools Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
W Posted November 10, 2004 Share Posted November 10, 2004 Mike- Selenium is a fun climb. Pitches get progressively steeper- WI3,WI4 then WI4+ or 5. Crux is cranking from a cave out onto a curtain (nice and exposed) then about 70 feet of 85-90 degree, high quality ice. Definitely avoid it if the snow is bad or avy hazard is up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
layton Posted November 10, 2004 Share Posted November 10, 2004 thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
specialed Posted November 10, 2004 Author Share Posted November 10, 2004 selenium falls had a brit die 2 or 3 years ago - abalakov failure. its in the anam. Huh? English motherfucker. sea of gapers on rundle is a wi-4 right now, supposedly Yeah I read that too. Wonder if its true? oh yeah the canmore hotel for sure pete! special deals on ice tools Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glassgowkiss Posted November 16, 2004 Share Posted November 16, 2004 buffalo head and tatonka are in. check live the vision. as for other climbs go and do in k-country. whiteman falls/ red man soars has another addition in the canyon http://www.seanisaac.com/mixed%20climbing%20folder/new%20mixed%20routes.htm very cool area is french creek. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miller Posted November 16, 2004 Share Posted November 16, 2004 If conditions/temps continue, I'd recommend scrapping your Thanksgiving Canadian Rockies trip and head south to rock climb. Sunday, drove all the way from Canmore to Icefields Visitor Center - not much at all was in and it was WARM. The long cruiser gullies on Mt Wilson were running waterfalls. Other climbs on Mt Wilson - upper pitches coming in but I dont know how you'd get to them. Murchison and Virtual Reality are forming but a look through the binoculars showed that both still need some cold temps and time. Bow Falls looked thin and not quite complete, but probably climbable - for an idea of the temps, the lake didnt have any ice on it. Polar Circus - upper pitches forming, lower pitches running water. Lower Weeping Wall - nothing. Upper Weeping Wall - a pillar was trying to form. Turned around and drove to Haffner - we climbed two pitches in Haffner before it got dark. Yesterday in Canmore it was literally T-Shirt weather. Then it started pissing rain. We drove along the Kananaskis Highway to have a look - Kid Falls was a waterfall - not a bit of ice on it. Raining and warm in K-Country. Deciding that there wasnt going to be a lot of ice climbing going on given the current conditions and the forecast for the week, and not wanting to wear out our welcome hanging out on our friend's couch in Canmore waiting for conditions to improve, we packed it up and headed back to Bellingham. Driving west on the TransCanada: Cascade - a pouring waterfall, no ice. Looked like some of the upper pitches on Professors might be in, bottom not in. Trophy Wall stuff is still there - must be wet and warm up there - it seemed to be raining up there as well. Over to Lake Louise - still raining and warm. Between Lake Louise and Field - raining and warm. Field - Guinness is climbable, a few other climbs are trying to form but have a ways to go. Our friends, Canmore locals that climb at hardboy standards, said that some of the Stanley Headwall routes were in great shape, and had a few other suggestions that were well beyond my game. For slack ass WI5 leaders like me who like to swing tools at thick ice, not a whole lot going on. Maybe some of the more obscure stuff way up high would be good - I guess you'd have to know where to look. A bit disappointing - word is that the season got off to a great start, then it got warm and most things that were either forming or in and climbable fell down. A day late and a dollar short... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Posted November 16, 2004 Share Posted November 16, 2004 I've done Selenium (or most of it anyway), its actually a really nice route! "selenium falls had a brit die 2 or 3 years ago - abalakov failure. its in the anam." anam == accidents in north american mountaineering as far as scrapping plans, don't worry there's plenty to do (Murchison, Bow, Stanley Headwall to gape, blah blah blah) even when the temps are warmer in the lowlands Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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