Canadian Rockies ICE TR

[Buckaroo]

Canadian Rockies Ice TR

 

short version

 

Feb 19th to 23rd, '06

 

19th

drive 13hrs,

climb Riverview 100m WI 3-4, (headlamps)

car camp on Icefields Parkway at Murchison trailhead

-20 F for a low

 

20th

Climb Murchison 180m WI-4+,

wet on the left, harder but dryer on the right, same as in '94

1 hr approach on low snow boot track trail, 3ft deep in '94

 

21st

Haffner Creek mixed crags (canyon)

look for boot track approach, don't go by the book

WI-4+ short pitches of ice

mixed Green Room and Half and Half, both M7

 

22nd

Evan Thomas creek, (FAT), one hour approach on boot track, 18" snow

Snowline 100m WI4

2 Low 4 Zero, 90m WI-3 R (WI-4 M5 if you go the hard way)

This should be in the mixed guide, the ice guide says it's usually an iced up

rock route.

 

23rd

14 hour drive back, 200 miles on snowy roads (hiway 1)

went Via by Vancouver, Hope both ways, wouldn't recommend through Idaho and up

the Radium hiway. It's not as well maintained and it had really bad frost

heaves. It is less expensive though Via Idaho because of more miles in the

states with cheaper gas. But if you want to catch some ice on the way in then

Golden/Field has more options than the Radium hiway.

 

 

 

 

long version

 

 

 

 

Dancing With The Ephemeral

 

 

After waiting all winter for something, anything, to form up in global warming

Washington the call is on for some REAL ice. It's not even cold enough for

Lilloet, so the Canadian rockies become the destination of choice. The

climbing world's waterfall ice paradise, thank you Ice Jesus.

 

Emcay is the partner again and we're on the hunt for the big stuff, at least

500 feet steep is all that will do. We're sort of "off the couch" considering

Drury in '01 is the last big thing we've done. Some random gear acquisitions

and a few afternoons at the dry tool crag on 900 give us some prep for a hard

week of "hook it up" action far up in the frozenated northlands of Canukistan.

 

We wrangle the coinciding time off from our respective employers, pack all the

gear, and overload it into the Civic. On arriving at Emcay's I see his

snowshoes and realize I've left mine... dohhh. Getting a late start after

discussing the viability of conditions/routes on North Index Peak. It

figures the one time we've chosen to go to Canada that Index would be in

shape. Leaving about midnight we get to just near the border before car

camping for the night.

 

Early next morning we get hung up at the crossing. Apparently we look like

Talibans and have to sit on the group "W" bench for a while and then present

all our papers. Yes we are trying to smuggle this spiked weaponry into

Canada, no we don't have any produce or drugs or over $10,000 (WE WISH) , no

we've never been arrested or charged for anything. Having always thought

being subject to more extensive interrogation is due to giving the wrong

answer at the drive through, it looks like this may not necessarily be the

case. We were diverted to "immigration" immediately, just guessing they were

fullfilling their "quota" early on in the day.

 

The drive up is dry roads and uneventful. We decide to take the route by

Vancouver rather than through Idaho as we want to hit some ice in Golden on

the way there. Due to the recent arctic front there's ice as early as Hope,

and along the way we see a couple good lines between Salmon Arm and

Revelstoke that aren't in any of the books. ICE ICE BABY YEAHH!! HOOK IT UP!!.

 

Arriving at Golden about 4:00 pm we jump on some easy WI 3 ice just past

Golden at Kicking Horse Canyon. We solo up half way and then rope to near the

top till it gets dark. It's nice and easy but good to knock off the couch

rust which has accumulated to a scarily prodigious amount.

 

Emcay has lined up a place to stay at his famous climber friends climbing

condo, but it's in Canmore which is a ways out of the way for our first day

objective which is Murchison. We drive up the Icefield Parkway in the dark

and suss out the trailhead. I've talked Emcay into a 20 below carcamp right

on the road but I have to give up the car to him and his 20 above bag. With a

40 below down bag with bivy bag and tarp it's the bee's knees, the only place

being the slight bit chill is the exposed breathing hole but the balaclava

takes care of that.

 

The road noise has an eerie sort of echo when your sleeping right by it. The

tarp rustles sort of like the sound of snaffles but with these temps good

snaffle conditions are doubtful, it's probably just the wind. A clear star

filled sky is like an old friend, always welcome to a fool for the city

dweller.

 

Wake at 5 am and hit the trail at 6 or so. It's amazing, there's very

little snow on the approach with bare ground large parts of the way. When I

last did it in '94 there was at least 3 feet of snow. The approach seems

twice as long due to the sluggishness of age compared with the

previous time. That was a race among young bucks led by a Native Canadian

Indian who was doing winter ascents of Robson.

 

Murchison in '94

 

 

After about an hour Murchison finally appears in the dim cold light of dawn,

in thinner condition than remembered but just as beautiful. It's a 500 footer,

wide and rambly at the bottom, narrowing and steeper near the top, sort of a

sting in the tail style. An honest 4 by any line and possibly a 5 by the

hardest line in this condition. The base is sort of a moonscape with talus of

various sizes strewn about, with just a light dusting of snow which in a more

normal year was just a big snow slope.

 

Murchison now

 

We drop the packs at the base and gear up. We're almost ready to start when we

notice company. Another party of two is quickly approaching. We pick up the

pace a little in order to grab the best belay spot above the easy solo ground

at the bottom. It's about a half pitch WI 2-3 solo up to the base of the

steeper main falls and we dispatch it without problem. Without problem that

is until we go to set up the belay in a cave on the left. I had set my half of

the ice screws on the ground at the packs and in the haste of racing the

other party, and the working-driving-climbing-straight-through-no-rest-day

stupefaction, forgot them entirely. So rap down and solo back up again.

Luckily the other team seems indecisive or for whatever reason have decided

to wait awhile at the base.

 

Murchison is three full 60 meter pitches more or less, so whoever gets the

first one is probably going to have to lead 2 of them. Since I've already

done it and it was Emcay's choice I talk him into leading the first one.

"I've already done it, this is your climb, you go man".

 

The ice is nice and plastic, plastic because it's a little wet. The first

pitch sort of rambles with some steep sections but Emcay sends it no problem

with a minimum of screws and a minimum of dinner plate bombing due to the

party below. But in his rusty off the couch condition he puts the belay in

the bombing zone of the next pitch. We decide it's ok anyway because the ice

has been plastic enough to minimize the dinner plate projectiles.

 

The previous climb of Murchison was with 4 other climbers that I had hooked up

with at Rampart Creek the night before. We climbed it as one team of 3 and

one team of 2. The team of 3 took a middle line and the Native Canadian and I

took the right hand side. As it turned out the center line was pretty wet and

that team's ropes froze up solid as steel cables. All five of us had to share

one pair of ropes on the rap. It was sort of interesting, a 5 person

hanging belay at mid height, all of us strung out horizontally, each with a

screw on the near vertical face.

 

Since the left/center line looked a little easier it was our choice this time,

apparently it was turning out to be pretty wet. It didn't seem too wet at

first but before I knew it my first pair of gloves were completely soaked. Of

course then the hands start getting cold and at the belay the second and last

pair of gloves are donned. Just in the back of my mind I start to worry a

little bit, wet gloves means you have to keep moving in order to stay warm.

If the wind picks up or we get benighted due to unforeseen circumstances it

might not be too pretty.

 

It's probably not too much of a problem but the couch rust amplifies it to the

point where I'm driven to pawn off the second lead to Emcay. The last pitch

looks like the hardest so maybe knowing that and knowing I'll have to take it

he takes the second without any more discussion. Again he sends it no problem

with just a few screws. Following it is easy, easy but wet. Wetter than the

first pitch, and the second pair of gloves joins the first, totally soaked.

 

So this is it, sort of like fun but not, stuck somewhere between grim and

grimmer. But this is a hard earned "vacation" day off and we're going to make

the most of it no matter what. If the fingers are constantly moving they

won't freeze and there's mits back at the pack anyway. Still I try to pawn

off the last pitch but Emcay's having none of it. It's the best pitch anyway

so I take it. Although it's pretty wet there's a dryer line and it's followed

through a cool near vertical traverse with a nice calve resting ledge for the

crampons. Every screw I pull the digits out of the glove fingers to get the

circulation back. You have to hold off the grip while climbing and

concentrate on keeping the fingers moving.

 

Last pitch

 

On the last half of the pitch the easier ramp areas are really wet and I start

to worry about turning the rope into a cable, it would mean single rope raps

the whole way because we are carrying our second line. At this point the

driest line is also the steepest so this makes it more interesting anyway and

eventually I pull up onto the last ledge before the top. On the two-way Emcay

says there's 30 feet left but I can't see how far it is to the top, but if I

belay here it means an extra belay for sure and the rope direction going

through some really wet ice. I gun for the top taking the chance on the rope

reaching. The angle gets easier but the rope is at the end, luckily

stretching, stretching to reach the fixed belay.

 

A certain peace of mind descends, the turnaround has been reached and wet

gloves seem like a more easily surviveable issue. The fixed anchor is sorta

mank but probably normal by rockies standards, one rusted bolt, one rusted

pin and a small loose chockstone which is lucky to be holding up the webbing

much less any downward pull, I tap the pin to check and settle for the belay

since all we have is screws and there's no ice nearby. Emcay follows albeit a

little slower, his gloves while in better condition than my worn out ski

gloves have finally succumbed to the wet and he's doing the warm up routine

at every screw.

 

We're in a good mood though and the sunshine even sporadically peeks through

the clouds. The lead rope is new and very stiff either from being partially

frozen or just it's characteristics I'm not sure. Due to the rope the rappel

is a little bouncy at first and it's sort of unsettling considering the

suspect anchors but we make it to the next station without problems.

 

First Rap "Cloud Walk"

 

I start a V-thread as Emcay comes down. We meet the other team at this anchor and

chat them up. They're locals from Canmore, a man and woman team, with the

woman kicking some butt on steep ice, gotta love a woman ice climber. Their

turning around before the top, either from the lateness of the hour or our

stories about how wet the upper pitch is. Here's to hoping we didn't slow

them down, but at least their local so all this beautiful ice is right in

their own backyard.

 

Second Rap

 

We amble back to the car reveling in our success. It seems like afterwards,

when you turn it over in your mind it expands in proportion. The frozen

digits forgotten, the plastic thwonk of picks and crampons, the breath with

the clipping of a screw, the beautiful icy exposure. The hanging, the pulling

and going past where the arms and calves say stop, the comraderee, the

accomplishment of an ephemeral thing that most people never even contemplate

much less ever achieve.

 

The drive to Canmore is pretty uneventful except for the scenery of course

which is undeniably some of the most spectacular on this continent. It's been

a while since Emcay has seen it so he gets to be passenger for a while. The

new ice tires do a good job on the Parkway which is considerably more iced

than Highway One due to no semi traffic. It's quite a ways from where the

Parkway turns off Highway One to the condo in Canmore so we agree it was a

good call to sleep on the parkway to forego a much earlier start. Early

starts being a sure prerogative considering the increased popularity of the

sport and the locale. In '94 there wasn't a single footprint on the Murchison

approach, this time it was a well packed boot track, and we had company on a

Monday.

 

The condo is plush, the home away from home of the famous climber friend of

Emcay's. There's a climber house sitter (where do I sign up?) who is very

cordial and gives us more beta and stories on the area. Some other visiting

climbers are there and we all have a nice chat on what everyone has done and

is going to do. Apparently they ran up Polar Circus and Mixed Master is

(sadly) not in condition, too thin, maybe next time. These other guys took a

rental with no ground clearance up to the Ghost and punched a hole in the

radiator the size of your fist. Needless to say they had a mini epic just

getting back to civilization.

 

A nice meal, shower and bed all in the warm condition sets us up for the next

day of "mixed cragging" at Haffner creek, according to the Canmore guy on

Murchison a good choice for toproping mixed stuff. The approach turns into a

mini epic. We follow the book EXACTLY but its outdated bogus, the trail

starts off right from the parking area, just not as the book describes. We

wallow in 18 inches of snow following an old snowshoe track for almost an

hour. Of course I've forgotten my snowshoes and Emcay left his at the car

thinking it would be like Murchison. Luckily we spot some climbers returning

on the trail and we wallow traverse through the powder over to the packed

boot track. Apparently if it's not a packed boot track you are off route.

 

Haffner Creek

 

This place is awesome, one of those water worn canyons characteristic of the

area, narrow steep and deep. Lots of ice this year, even covering some of the

bolts. We pick a steeper looking ice line to put up a top rope and Emcay

jumps on it for his first "leashless" lead. He quickly finds out it's harder

than you would imagine compared but after more than a few deep breaths and a

few marginal screws he sends it. We both flash "Shagadelic" on top rope,

an interesting M6+ that starts with a ladder of holes and thin ledges in the

rock then goes through a small cracked roof to some thin ice with more thin

ice/rock above. I get a nice adze cam through the crux while Emcay does the

same crux with an undercling Stienpuller and a tool switch.

 

(correction) Shagadelic M6+

 

With dry tool mixed climbing I think you have to set aside some normal rock

climbing assumptions. Some of these may even be learned reflexes. The first

major one is reach, you've got the extra length of your axe. The next would

be how small of an edge can you crank on? Steel will hold on a much smaller

edge than fingers. Another thing which probably only applies to the soft

limestone of the area is that metal points actually dig into the rock. So an

edge that might seem too sloper if it was granite still works due to this

digging in.

 

We also get up a narrow steep ice runnel to the right, too thin for really

hitting but a lot of nice hooking with one crampon on rock. Then we ran some

laps on the ice curtain that Emcay had led. All in all a nice easy day

between the bigger stuff.

 

Back to the climbing condo and another nice night of good food good company

and good conversation. We stopped on the way though at the Banff gear shop

and got the local beta from the climber clerk. What's got a short

approach moderately long in the 4 plus range with little avalanche hazard?

Well he says there's Borgeau right hand which is hella long, but it was

bombed 3 weeks ago and it didn't all come down then, so take your chances.

Then his eyes light up and he says Evan-Thomas Creek, specifically Moonlight,

Snowline and 2 Low 4 Zero, all in a row and all thick this year.

 

Getting an early start we set off down the road on a scenic drive into the

front range of Kananaskis or "K" country. We find the parking with little

problem and this time we look for the well packed boot track. An Italian

husband and wife team are heading up the trail as we pull up. Their going to

the same climbs but we figure with 3 lines there will be plenty of room.

Apparently "short approach" only applies to 25 year old bucks and being more

toward the side of "geezer" than we care to admit the trail takes at least an

hour.

 

It's worth it though, the lines are beautiful and the Ice thick and plastic.

Even 2 Low 4 Zero is continuous although thin in spots. The Italians start up

Moonlight while we're getting ready. We jump on Snowline with me taking the

first lead. Just like the book says the belay at the end of the first pitch

is hard to position for shelter and the party next to us makes it more

problematic due to them going right in search of an easier line. I go too far

left at first and have to traverse back right rocking a screw on the way. Oh

well the ice is plastic and well enough traveled that the dinner plates are

avoidable.

 

Moonlight (center), Snowline, top of 2 Low 4 Zero (upper right)

 

The Italians aren't having as much luck though. The easiest line on Moonlight

doesn't have as good of sticks as we're getting so the husband is having to

send dinner plates down to get them. Their coming down within a few feet of

his wife at the belay. She's getting some shrapnel and seems understandably

concerned, meanwhile he's just feeling lucky to get some marginal looking

screws which he's understandably sewing up. At some point also one side of

his half rope somehow hangs in a screw hanger so he's getting max rope drag,

yelling "corda, corda" meanwhile her head is in the down position only due to

the bombing. It takes me a while to communicate to her to flip the rope to

unhang it, she can't see it but luckily it's at the first screw so it can be

flipped.

 

In my distraction watching them struggle the rope stack loops at my belay slip

off and drop to the end, whoops, gotta stop this off the couch crap. Emcay is

ok with the delay though, he says the two-way is good cuz a delay is ok as

long as it's explained. He sends the next pitch to the top and we are

satisfied once again. There's still some time in the day so what do we do

next? Well we could lead the mixed 2 Low 4 Zero but we decide what the hell,

ethics be damned let's just top rope it. We're sort of burned from no rest

days in over a week, why not just have some fun without the grip?

 

So it's a twin rope top rope cuz that's all we have. Emcay does it first and

he just climbs the ice. It's very smooth and very thin. Nice to work the

technique. More gets learned like this than on a gripped out lead. Nice very

light swings with a very shallow but solid stick, lots of hooking, a sustained

and delicate 50 meters of fun. I do the mixed variation, most of the way with

one tool/crampon on rock, the other tool/crampon on ice. This is what the dry

tool crag training was for. It is awesome. Tiny rock edges but all positive,

thin ice on the right, can't bang away, gotta treat it with some finesse.

Several "watch me" moves and just way cool the whole way. Probably just M5

but the gear would be thin, only stubby screws and the rock a little on the

chossy side. Twice a crampon pops but the cruxes get sent without falling.

Near the end I know it's the last day so the last ice and the moment is drawn

out in an attempt to savor it to the fullest.

 

Emcay is the lucky dog, staying another 4 days climbing with his buddy,

tagging Hydrophobia in the Ghost and flying back from Calgary.

 

Hydrophobia 150m WI5 in the Ghost

 

Hydrophobia 2nd pitch

 

I'm on my own on the drive back and it's been snowing and continues to snow. So stuck

behind slow trucks, ice and packed snow, 50ft visibility over the passes. The

obligatory stuck semis, rolled pickups and cars pinballing between frozen

bridge guardrails. Of course this is Canada and normal winter conditions so

most people don't really slow down. The ice tires pay off, and the snow ends

before Hope and there's only 2 new window dings. Only one extra hour for the

whole trip, not bad considering it was about 200 miles of snowy roads. And

McGruff the special forces dog dude at the border even lets me back in my own

country, imagine that.

 

On the last day of climbing, at some point during the last pitch, an old

classic song starts playing through my head.... "is that all there is my

friends.... then let's keep dancing..." a beautifully steep dance with

some hardened sharpened steel and a little frozen rock and ice, way way up

north. Life just has to tell you though.... it never lasts long enough.

[Chriznitch]

yummy

[Dechristo]

Excellent TR, Buckaroo! Beautiful photos and smile-inducing editorials.

 

[G-spotter]

Is that a green and purple GoreTex one-piece??? Nothing else says "90s hardman" quite as suavely

[Weekend_Climberz]

Nice!

 

Looks like some good thunking up there

[fenderfour]

F_ckin wow.

[TrogdortheBurninator]

Awesome TR. Sounds like a good time.

[cicleclimb]

Dammit, I was happy with all our snow down south but those photos got me all amped for ice. Looks schweeeeet.

[Gary_Yngve]

Yeah, I dig the purple suit and matching antibotts!

[Buckaroo]

Thanks to all for the positive comments.

 

The gore tex is bibs and a jacket, not as nice as a one piece, the jacket tails get in the way of the harness.

 

The hardman designation is reserved until I'm back on some 5's. This trip got me psyched to start training more often.

[swaterfall]

Props on what looks like a cool trip man. I've got one thing to say though. That picture of some one at Haffner Creek is of the climb Shagadelic and it's M5+. Although that stein pull always feels tough to me, the super beat-out ledges are an M equivalent of a jug haul.

 

Keep sending and have fun!

[Buckaroo]

Looking at the mixed guide again can see you are correct about Green Room. Think I was thrown off by the difference in the amount of ice. The latest mixed guide does show Shagadelic as a M6+ which is what it felt like if that's around 5.10.

 

Everything was beat out except for Murchison and can agree that makes it easier.

[swaterfall]

Anyway dude it sounds like you had an excellent trip. Congrats!