Banff Ice Beta Request........

[verticalwanderer]

I am headed up to Banff for 5 days in the end Nov/beginning of Dec. It will be my first winter climbing trip up there. I just picked up Waterfall Ice: Climbing Rockies Guidebook, and feel a little overwhelmed with the options. I lead solid WI4 and WI5 if my head is on right. Anybody out there have a Banff top 10 list?

 

Cheers

 

 

_________________________

 

Stop Living Like Veal...

[chrisr]

the ghost is unbelievable. lots to climb in that range and an awesome area. check access and conditions on live-the-vision.com or gravsports.com before you spend the time driving back there though.

Edited November 16, 2006 by chrisr

[Farrgo]

Some classics (of course there are too many to name): Weeping Wall (any route), The Professor Falls, Polar Circus, Guiness Gully and all the other Beer Climbs, I've always enjoyed Louise Falls.

[verticalwanderer]

Yeah......I was looking at that...one climb that really caught my eye back there was "This House of Sky." Have you been on it??

[chrisr]

THOS is an awesome climb. I've only been on it in late season when it's all hooked out but it's fun regardless. well worth the day for sure, it's a must if you're in the ghost. another one that was fun in a great area was "finishing hammer gulley." beautiful views of Howse peak.

[jmace]

THOS in my opinon was so so...perfect for soloing or just having an easy rest day..I heard Beowolf is much better and more sustained. However you now have to walk to these as opposed to driving to them.

[verticalwanderer]

Yeah I was just looking at the new access "rules" in the Ghost. Having never been there though, I had no idea how far it is from the magic marker #39 to any of these climbs?? Any ideas? Also, I read several stories about people getting stuck back there. How gnarly is the 4x4? Hey Nick, ready to break-in your shiny new Tacoma?

 

_________________________

 

Stop Living Like Veal

[W]

Some great WI4's and (usually) moderate WI5's:

 

A Bridge Too Far- steep crux pillar then fun rambling

 

Eliot Left Hand- fun rambling then sometimes funky crux pillar

 

Malignant Mushroom

 

Weathering Heights- thin at start; similar to "Snowline"

 

Cool Spring (says 5+ in the book but usually has a 4 or 4+ line on the left side)

 

Murchison Falls- has an alpine feel to it.

 

R+D- might be too late though, high avy danger.

 

Lacy Gibbet- remote, long approach, lots of WI4 terrain, Easy 5 at the end.

 

Super Bock- Cool pitch through arch, difficulties gradually increase to final high quality WI 5 pillar.

[jmace]

Gnarly...depends..I drove our rental explorer with running boards to the base of THOS across 2 or three rivers that were not frozen..water never came higher than my hub and there wasnt a cm of snow...so you never know

 

could be fine could be epic..

 

Not sure how far, if its where I think at some Bull trout spawning channel..then not far

[northvanclimber]

Also, I read several stories about people getting stuck back there. How gnarly is the 4x4?

 

my friend and i drove into the ghost last year in a 2wd volvo. not such a good idea. after getting the car stuck in a snow drift a couple minutes after going down the "big hill", we turned around the car (after much difficulty in getting the car moving again!) and headed back up the "big hill". as the name suggests, it was a very big hill.. and covered in several inches of bulletproof ice. the car barely made it a third the way back up the hill. we ended up spending about 45 minutes chipping away at the ice using our ice tools in order to clear a 30 foot patch of road for the car to get going again and get some speed to clear the rest of the hill. since the car was borrowed from a friend, i'm glad we got it out of there!

 

in contrast, an all wheel drive car drove by us no problem...

 

looks like an awesome place, and would love to go back, but will take a 4x4 on our next trip.

[FFCS]

Definately want a 4X4 in the ghost, saves a lot of headache. As far as routes, I agree that THOS is a great route, and it does have some longer and steeper pitches farther up the drainage. I don't think it's the climbing so much as the surroundings that make the THOS route a great experience. Check out valley of the birds in the ghost as well. Professor Falls is a great intro to canada ice, big, blue, plastic, reliable, with steps to provide relief and chain anchors. Just get an early start for Professor. Grotto falls if it's in, is also a good warm up climb with a cool approach.