[TR] Marble Canyon, D'arcy - Jan 13-14/07

Don_Serl · January 16, 2007

Trip: Marble Canyon, Roadside Attraction (?) - Jan 13-14/07 -

Date: 1/13/2007

Trip Report:

Seven of us (Alpine Club trip) outa town at 4 a.m., into Cache Ck easily at 8 a.m. Kinda a disappointing breakfast in the Husky - OK food, but not greasy enuf! Maybe the Petrocan? Cold at MC - a pair of ice-fisherman and only 2 other pairs of climbers present. Did I mention it was cold?

Very different conditions than two weeks earlier - brittle and very hard. Robert led Icy BC 1st tier, I led Waite for Spring - and I probably put in 7 or 8 screws, only one of which I could get cranked right to the eye - shockingly hard ice, and a good slap in the face. So we rigged TR's...

Alan K and Coley G turned up later - TR'ing continued. Left route was extremely thin at bottom; Dihedral was wild and wierd midway, with a delicate column and a sorta roof feature. Deeping Wall was almost all hooking in lower half but brittle and aereated enough that neither R nor I was into leading it. Second tier on Icy BC still looked good. Hole on upper tier has skinned over, but the ice still looks kinda sketchy - climbable on the right side, i'd reckon.

Mile "O". Crossed paths with Fern and Julie, who'd done the 2nd ascent (I think?) of Out of the Vault - nice work, ladies. Apparently another cpl cars worth of climbers too, but didn't see anyone around.

Dina's was closed for a "family emergency", so we hit the Reynolds. Half the town was watching a house fire as we wandered by (I hope all were OK). Good burgers, and the best (only) draft in town - MGD! Edmonton deserved to beat the Flames, but didn't. Greg went to the clinic to have someone take a look at the gash he'd acquired under his eye (ice, not bar-room brawling), and they GLUED it up! Modern life...

Got the proper dose of grease the following morning. How does Tabatha get so fired up so early? Chatted with Gary and Brian, Fern and Julie. Headed up to the Rambles. Took about an hour to drive the 30km, cuz there's SOOOO much ice in, in unusual places, the 'gawk' factor was off-scale. I knew we'd be ready to head up the hill before the BCMC crew who winter-camped at the parking spot, but given the half-dozen other vehicles already at the road-side, and in admiration for the hardiness of our compatriots, we decided to carry on over to Mount Currie and to find something to do up the D'arcy road.

Good choice, as it turned out. Scoped as far as the Plum, then came back to the railway crossing at 7km. We'd seen what appeared to be some decent ice just to the south, but this was way too wet (and small) to be worthwhile when we got there, so we drove another 500km north and parked for what I think is Roadside Attraction. 20 mins approach. Lotsa ice, many options for lines. Pretty wet in places, but very dry in others. Had a great day, climbed 3 separate parallel lines, all 1 1/2 pitches. Mostly Grade 2 to Grade 3, with maybe 8m of Grade 4 if you wanted it at the top. Lotsa old tatty rap slings around, so whatever the area is called, it sees traffic.

Easy driving back. Lynyrd Skynyrd most of the way. Stones too. Excellent halibut and chips at Sailor Hagars. Also (I'm told) one of the finest IPAs around. Not a bad "Pilsner" either, altho it poured to fast, had too little head, and came in the wrong kind of glass to be a 'real' Pils.

What a good weekend...

I hope the cold lasts...

Cheers,

Approach Notes:

Drive. Eat. Climb. Drive. Eat. Drink. Sleep. Eat. Drive. Climb. Drive. Eat. Drink. Drive. Sleep. Type.

Edited January 16, 2007 by Don_Serl