Canada Ice: Day 2 - Finishing Hammer Gully

Yeah, so the views from our hotel in Canmore were pretty awesome. I was about ready to sing the Canadian national anthem when I first looked out our window that morning. Our second day was to involve some moderate climbing for Matt and I to lead and feel good on. We settled on Finishing Hammer Gully, a mellow WI 3 climb up on the Icefields Parkway. Driving up there would give us a chance to check out the Polar Circus, our big plan for the next day.

I saw a guy at the gas station that morning who was also at the Drake last night while we were eating; man, this is a small town (it was not the last time I would see him on this trip, either). Such a small town! And, for such a small town, the eating was great. We located a bagel shop that was to be our primary breakfast source for the trip. I know that a tourist town can be expected to have good food. Nevertheless, we were living high on the hog (or at least I was; Matt and Jordan are vegetarian)!

Polar Circus indeed looked cool, though one of the pitches looked a bit anemic from the road. We were psyched for the next morning, and drove back down the road towards our destination climb for the day. We parked right at ______ Lake. The scenery up and down the Icefields Parkway was gorgeous.







This climb was pretty mellow, with a lot of rambling ice on the approach that was comfortably soloed. There were two roped pitches, with Matt taking the first and me taking the second. I was able to practice V-threading during Matt's lead. Got it right twice in a row! Matt led up very smooth and his years of ice climbing experience were evident. Jordan was happy to be not leading for the day.











We topped out after a nice moderate day, and rapped down. Jordan decided that parts of the descent were appropriate for glissading (which he and Matt would only refer to as butt - sliding.. perhaps glissade is not the preferred nomenclature?). We made it down in time to get back to town and stock up on more provisions for the coming days.

That evening we were thumbing through the guidebook, and I suggested that we try the route M-16 on Howse Peak, a famous testpiece put up by Barry Blanchard, Steve House, and Scott Backes, only not "for realsies". This turn of phrase became a recurring theme for our trip, and we actually heard other people in Canada saying it (more on that later). We bedded down early for an early start the next day.