Canada Ice: Day 5 - Guinness Gully

Friday brought us to another moderate classic of the Canadian Rockies: the Guinness Gully. All of the climbs on Mt. Dennis have beer names, and this was one of the more popular moderates, rated at WI 4.

A kind of lengthy drive from Canmore brought us to the tiny little hamlet of Field. The first thing we saw out of the car was a warning to ice climbers that these routes were threatened by avalanche slopes. There had been no fresh in days, so we weren't too worried.



The approach was short and steep to the base of the route. Jordan took the first pitch of WI 4, and styled up it nicely. Shortly after he took off on lead, another party showed up behind us clearly wanting to get on the route. They chose to hang out down below. I thought they'd left at one point, but was pretty sure I heard harmonica playing. Harmonica? Seriously? That was kind of amusing.

Jordan brought us up, and the next pitch was purported to be the crux. It had gotten so much traffic that there were practically steps going the whole way up, so I volunteered to take the lead. The base of the pitch had a funky overhang/cave feature that gave Matt a sheltered belay and Jordan the opportunity to take some pictures of me that greatly exaggerated the steepness. Not to say that it wasn't steep. Arcteryx, if you're reading this, I'm unemployed and climbing. Hit me up. I'll pimp your stuff.

The next pitch was a really wide ice curtain that was also really tall. Jordan took the lead again, and made it look easy as usual. The other party came up and climbed on the opposite side of the curtain. Conversation revealed that, yes, they were playing harmonica (I asked). They had accents that I couldn't really discern, I guess a sort of eastern Canadian thing. The younger member of the party was telling us how he was getting ready to go down and do some desert rock at Zion and Indian Creek. Such a charmed life! I can't complain, with an Alaska trip in the works. Still though, I wouldn't mind cruising down to Utah for a month to become a hardman crack climber at the Creek or do some big - walling in Zion. I hadn't touched rock outside (without gloves on) in months!

A quick 'move-the-belay' pitch brought us to the end of this climb. We debated continuing further to the "Guinness Stout" pitches, supposedly 45 minutes up the gully. We opted to call it good so we could get down and back to Canmore early enough to get some good grub. As the guidebook recommended, we traversed off right to look for the descent route.

I don't remember if Jordan said "Oh snap!" when he came upon the glissade path, but that's sure what this picture looks like. The guidebook indicated that there is usually a glissade path (a.k.a. butt-slide path, a.k.a. otter slide) going down through the trees from this route almost all the way to the road. I wasn't too terribly excited about this; I've historically not been a fan of glissading. I figured that doing it through the trees would just shred my pants and involve me hitting my ass on rocks and roots. Jordan and Matt were stoked, though, and quickly took off in front of me.

I did my best to keep up booting down, but it became clear quickly that I should follow suit in order to keep up. Also, despite my prejudices, they made it look really fun. So I sat down. Did I have fun? Watch the video and be the judge yourself. I did in fact have buttcheek-to-rock contact. I showed Matt and Jordan in the hot tub later, and they thought it was hilarious! It was pretty funny I guess, but it was more funny when I could walk right a couple of days later.

We got back to Canmore quick enough to hit up another bar-and-grill spot, where I wanted to order Poutain (Canadian french fries served with gravy and cheese curds), but chickened out. We drank some beers, shot some pool, and enjoyed our last night in town. A guy could get used to this (ice climbing, hot tubs, swilling beers), but I was ready to get back home to Seattle. Tomorrow we would hit the road and try to climb something on the way. I was so psyched to have had such a great trip with great friends in a great climbing area.





Jordan's eyewear of choice? Mickey Mouse sunglasses.

Canada Ice: Day 4 - Cascade Falls

After our big day on Polar Circus yesterday, Matt and I were in the mood for something mellow in terms of grade and duration. Jordan wanted to just rest for the day, which he had more than earned with all of the hard leading he did the day before.

Matt and I decided on climbing Cascade Falls. It was nearby (just off the road north of Banff), moderately rated (only 2 roped pitches of WI 3, though it was given a grade III of commitment in the book), and the weather was stellar with nice sunshine beckoning us. We slept in and got a very moderate start of about 10am or so.

The guide said there was 300m of elevation gain, and I was incredulous at first. After about 45 minutes of huffing and puffing, and low angle ice steps reminding my calves of how hard they worked yesterday, I no longer doubted the measurement. The two steep pitches looked like they were just beyond the last rolling step for pretty much the whole way. It was a relief to finally get to the chains where we roped up.

Matt gave me the first lead. It was enjoyable. After climbing ice for four days straight, I was beginning to feel very comfortable and smooth, and this pitch of WI 3 went smooth as silk. Matt got a cool photo of me on lead; if you blow it up you can see ice chunks falling down from a tool or crampon stick I just made. It was nice and warm out, no need for belay jackets. All that sun was a little unnerving, though. There was definitely water running under this pitch and the falls were wet to the touch. Good thing we were doing this today instead of planning on it for later in the trip !







I brought Matt up and he took off on the second and last roped pitch. It was definitely thinner than the first, and had more running water underneath. I got a cool video of him and the relative position. It was so peaceful up there, and fun to be on moderate terrain. Don't worry Matt, my other hand was on the ropes for the belay the entire time.


Matt quickly brought me up to the top, and I was able to see just how much water there was running under his pitch. I was ready to get down before the sun melted any more of this sucker! We rapped down to our packs at the base of the steep pitches, and then decided to rap again over some low angle terrain.

And then rap again.

And again. I don't actually remember how many raps we did, but I think it was six. Which was a lot of frickin' raps for two pitches of climbing.

The terrain was low - angled, and so the ropes enjoyed getting tangled up and making our lives a little difficult. In addition, Matt put our rap experience best - it was like a history of north American mountaineering protection. We went from shiny bolts and chains up high, to pretty new - looking fixed pitons, to some kind of older rusty pitons, to some bolt hangers that looked like they'd been fashioned in someone's garage in the 80s, to an old single ring pin that looked even older than the first ascent of this route from the early 70s. There was also a hodgepodge of other rap stations littered all over the place, which was kind of confusing. I guess that is to be expected on such a high - traffic route.









Amidst all the raps, I got the opportunity to pose for my best Marlboro man impression, sans cigarette unfortunately.












We got back down to the car in only 3:45, a very respectable time in my opinion for the ground covered. This climb is definitely a moderate classic. It was recommended against by some other folks due to its sun exposure and risk of crowding, but I thought it was one of the more fun romps of the trip.

We got back down to town shortly after lunchtime, and Matt wanted to get some work done. I could stand to do some CFA studying, so we hit a coffee shop for awhile, then cruised around downtown Canmore while I looked for souvenirs for Christine. I'd only been gone for about five days, but missed her and was ready to be back home. It was a reminder of how hard a month - long trip to Alaska would be when I lacked cellphone reception (we could call or text every day while I was here). I also had ants in my pants to be back in Seattle, since the jeweler who was helping me with her engagement ring emailed me that the she had some diamonds and tsavorites come in for me to review. I am a big - time surprise spoiler, and it was taking a lot of concentration on my part not to spill the beans to her about my plans to pop the question in the coming weeks.

Canada Ice: Day 3 - Polar Circus

This was it... the big grandaddy of the trip. Polar Circus is one of the most popular and sought -after ice climbs in the Canadian Rockies. We were all feeling solid and decided to give this one a go on our third day of climbing. Jordan would be on point for the WI 5 pitches, and Matt and I would lead as much of the other ice as possible. The route is not too far from the highway, and has a relatively low commitment factor - you can rap off at any point. Nevertheless, it offers up pitch after pitch of solid ice in a huge cleft that has a very remote and rugged feel.


We started out with the guidebook recommendation of going up on the left and bypassing potentially thin lower pitches. Jordan was comfortable soloing over some low - angle ice, but Matt and I stopped for a quick belay. What the book described as an exposed snow traverse was pretty mellow, likely due to the fact that there was tons of snow up there.

The first roped pitch was some mellow looking ice, and I offered to take the first lead. It was just WI 3, very steppy and moderately angled. This route gets a lot of traffic, and many holes where previous parties had placed screws were visible. We had seen another party's car parked down on the highway, and hoped that we were far enough ahead that there wouldn't be an issue. As I brought Jordan and Matt up from the nice chain anchors in place, they informed me that the other party was moving quickly and not far behind. My heart kind of sank because I didn't like the idea of either slowing someone else down, or having someone climb through and knock ice down on us all day.






The next pitch was at the base of the Pencil (a formation that hardly ever comes in, but when it does it is a massive free-hanging pillar) that Matt led up. The other party came upon us when Matt was just about to the top. They were a couple of amiable German guys. I had seen them at the Drake Inn the first night at dinner, and then the gas station the next day. Small World! They were very courteous, and asked if they could climb through. I deferred to Jordan to see what he thought, and we offered to let them go through. They were obviously climbing fast, and hopefully they would move far enough ahead of us so as to not present any difficulties. The older member of the group said they would just simulclimb up what Matt had led. The younger member of the team then piped up in German, and they exchanged words that seemed to me to be "don't be such a wuss... just climb". They cruised on by. Matt brought Jordan and I up from a slightly tenuous ice tool belay, and we began traversing steep snow to the base of the next pitch.

It seemed like kind of a long traverse to get up to the next pitch, and the position was incredible, with views up to the higher sections of the climb, and a real sense looking below of how far we had already come. Despite being passed by another party, I felt good about our pace and efficiency. Climbing as a group of 3 allows the third climber at the belays who is not belaying to eat and drink, minimizing the need for a full stop of the team for refueling. Matt and Jordan are attentive climbers, and we seemed to operate very smoothly and efficiently in this regard. At this point in the climb, we were definitely feeling the stoke!

By the time we got to the base of the next pitch, the German leader was already about halfway up it. He was moving quickly and running it out quite a bit, probably placing screws only every 20 feet or so. Once they cleared it, Jordan roped up for a lead. This pillar was way tall, and it seemed like our 60 meter ropes were just barely long enough to get up the thing! He did a monster lead up this pitch, yielding what I think is the best picture of the whole trip - a shot Matt took from the edge of the gully that appears almost level with Jordan. Jordan appears to be groveling, but believe me when I tell you he cruised up like it was no big thing. This pitch was the real frickin' deal.

Up above was a short snow walk to the next pitch. This pitch had looked thin and dirty from the road, but upon closer inspection wasn't so bad. Jordan also dispatched with it most hastily. Quite a bit of ice came down off of it, but fortunately the belay was nicely sheltered. Again, the existence of chain anchors was a nice luxury to have.

The next pitch was another short 'move the belay' pitch which I took while Matt and Jordan made some nice self - portraits. The Germans were long gone ahead of us, occasionally heard but not seen. As I crested my short section, I could see the final pitches above us, a grand cascading waterfall that seemed impossibly steep and tall - it reminded me of the "Cliffs of Insanity" from The Princess Bride. You could see spindrift blowing down from the very top, and the setting was just stunning.



This was it; the final big three pitches. They were all rated WI 4 or 5, and certainly looked intimidating. We fueled up for a bit, and then Jordan roped up and took off. He went up the central portion of the main pillar, which looked to be in good shape. However, as he got higher, his progress slowed and he informed us that it was actually much thinner and more chandeliered than it looked from down below.

He asked us to watch him, and as he moved up higher, all of the sudden , he was off! It was the first leader fall on ice that I had ever seen. Fortunately, his first piece of protection held and his fall was clean - no snags of crampons or ice tools. Matt lowered him down to the ground so that we could all gather our wits. Jordan was very cool about the whole thing, which impressed the hell out of me. I think I would have shit a brick if I were in his shoes. He casually mentioned that the piece he fell on was a stubby screw with a regular runner on it, not a Screamer! In chandeliered ice, no less. Good stuff! It was nice and cold that day, which I'm sure contributed to the holding power of the screw.

Jordan was going to be our ropegun for the upper pitches, and he made it clear his day was done. I think we were all rattled and ready to call it a day. I was pretty pleased to have gotten so close to the top of such a climb, and to be in the company of such strong ice climbers. There was only one slight problem.... Jordan and Matt had been climbing in a leashless style this trip, meaning that their tools were not leashed to their wrists. Matt had an 'umbilical' system which connected his tools loosely to his harness so that they couldn't be dropped. Jordan, however, had no such system. He's been climbing a long time and has never dropped a tool, so that system worked great for him. Jordan's tools did not come down with him on the fall, and were planted firmly in the ice about ten feet above the last screw that he fell on. What to do,what to do....

The solution was obvious - either Matt or I had to go up and retrieve them. On paper, this was no big deal - we would be on toprope from the pro Jordan had placed, and only had to make a move or two above the pro to retrieve the tools. I volunteered to go up and deal with it. My plan was to place screws high and aid up to them; the terrain was steep and I didn't want to take another fall onto a piece that had already held. I went up, and everything worked according to plan. In my opinion, this was the best teamwork we displayed the whole trip. We planned out carefully how to do what we were going to do, then Jordan and Matt coordinated on the ground to make sure the correct rope was tight. I got the tools down, set a V-thread, and rapped. It was mighty steep up there, and thin as well. Jordan is one badass climber for venturing into that terrain and climbing so well. As I rapped, I felt like we had had an awesome day, even if we didn't top out.

On our way down, we were able to use fixed anchors for most of the rappels. Rather than reverse the long snow traverse a third of the way up the route, I suggested we use the rap anchor that went over the edge of the Pencil. Matt and Jordan were incredulous, concerned that it was so high up that the ropes might not even touch down. I really didn't want to do the snow traverse, so I volunteered to go first and check out the rap. My rationale was that I could prussik back up if it wasn't going to work out. As I edged back towards the top of the Pencil, I could see that the ropes didn't really 'touch down' in a true sense. However, if I angled the rap just right, I could touch down just to the side of the top of the snow cone. With rope stretch from the rap, I was comfortably down. You can see the feature in the background of the picture on the left. I was able to get up into an alcove in the back in case one of the guys knocked the massive top of the ice block down (which didn't worry me, really, but one should be prudent). Matt and Jordan enjoyed their free-hanging raps, I think.

The rest of the descent went without incident, and we got back down to the car with a lot of light left, around 6pm if I recall. The drive back to Canmore was tough, and we gorged ourselves on pizza in the hotel room that evening. Though technically not a total success in climbing terms, today was one of the most awesome days I've ever had in the mountains.

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.

Canada Ice: Day 1 - Kicking Horse Canyon

Our first day of climbing was the second day of the trip. After dealing with issues on the way out of Seattle such as live wires and forgotten passports, we made the long drive up north. We listened to a lot of Neil Young the first day, appropriate for the hundreds of kilometers we spent on the Trans-Canada Highway. Matt played "Powderfinger", which would be stuck in my head for the entire trip.

We made it to Revelstoke the first night, and decided to climb something in Kicking Horse Canyon the next day, which was on the road to Canmore, our intended base camp (and by base camp, I mean nice hotel with cable, a hot tub, and wifi within walking distance of brewpubs and other tasty food).

We climbed a three pitch WI 4 route called Pretty Nuts. Jordan, the designated hitter for the trip, led all the pitches the first day. Climbing as a party of 3 on double ropes worked out pretty well after Matt and I made a clusterf**k out of the first pitch; we would have no other rope management issues for the rest of the trip thankfully.

The approach to the climb involved about a mile (or is it a couple of klicks? I insisted on using 'klicks' to measure everything while we were in the Great White North) along railroad tracks. Fortunately, there were no bridges to cross a la 'Stand By Me'. There was, however, deafening traffic noise since we were right atop the highway most of the time. Every time we wanted to communicate, it seemed that a truck would rumble by.

It was overcast, and not extremely cold this day. Very mild, in fact. I had mentally prepared myself for suffering this trip, having been told many times of how cold it got in Canada. It was nice being able to wear thinner more dextrous gloves! Not so nice when the softshell pants wetted out in the knees (which happened pretty much every single day).



I was in awe of how fat the ice was here on first day. I had never seen such a well - frozen waterfall in Washington (granted a place not known for its great ice climbing).

Jordan led up in fine style, especially the second pitch which was quite intimidating looking from below. The feet on it were much better than it appeared from down below. Jordan and Matt are both far more experienced ice climbers than myself, and it can be seen in their smoothness and efficiency. Almost all of the pictures of Jordan leading on this trip looked like they came out of a Black Diamond or Patagonia catalog!

I felt pretty good after following three pitches today, and was eager to get on the sharp end tomorrow.

We cruised in to Canmore that evening and checked into our digs at the Rocky Mountain Lodge. We also grabbed a bite at the Drake Inn, where we ate some good pub grub. A great start to our trip indeed!

Chair Peak, Round 2 - A Double Dose

Aaron and I set out to climb Chair Peak; the location and access for this peak make it a great winter training ground for my plans later in the season, and I can't get enough! Our plan was to try do to both the Northeast Buttress and the North Face in one day. It worked out fantastically. Snow conditions were firm heading up from the parking lot, and we didn't need snowshoes. Unfortunately, my camera at this point was still stuck on a messed up ISO setting (I thought perhaps that I had damaged a light sensor on it), so the pictures I have are mostly washed out.

We took a 'left' variation at the start of the northeast buttress, and Aaron belayed me up to some trees. After that, we simulclimbed the rest of the way to the top in one long pitch. It is amazing how fast you go when you do this! We were up there after only an hour or so of climbing (at least that's what I recall). We made a quick descent and traversed back around to the north face route. We climbed this in two long pitches, with me stopping to belay Aaron once in a stand of trees. Aaron's a totally solid climber and cruised the whole way up.

Additionally, I'd like to thank Aaron for his patience. I dropped an ice screw (d'oh!) while on the north face, and saw it plummet to the snow slopes below. He was patient enough
to wait for me while I traversed back around to the north face for the second time that day to retrieve it. Fortunately, it was easy to locate! It was a brand new one, too.

Chair Peak - Round I

Pete and I decided to team up for a climb of the Northeast Buttress of Chair Peak in late January. Trip reports on cascadeclimbers.com indicated this route had a lot of parties on it the weekend before; we thought a weekday climb would capitalize on the good conditions and let us have the climb to ourselves. We lucked out on both counts.

My camera has been acting kind of screwy lately; only much later did I find out I had messed up the ISO settings; this explains the washed-out nature of a lot of the photos. Fortunately, Pete made a nice video montage of his photos and video available here. Kudos to Pete for the DJ Shadow/Cut Chemist soundtrack.

This was my third time getting out on some ice this winter. There's only a bit of ice on this climb; the vast majority is steep snow. Pete didn't have any tech tools, so we split my ice tools and supplemented with a regular mountain axe each. We were keeping it real now! This was one of the steeper routes Pete had been on, and we decided to pitch out the whole thing. Pete set a raging pace on the approach, and let me take the more technical leads. We didn't climb super fast, but made steady progress. It was pretty cold out that day, and we were glad to have the puffy jackets for belaying.

Pete took the lead as we simulclimbed the last bit to the summit on steep snow. We made victorious salutes on the summit pyramid. This route (and others on the peak) are frequently soloed by area climbers, and it isn't a terribly proud or awesome summit. That said, the climb is really fun and the position is great on the steep ridge.