Cable Gullies Ice Climbs - In June

Grant never gives up on ice climbing. Somewhere there will always be ice to climb in the Rockies, and he usually has a good idea where to look. So with just three weeks to the longest day of the year, and Calgary enveloped in a rare summer snowstorm, we headed to Lake Louise, Tourist Central. Braving the coach-borne crowds of estuary, Yorkshire and Lancashire accents, we hurried down the lake, to find three climbs still in decent condition. So if you're wondering when the season ends out here:....'not yet!'

King Creek, Moonlight, Junkyards, Haffner Creek.

Link to pics of Moonlight, King Creek, Junkyards, Haffner Creek and Sunshine Village.

Frank came over for his annual winter visit, and we headed out for a few days of fantastic ice and skiing. We had been worried that by late March our options would be limited, but in truth it was the best climbing I've had all winter.

As I write this up on April 18, reports are still appearing of fantastic conditions on low altitude Rockies ice - but I'm off out for a sunny bike ride!

The week started with a trip to King Creek (above) in Kananaskis Country. The three seeps were in good condition at around WI2+ to WI3, although fresh snow made climbing the easy-angled First Seep less fun.

Day two saw us in Evan Thomas Creek, where we joined Grant for an ascent of Moonlight (WI4). Superb, sustained climbing and we saw two moose in the woods.

On day three we headed to the Junkyards and climbed the Scottish Gully, amongst others. The ice was super-fat and there were lines available that weren't formed on previous visits. The following day we skied at Lake Louise, and enjoyed the Rock Garden....great fun unless you miss a turn, then it's time to learn about the reason behind the name....

Our fourth day was spent at Haffner Creek. Again, the ice was superb and we climbed several good, short lines. After that, we decided to relax with a day at Sunshine Village. It was completely empty, and we had some great skiing, including a full descent of my first double black run - actually easier than many of the local single blacks, but longer and in a more remote position off the side of Goat's Eye Mountain. All in all, a great week!

Wicked Wanda WI4+, Ghost River Valley

What an amazing piece of ice this was! We went up in a team of four to get some film of Grant climbing through the overhangs on the right of the upper pitch. The normal route goes left at WI4+, but Grant thought he might be able to squeeze through a hole in the back of the roof for a variant finish.

I filmed a couple of hours of footage, and captured the moment when a masive block of ice detached under Grant's weight (see below). Unfortunately I had some computer problems shortly afterwards, so the editing is going to take a while. Still, here is a set of pictures from the climb.

Green Monster, Rehab Wall, upper Evan Thomas Creek

Click here for full report

In an attempt to link my photo albums to a single point of reference, I'm going to retro-post details of various trips we made last year onto this blog. Things will calm down in a couple of weeks, but until then, here is the first of a series links to short write-ups of climbs, hikes, rides and paddles that we did in late 2007 to early 2009.

Green Monster is at the left end of 'Rehab Wall', which is a reasonably long walk up Evan Thomas Creek, in Kananaskis Country . The routes here are not presently in a guidebook, but there are half a dozen good, single pitch ice routes and a wall of hard, bolted mixed climbing that is said to be 'the new Haffner'. On the day that we climbed there, it was somewhere around -30C and I lost all feeling in four of my fingers for 3 weeks afterwards. I had warm feet though - resulting from a combination of wearing my ancient plastic boots, and changing my socks when we got to the route. That's a top tip from Grant - dry socks don't conduct heat like wet ones and in those temperatures it makes a massive difference to your comfort (and potentially, your toe count!).

Kananaskis Interpretive Canyon

This little ice climbing venue doesn't get much exposure: it is not featured in the existing guide, but it does get discussed occasionally online.

I put together a sketch of the available lines (left), before I had climbed much Rockies ice - it's overgraded to be honest; the line marked WI4- is a short and simple WI3 at most. It's a nice place for a quiet half-day, although it's quite the drive if you live in the southern regions of Calgary.

Link to Full Photo Album

Albatross WI3, Valley of The Birds, North Ghost River Valley

The Valley of The Birds lies in the northern Ghost River Valley, about 12 km from the Big Hill. It's a narrow, step-sided little valley accessed via a cleft that forms up as a series of short WI2 steps. On the day that I went there, it was pretty cold (maybe -27C or so) and the river crossings required to get to the valley produced instant armour plating on your boots - I was very glad I was wearing plastics that day.

There are several routes in the valley, pictured here. We did Albatross (WI3) which I found hard, as it was plating horribly and had thin sections and other parts where the ice was skinned so that you were climbing on a thin crust above a deep air pocket. This was certainly not my favourite route of the winter, but the setting is fantastic.

Chantilly Falls, WI2, Evan Thomas Creek

Chantilly Falls is a lovely WI2 in the Evan Thomas Creek, off Highway 40 in Kananaskis Country. The walk-in is about 45-60 minutes and the climb is 80 m or so, in two pitches, with the crux where it should be. It's a really nice day out - I enjoyed it so much that did it twice in the 2009 season.

Full photo set

On this outing Grant and I were joined by Meaghan and Tim from Calgary. We had great views of the Fortress on the approach (left).

Meaghan climbing the steep little final wall (below).