Other Climbs

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After getting out ice climbing in the Rockies about 9 times this year I took a brief trip to Norway with Barry Blanchard for a chance to climb the famous ice climbs of there in both the areas of Rjukan and Eidfjord. Rjukan is incredible with short approaches and lots of multipitch climbs, the ice is good and the temperature bearable. Eidfjord was a little more serious with 1000 meter high ice falls, super unbearably cold temperatures especially with the wind, super exposed routes - but the ice left a lot to be desired as it was not well formed. As an aside, I can't remember being so cold in a very long time.

I did have the sharp end of the rope a lot on this trip to Norway so I am pleased with that.

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Haffner Creek is a great technical single pitch mixed climbing area with something for every level of climber. It is located on the Radium Highway #93 just inside BC. It was packed here today as avalanche hazard has taken out many of the other classic routes and this area is considered the safest even with the clear view of an recent avalanche fracture line about 50M away.

Johnson's Canyon was fun as we made it a little challenging at this easy ice climbing area by climbing with one axe, not allowing axe swinging or kick stepping and climbing until I was so pumped I wondered if my hand grip would hold getting back up over the railing for the walk out. A very relaxing day climbing.

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The Weeping Wall area is home to two of the world's most famous ice climbs; Polar Circus and Weeping Wall. Next time I hope to attempt Polar Circus.

On this day we kept our focus to the lower Weeping Wall as the upperwall was not yet in condition. Our route was III to IV and most enjoyable after only a 5 minute approach to the base of the climb. Injuries are keeping me from performing well on the more difficult climbs right now.

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Cascade falls is a 300M water fall and is undoubtably the most looked at climb in the Rockies and is obvious to everyone as they drive by the turnoff to Banff on the Trans-Canada Highway. I'm stoked to having finally climbed it.

Although its not a difficult climb it is in a large avalanche path and poor snow stability above has kept me from climbing it before. 

I enjoyed the lead most of the day for this one as this is more my speed for leading (primarily WI III and some WI IV climbing) - Larry leads when its a harder climb.

Unfortunately just before the final pitch Larry's picks on both of his axes snapped off about 1" from the tip. The ice was hard and it was very cold causing this. Anyways, I exchanged both my good ice axes for his bad ones as I figured it would be good training for me to try climbing with his broken ones. I found out that it was like ice climbing with hammers. The harder I swung the axe the harder it bounced out - no tip translated into no penetration. With these useless tools I took about an hour to climb 30 meters while top ropped on the final pitch but I summitted eventually. I really wanted this climb and turning around was not an option for me here. We topped out and replaced the picks in Banff while we continued North towards the Weeping Wall.

All in all a very cold but great day of climbing.

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November 15 - After a two hour approach we tackled Mt. Stanley headwall via the Sinus Gully - a mid season III or IV climb which was climbing hard with the sketchy early season ice. We bivied in comfort at the Chateau Lake Louise to avoid a 4:00am start from Calgary on the 16th.

November 16 - Bow Falls - we decided to go further north to find better ice. After a two hour approach we were met with an impressive wall of frozen water except in its early season form it wasn't much more than a wall of partially frozen water. I'm guessing we may have been this year's first climbers for this route. Much like climbing a slurpee this ice was completely unnerving and couldn't handle much yarding on the ice tools. Due to the sketchy ice which wouldn't properly support ice screws we were only able to tackle a challenging mixed rock/ice route up the side of the falls while still being showered with water spurting through the main falls. This route left us an impossible short pitch to the summit, impossible unless you have no fear of falling. But we didn't top out but got plenty wet from the spray of the falls on this -9C day.

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Epinephrine is "THE" Red Rocks Classic climb - the route is long, varied and follows a spectacular chimney system. The climb is 18 pitches of v5.9 grade climbing. The chimney's have rebuffed more than one spindly-legged 5.12 sport climber and have introduced countless other climbers to previously unknown levels of cardiovascular fatigue. It has also forced many unplanned overnight bivies.

This climb was all I could handle and I completely blew out 3 times during the chimney system. If crossfit was climbing this is exactly what it would look like. Fortunately for me, John led this entire climb all the way to the unroped scramble at the end Our ascent of 5:46 from the base to the summit is also respectable compared to the standing 5:10 speed record of a roped team set back 10 years ago.

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In prep for Epinephrine we spent a couple of days climbing these multi-pitch routes. John and I climbed both routes in approach shoes making it a bit more difficult but much more comfortable for the feet.

Our first climb on the 30th was Ginger Cracks is a 7 pitch 5.9 route of the North Face of Ginger Buttress in Nevada. I found this to be a rather difficult climb in parts as I got my crack climbing skills up. The rappel to the bottem was enjoyable.

On the 31st we chose to climb Frog Land. It is a 6 pitch 5.8 route up Whiskey Peak. The crux of this climb is on the 5th pitch and requires navigating through a 12 foot chimney feature - also known as the rebirthing portion of the climb.

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In prep for Epinephrine we spent a couple of days climbing these multi-pitch routes. John and I climbed both routes in approach shoes making it a bit more difficult but much more comfortable for the feet.

Our first climb on the 30th was Ginger Cracks is a 7 pitch 5.9 route of the North Face of Ginger Buttress in Nevada. I found this to be a rather difficult climb in parts as I got my crack climbing skills up. The rappel to the bottem was enjoyable.

On the 31st we chose to climb Frog Land. It is a 6 pitch 5.8 route up Whiskey Peak. The crux of this climb is on the 5th pitch and requires navigating through a 12 foot chimney feature - also known as the rebirthing portion of the climb.

Castle Mountain (9076ft) is one of the most imposing peaks in the Bow Valley with its two levels of steep cliffs to form its castle appearance. Its actual name is Mount Eisenhower changed in 1946 in honour of American General Dwight D. Eisenhower.

In anticipation of our 5:00am start we spent the night in banff so we only needed to get up at 4:00am rather than the 2:30am which would have been required from Calgary.

Even though this climb was not trivial the crux of this climb for me was getting out of bed. The 8km approach with headlamps and pitch dark until 7:30 made me so sleepy I just wanted to curl up and pass out. In fact, I was not happy to be climbing until about 10:00am at the crux of the climb -and then I truly enjoyed myself.

The rock on our chosen route was unbelievably good and seemed never touched - it was all trad climbing for this route. We rapped down an easier way that had bolted stations. All in all it was a great day and another great mountain has been added to my resume.

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The great weather now at the end of September is bringing back some great wall climbs that were previously out of condition.

This particular climb is a lot of fun - a 12 pitch v5.6 trad climb except for the bolted stations. I climbed myself off course at one point and that made for some entertainment. Otherwise it was just great day climbing in the sunshine - we walked down the standard scramble route.

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After our successful traverse of the Matterhorn in the middle of the month we relocated from Zermatt, Switzerland to Charmonix, France to put all of our focus on claiming the Mont Blanc summit. Our chosen route was to be the Three Monts Route up and the standard route down. Unfortunately weather the second half of this month has been a huge challenge keeping us from attaining any 4000m peaks after arriving in Chamonix. We kept ourselves busy rock climbing all over this area which is world renowned for its rock climbing.

On the 22nd of August we relocated from to the Cosmique hut at about 11,500ft a 45 minute traverse from the top of the cable car station. We planned to make our ascent on August 23rd but winds of 70km/h – 90km/h turned us back to bed after eating our breakfast at 1:00am. This day we claimed the Arretes des Cosmique a great mixed climb that was a lot of fun but disappointed that Mont Blanc was not an option. However on this journey I did get a great view of our route up 2 of the 3 mountains we needed to traverse. Its looked quite tough and that made me want to climb it more to see if it actually felt that tough.

We then returned to town that evening to wait out the weather hopefully and spent another rain day touring the town. I have now developed a wicked chest cold that sends me into torrents of coughing that won’t stop.

On August 25th we decided to go back up to the hut and maybe see if we can make an attempt starting at 1:00am on August 26th. We get up to the hut around 4:00pm and after our 6:30pm dinner realize that someone has swiped my crampons. This route is not possible without Crampons – fortunately one of the serving staff had some really old (I’m guessing 1980s) pair of crampons that were mis-shapen and very worn – they would have to do I guess.

We are up at 1:00am to howling winds but a clear sky with a brilliant moon and stars. We have a quick breakfast and our high altitude cocktails – because we are no longer acclimated we take a Viagra (for circulation), Dexamethazone (for brain swelling) and a Diamox (for the lungs). We are climbing by 1:40am with headlamps – likely 50 people have set out on our route. The conditions clear and seem okay except for the wind which is 70km/h plus the entire climb. This wind makes it a challenge to keep from being pushed off of ridges or steep faces. People are constantly turning around and passing us as we continue heading up. By 2:30am we have climbed the shoulder of Tacul du Mont Blanc the first of 3 and are heading towards Mt. Madit. At 5:30 we finish the crux of the climb which is a steep ice face up the headwall of Mt. Madit. At this point most everyone has turned around due to huge winds and now the clouds have created very poor visibility. Norm and I discuss the possibility of turning around but he feels good and I’m okay.

Through whiteout conditions we find our way over the knife edge ridge in high winds to the col. leading to our final push up the face of Mont Blanc. The sun is starting to rise and it is really really cold especially with the wind chill. You can’t move fast enough to create body heat as your lungs limit your speed. We stop to add every piece of clothing in our bags – I add my gortex pants as well and slip them over my harness and crampons – it looks silly but its warmer.

At about 9:00am we were standing on the summit of Mont Blanc. Very few came from our side but a number made it up the standard route which is not nearly as technical but is very exposed with a very long knife edge ridge.

The summit was a joyous occasion for me that actually put tears in my eyes. Every summit is different for me – sometimes I’m indifferent, sometimes I’m totally charged but this one was emotional.

The decent required a very long knife edge ridge that was directly into the wind so being blown sideways was of little concern down the standard route that was comparatively a lot easier. After reaching the Goute hut on this route we stopped for water and then decending a long rock ridge that required some rock skills and then decended to the train station.

All in all the traverse took 15:40 and we were wiped out last night when we got back to our hotel.

I feel more than any other climb this climb represented my maturing as a mountaineer. It required overcoming adversity in being previously turned away by a mountain. It was good for my altitude confidence as it required an extremely quick rise to altitude (3000ft to 15,800ft in less than 24 hours) with a serious chest and head cold. I was pleased to climb a route that was psyching me out visually since the week prior as it looked tough but I could see about 60% of it from the cable car station. It required patience as we waited out the weather since before leaving Zermatt on the 18th. I climbed it was faulty gear – i.e. very poor replacement crampons that blew out twice. It required a calculated decision to keep going when mostly all others bailed which was believing in our own abilities while not being stupid about it.

As I sit here writing this the day after resting in Chamonix - whilst a storm rages outside. I smile knowing we capitalized on only chance we had even though is was a very marginal one. Now I’m going home back to Calgary counting the month as a great success. I’m a better climber now than when I arrived.

The video will be up shortly, stay tuned.

Borger out.... until the next climb.