Homeward Bound…

As the Greyhound slipped along the Trans-Canada into the night, I managed one last longing look back to the mountains that had been home for the last two weeks. Having barely scratched the surface of what this area has to offer, I know I’ll be back again.

Mountains

That’s it for this trip, I’m on the way home to Melbourne.
Thanks for watching, and Goodnight.

James

Grotto Canyon… His and Hers

Walking up the frozen, blue-ice creekbed through Grotto Canyon has to be one of the more interesting approaches I’ve made. “His” and “Hers”, twin 15m ice pillars along with Grotto Falls set the tone for the day. I managed a lead on Grotto Falls and Hers before some mixed climbing to finish the day… We will all sleep well tonight.

James ontop of the Frozen Creek

Click for more… Even some Climbing! Thats me on “Hers”

Here comes the cold…

As I sat having breakfast the clouds rolled in, then the snow came down. So it was off to somewhere protected for the day’s climbing. Bear Spirit set the stage for some top-roping on grade 4 ice and a little M7 mixed. As we walked down the gully to the car the temperature began to plummet. It’s now -17 degrees Celsius.

Bear Spirit Climbers

It’s set to get to -30 degrees tonight and then warm up a little for tomorrow.

Leading Chantilly Falls

Jessie gave us one last piece of advice as we roped up… “It’s simple, Just don’t fall!”, and we didn’t. The last day of my Ice climbing course saw us lead* the four pitches up Chantilly Falls. A truly awesome day.

James Leading Chantilly Falls 4th Pitch More images if you Click!

Thanks to Jessie for taking my camera up with him.*Leading a climb involves dragging the rope up behind you, placing ice screws in the ice as protection. If you fall, you fall past the last screw before the rope grabs. This is instead of the customary “top-roping” where the rope is secured at the top of the climb before you start.

Bear Spirit

The aim for today was to climb steeper ice in the morning and then overhanging mixed (rock and ice) routes in the afternoon. We hiked a good hour from the trail head into a place called Bear Spirit. The main ice pillar was about 15m tall and the surrounding rock routes were very, very overhung.

Sarah on the Rock

Click for more! All in all, another successful day. Props to Sarah for tearing up the mixed route.