2009 Canadian Alpine Journal

A teaser: the cover of the 2009 CAJ. Our cover boy this year, err, I mean man, is West Coast alpinist Bruce Kay (photo by Jim Martinello) seen hear doing his thing on a new route above Seton Lake near Lillooet, B.C. It should be hitting book selves at your local climbing shop in early July. The whole process went much smoother this year so maybe I am getting the hang of it. Some of my grey hairs from my first CAJ last year even seem to be returning to their normal brown colour. Of course, I, in no way, did this by myself. I owe a huge thanks to Suzan Chamney, Lynn Martel and Helen Rolfe for keeping me on track and making the CAJ as polished as we can. Hermien Scuttenbeld, Shaun Chamney, Anne Ryall and Sheila Churchill also pitched in to make it happen. Everyone put 100 per cent into it again. I also need to send a shout out to all the contributors who supply us with the text and photos (their only compensation being a free Journal). Obviously, without them there would be no CAJ. Thanks for enduring my constant stream of pestering e-mails.

Broken Arm

About five weeks ago, I got into a fight... with a T-bar cable. It won. Here's the before-and-after x-rays. A big thanks to the amazing orthopedics that we are so fortunate to have in Banff. Dr Hiemstra did a mighty fine job of putting my arm back together, As you can see, the radius is plated but there was also a small fracture in the wrist that needed casting. I got the cast off today revealing a very puny forearm. I have always had skinny arms but it is really skinny now. It will be awhile before I am squeezing stone again.

Canadian Alpine Climbing

I get lots of e-mails requesting beta on areas I've been alpine climbing in Canada. The following was my reply to a recent inquiry. Here's my completely biased take on the areas I've been.

Cirque of Unclimbables: expensive, remote, beautiful, very dirty cracks, bad weather and mosquitos as big as grizzlies, and grizzlies as big as... well, you get the idea.

Baffin: expensive, remote, beautiful, long walks, lots of blank rock, polar bears are bigger than grizzlies

Waddington: real mountains, big mountains, big glaciers, splitter granite, questionable weather, lots of potential for new routes of all styles.

Bugaboos: excellent granite, average mountain weather, way more accessible than the above areas, thus fairly picked through, but still gems to be grabbed for the sly.

Rockies: perfect stone, no grizzlies, never rains, more "alpine-ish" than above areas (with the exclusion of Waddington), but still lots of alpine rock if you like big limestone.

Squamish: inexpensive, very accessible, the best granite, rainforest bouldering, can be wet, slugs almost as big as polar bears.

Skaha: inexpensive, very accessible, closely spaced bolts, hot in summer, nice lakes, lots of Lulu Lemon...

Ice Condtions: Various (Feb 3-5)

I just enjoyed three awesome days of guiding with a few regular guests. The previous two years we froze in sub-minus-20 temperatures so perseverance pays off and they were finally rewarded with perfect weather and conditions.

Day 1 (Feb 3), Massey's: An elk with a big rack was on the tracks eating grain so we were forced to flounder in facets to get around it. The first pitch is not as fat as usual but there is still plenty of room for two parties to climb beside each other if working together. I did the steeper left hand start with Ari while Simon took Neil and Tanya up the right side. The walk/scramble off left looks like crap with no trail beat in and bottomless junk so rapping is the way to go. Two full-length 60-metre raps will get you down. Pat and Keith did Guiness Gully at the same time and reported good, plastic ice.

Day2 (Feb 4), Valley of the Birds: All seven of us attacked the Valley of the Birds in the North Ghost. The drive in is now manageable but medium to high clearance is still recommended for the Stump Land detour around the Monster Drift that formed due to the clear-cut. An ice dam bridges the river about half way between Marker 39 parking and the climb so you can skip the awkward side-hilling trail under Sentinel Crag. The ice bridge may not be long for this world with the warm temps. Between three guides with four clients we climbed Yellow Bird, Seagull, Albatross and the Eagle. All are in fine shape with good ice. Only the Eagle sported hooking from previous traffic; all the others were fresh-albeit-plastic ice. The Eagle is a very slender column with a glued-together crack 10 metres up. The hooks and features for feet are welcomed but gentle technique is encouraged. It had full sun by 1:30pm which improved the ice quality (also the nine TR laps helped deepen the hooks).

Day 3 (Feb 5), Weeping Wall: We were surprised to find no one else in the parking when we arrived at 8:30am. Neil and I did left-hand while Simon did right-hand with Keith and Tanya. The third pitch on the left hand sounded detached from the water running behind it. I could feel Neil's swings vibrate in the feet while belaying and he was 40 metres below me! Simon reported the right to be excellent one-hit shit and good stemming. The crux of the right hand is typically better ice becasue the corner faces north so gets less sun messing with it. Pat and Ari did Professors that day and said that a snorkel would have been a good piece of gear to bring. They swam up the first three pitches then left soaked.

Munising Ice Festival

This was my third time attending this event (2002, 2005, 2009) and despite being in the middle of nowhere, it is an awesome grassroots festival. It draws a huge crowd from the nearby major cities of Minneapolis, Detroit and Chicago and everyone is super psyched. 448 people attended from 10 states including Florida and Texas-- plus Canucks from nearby Ontario. The level of enthusiasm for all thing ice is very inspiring. Representing Black Diamond Equipment, I gave my slide show on winter climbing to a packed hall the hall--not even standing room available. I also taught two days of clinics: an intro to ice one day and a woman's clinic the other (Yeah boy, you read correctly). No woman athletes were present so since I had long hair I was the next best thing. Both clinics were successful in that I had first time ice climbers styling vertical pillars with solid technique by the end of each day.
The climbs are located on the south shore of Lake Superior in Pictured Rocks National Park. Most are short vertical pillars and curtains pouring over sandstone caves and overhangs tucked in the trees. The closest routes are only 10 minutes from town and a 5 minute walk. There is some longer stuff out on the lake cliffs and across the ice on Grand Island. Munising is a snowmobile town in winter but for Superbowl weekend every year the ice climbers take over.

Ice Conditions: Jasper and Nordegg (Jan 10)

I just spent the past five days instructing in the Jasper and Nordegg area with a Thompson Rivers University ice climbing course. This is a second-year course in the Adventure Guide Diploma. The goal in one week is to have the students leading each other up and down a multi-pitch ice route in the WI2-3 range. It is very inspiring to watch these students develop their skills and decision-making process on their way to becoming competent and self-proficient ice climbers. I wish I learned how to ice climb this way. The following are conditions observed during our week up north.

photo: Students leading each other up pitch 2 of Two O'Clock Falls

Roads: The Icefields Parkway is now open north to Jasper but in poor winter driving conditions. The road from Saskatchewan River Crossing to Lake Louise is also in poor condition with lots of ruts and slippery sections.

Routes: We steered clear of any routes with avi hazard given the parks bulletin and the overall weak condition of this year's snowpack. We climbed Swartz's Falls, Maligne Canyon (The Queen and The Last Wall), Tangle Falls, Two O'Clock Falls and Cline River Gallery. All areas were in normal condition but ice in general is running with water making it hard to keep ropes dry. As of Thursday (Jan 8), the canyon beyond Pure Energy in Cline River Gallery was frozen offering access to the Splashdown routes, which are usually tricky to access. This can change rapidly so be cautious of thin ice and open pools.

Cascade Falls: On the drive home today, I was shocked to see a party on Cascade Waterfall in Banff. Given the Banff National Park avalanche bulletin of HIGH hazard at all elevations, recently observed natural size 3.5 avalanches on Cascade Mountain (yesterday!) and temperatures above zero degrees Celsius, this is a VERY poor route choice. This is not the time to be climbing under ANY avi terrain. Enough from the soap box; please play safe and choose routes accordingly.

photo: Rappelling Two O'Clock Falls

Ice Conditions: Haffner Creek (Dec 13 & 14)

The ice was voicing dissatisfaction with the Arctic weather at Haffner Creek the last two days. All day groans and pops were emanating from the pillars and daggers. Surprisingly, nothing spontaneously broke but a few of the snapping sounds were loud enough to make us think they were close to coming down on there own. We refrained from climbing anything that was not well supported and hooked out. It is worth the reminder that sub -30 C temperatures are not ideal for ice climbing. The ice is very cold resulting in fragile pillars and brittle bulges that are primed to explode. Definitely avoid hanging out under and climbing on free-hanging icicles and skinny free-standing pillars (even on top-rope).

On a different note, I was surprised to see the T2 dagger on the Trophy Wall on Mount Rundle was still in one piece. I was certain this cold snap would snap the pillar. Also, I was shocked to see that Sea of Vapours is formed (or should I say forming). A Few days ago there was no hint of ice above Postscriptum and now there is a silver streak snaking down the entire corner, albeit very thin looking.