The long weekend... late on the update.

OK. Weekend of Remembrance Day.

Saturday saw Richard and I at King Creek again for some equipment tuning and Luger training. My crampons are about as good as I can get them, and so far they are now working great with my new boots. Still have a little getting use to, but great otherwise. The ice was somewhat thinner than a week previous, but still good. As for the Luger training…. Well he’s coming along. Less barking than before, and he seems to do a little better when we are a little further away….. Better-ish.

Sunday was a trip to the Ghost with Richard and Ron (aka. the eater of the lunchables and drinker of the Red Bull). After talking to a couple at the bottom of Big Hill who had been up the Joker we decided to head for THOS. GBU looked thin, but there was tones of ice to the right of it. THOS was definitely in “early season” conditions. Thin and wet with thin ice on the pools. After tying Luger at the base of the first step we were off and running at a snails pace. Most of the steps had near non-existent top outs, but were easily managed. After numerous steps of ice and deep pools with thin ice, I managed to send a 15 to 20 lbs piece right onto Richard’s hand… oops. With a now useless pinky Richard pressed on. Shortly after this I fall through the ice covering a bottomless pit of man-eating liquid. I managed to catch myself on the rock and a log by the time I was waist deep. Much Pirate language ensued. Then I hear it. Crack whoosh! Richard has found his own pool. So, back to the dog it is. We warn two other parties of three of the man-eating liquid and start to rap down, Richard and I hoping the whole time to see Ron find his own hole in the ice! On the very last pool Ron had a chance of falling into it happens! Ha ha! Crossing the pools turned out to be the crux of the day. As we are about to start the second last rap what do we see…. Luger! Hold the PHONE! He should be….. what! The now untied Luger is a step of near vertical ice above where we left him. Oh well, he’s unhurt and happy to see us so it can’t be bad, right!? Richard did have some fun being lowered with a wriggling 100lbs Luger. Eheheh. Lesson learned: Use a locking biner when tying Luger up!

Monday! Yes Monday! I had a day off. Monday sees the trip into the Ghost again, this time with Danylo. Phantom Falls WI 4 R, a climb that doesn’t form every year, turns out to be the objective. Great fun on the drive in with the Jeep. Gearing up for the approach saw the usual conversations you have with a new climbing partner… which climbs you had fun on… where you epic’ed… who you epic’ed with… the usual ;-)
Then Danylo starts to explain: I started have a bunch of epics with this one partner and then I started thinking about it and I realized I was just having a lot of epics in general…. You know the common denominator was ‘me’ every time…
I laugh at him, he laughs at himself, it’s a good time. So off we go. The hike in isn’t bad at all. When we finally get to the climb we both look at the top and think “Wow, that’s thin/narrow”. But we look at it some more. It really is an aesthetic line! More looking. Look from this angle. Look from that angle. You know it doesn’t look so bad… Well I’m the one to fess up and tell Danylo that I think it’s a little beyond my headspace this early in the season. Happy to hear that he wants to give to bottom half a shot we flake the ropes and get geared up. Off he goes. Now keep in mind that he had just explained he has this habit of epicing. So he starts up, places a screw, up more, more screws. Just as he’s approaching the start of the narrow section he looks down and says he’s going to set up a belay and bring me up. He’s not to sure about the narrow section apparently. Well some words of encouragement from me and a few minutes to collect himself and he decides to have a go at it. A little higher and he places another crew then something comes down. Ting ting ting ping…. Ring…. OK, now I know what ice sounds like and that was definitely metal!
“Eh! Danylo! Something metal just fell.”
“wha?”
“Yeah, something metal fell!”
“Just a sec… The bail on my crampon… there’s only half left”Ok, so down he comes. Not only did the bail break, but the frame of the crampon itself is cracked as well. Well I might as well head up. Off I go. After getting to the high-point I decide that the crux will be to much leashless. But wait! My leashes at in my pack! Shit! Oh well back down for me. Place the first Allbeebackenoff of the season. Danylo still wants to have a go at it so he borrows one of my crampons for the second attempt. Success, a slow slow success, but Success nonetheless! Then it’s my turn… just as it starts snowing then blizarding. Oh well, full Scottish conditions it is then! Arrrg! Great climb, but real narrow at the top! Another not done by me route ticked off! Woot woot!

Quote of the Week.

"The ratio of assholes to easygoing people seems to be a direct function of proximity to a parking lot."
-some guy named Tim

AVALANCHE! A couple quick thoughts.

Checking the Avalanche Sites is how your day should start. Grab a coffee/tea/hot chocolate, have a read and keep track of the changes. Just remember, looking at the colourfull bit at the top is NOT enough. Read the whole report. If you haven't already taken an avalanche safety course then take one. If it's been a LONG TIME since you have taken the course, take it again. Don't be afraid to take a beacon, and don't be afraid to turn back. And Take An Avalanche Course, reading the books is good, but take the course and learn more it might save your life. Remember, just because there is recent debris does not mean that it is safe. Last season I saw 8 major avalanches accross the lake from Louise Falls within 3 hours! It was the some 3 chutes that ran every time. The first one might have been a class 2, but the rest were class three, and each one was bigger than the last. The powder blast and wind reached us half way up the other side of the valley. Always always always make sure you're checking the snow as you hike in, and pay attention to the changes in snow, weather, temperature, and amount of sun throughout the day. The Avalanche forcast on Sunday was Low in Alpine; Low at Treeline; Low Below Treeline yet an avalanche on Sunday happened, and a climber died. Remember, LOW does not mean NO danger! Conditions change WAY FASTER THAN YOU WOULD THINK. Be safe out there. Don't leave your parnters and family without you just to tag that little bit of ice that will be there later. Climb Safe people.

Sad news ;( Tony Devonshire dead after Avalanche

We just had the first Ice climbing fatality on the 2006/2007 season in Alberta. Tony Devonshire was caught in an avalanche near the Fortress ski hill. http://www.live-the-vision/cms has a thread with some details there is also a thread in the injury and accident forum: http://www.rockclimbing.com/topic/122172 Tony was well known in the local seen and will be missed greatly.
I didn't know Tony well... recognize him out at a climb and have a chat type of thing. Especially during the early season, the ice climbing community really is a small community. A loss like this really does hit everyone.
The Avalanche forecast for the area was rated Low across the board, but with a chinook and some light precip things change so fast up there. I was going to get a beacon a few years ago after we were caught, but I haven't yet. Having only one in a party is useless right. Well I climb with some people who do have them, some why not bring them on a climb? Not every climb, but ones that have terrain above them. I've already sett aside some cash and will be getting one as soon as I get my next paycheck. I've already come too close to loosing a partner before, it's not having one worth it? Is having one worth it? You make your own decision. They aren't needed on every climb, but would be nice to have on some climbs. Really they weigh next to nothing, and if like me it has been years since you did the avi course... It might not be a bad idea to take it again. It really is easy to develop bad habits. This tragic accident is a reminder that no matter how LOW the rating is LOW does not mean NO chance of an avalanche. Climb safe out there people, never get complacent and always listen to your gut when you get that sense that "you not feeling it".

Tony was a very experience and safe climber, so is Kevin. It seems somehow not right to be saying Tony was...

Tony you will be greatly missed by the climbing community and all of your other many friends and family. May your next life be full innumerable pitches of the bluest plastic ice that we all search for.

Kevin, should you read this, remember that when your ready if you ever need someone to talk to you can get a hold of me via email the_climber at hotmail dot com, hang in the bro.

Ice Ice Ice The season is off to a stellar start!

Well last weekend went great as far as climbing goes. Climbers with Grant, Anna, and Danylo (Richard was sick). Saturday was spend up at R+D again, but with really different and REALLY wet conditions. I played around with the adjutants on my crampon and the climb great now! Add to this that my forearms are starting to remember this holding onto the ice tools thing, and the season is off to a stellar fuckin' start! R+D was so wet that I was wishing I had my paddling jacket and not my bulky old goretex that really isn't as 'waterproof' as it used to be, and seems to have a few "vent" that it didn't originally have.

Sunday. Sunday was a different day. We started be hiking up the ridge at Fortress ski hill to take a look at Martial Arts and Moonshadow Gully. The snow on the 'good slope', the one we hiked up wasn't too bad, but I still found two weaknesses. One about 4 inches down with moderate results and one at the ground interface with the same results. When we topped out I saw some sloughing off the cliffs above the bowl we would have to cross to get to the climbs, and got the "I'm not feeling it" spidey sense tingles. I observed for a while and could I identify more warning signs on the cliffs and in the bowl. I raised me concerns and said I would be willing to check the snow at the edge of the bowl, but wasn't prepared to or comfortable with crossing the slope. We decided to turn around and go to King's Creek. A good decision as it turned out. It was a good training hike anyways and I enjoyed the exercise. King creek was great, even the Scottish gully was in great thin-ish conditions. I had talked up the gully to Grant and when he came around to corner and I told him it was it... Well he was so happy I didn't want to take the lead from him. I did want the lead though :) A few quick runs up the seeps and we were off.

A mass spaghetti dinner at home for everyone thanks to Laurie was our end of climb reward.

The only downside to the day was finding out that evening that there had been an incident near Fortress that day involving two ice climbers. More on this in the next post.

Aarrrrgg! There be climbable ice out there!

Well the exploits of the weekend were grand. Richard and I drove out to the mountains after work on Friday and camped out in K-Country for an early start on R+D to avoid the crowds. The winds were crazy over night, but calmed down by the morning. With an early start we were off and running, well hiking, but Luger was running :o) . I was less then confident in my crampon with my new boots (see below), and after starting up the climb I full in wasn't feeling 'it'. Sometimes you have to go with your gut feelings, which was the right thing to do in this case as my feet were shearing all over the place when I seconded the climb. After I down climbed I handed the rack over to Richard and watched him do the best climbing I have ever seen him do. Definitely a stellar fuckin' day!

Gear notes:
My new boots are starting to feel great, but I am not used to how my crampons fit them and when I started off on the lead I was less than confident in my foot placements. The fit of my Grivel G14's on my LaSportiva Nepal Evo's leaves the front point shorter and the secondary points too far back for my liking. To have the secondary point contact the ice I have to drop my heal too far for comfort. I also found that my feet were shearing far to easily; likely a result of less penetration in the ice. I will try going back to duo-point and see if I can get used to the crampon/boot match, then switch back to mono's. If that doesn't work I'll be back in the Crampon buying market.

On a good note, the new Cloudvail soft shell pants I just bought were great. And some of the best performing climbing pants I have ever used. It only took me 3 years of trying to find a pair of soft shell pant that fit, but now I can stop looking and climb more.

DMM has screamers!!!!! I had never seen them before, and when I saw them at Vertical Addiction in Canmore I picked up a couple to try. They seem great and are lighter than other screamers I have tried. I still like the Yates screamers, but DMM gear has always been good to me. So, why not try them.

Check your gear please! If not for yourself do it for your partners!

It is tragic that Todd Skinner died. It is even more tragic that the cause was failure of his belay loop while raping. To discuss weather or not a backup would have prevented this or not I leave up to you, but Todd had a reputation as being a safe climber. Answers to many of the questions people have will never be known. They have gone with Todd. I think that any climber would want others to learn from their mistakes, so lets take what we can out of this tragedy and reevaluate our gear and our climbing practices.
I've checked my gear, and will be phasing some of it out very soon. Please check your gear too.

This is a link to some information on Todd accident:
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/10/26/CLIMBER.TMP

Todd Skinner Passes in Yosemite

Sad days in the international climbing community. The passing of another legend just a couple days ago. Todd Skinner opened the door to freeing big walls as the first to free El Cap. His passions for freeing the tallest faces he could find took him across the world. From Cirque of the Unclimbable to the first free accent of the great Trango Tower in Pakistan, he was prominently at the forefront of the Hard-and-free approach to climbing.

Todd, may your next life be full of unclimbed granite peaks and undiscovered mountain ranges.
Rest in peace man.

Ice Hunting In Kananaskis

Well, after a few weeks of Ice hunting we finally scored!

It only took a weekend of driving through the Icefields parkway, some new routing in Groto, and a few hikes in Kananaskis but we found it.

The alarm rings earlier then it felt like it should... I stumble around to find my jeans... the gear is still in the Jeep from yesterday's unsuccessful 'Ice Hunting'. It's an early Alpine start of 8:30ish or so. Phone call to Richard to say I'll pick him up in 15, and a final twist of the lid on the Thermos... slam a RedBull and we're off!

With a RedBull inspired lead foot I'm at Richard's in 10 and after chasing Luger the 100# German Shepherd puppy down the street we get him in the back and were finally out of town on the all to familiar drive to the front ranges of the Great Canadian Chossies.

A little over and hour later were passing the first signs of the 2006/2007 ice season, thin early season Ice high up on Mt. Baldy. Several stops and breaks to look the binoculars later and we see it.... Climbable 'looking' ice! (From the road at least) More RedBull and sorting gear, Richard pulls out the doggy-backpack for Luger. Rope goes on my pack, draws and runner in Richard's, Screws/water/pins/some food/and hot chocolate in Luger's pack.

We start with the familiar bush whacking all to common in early season hunting and an hour later were still not there.... Fear NOT!!! Another 20 mins and were close....close enough to seee...... to see that it's not as in as it looked from the road We decide to check it out anyways and frind that the ice on the side is really good and that the pillar looks not bad. I traverse over, hooking ice mushrooms and wind formed features,... take a deep breath of anticipation and swing my tool into the pillar...... THUNK-er-Rattle-TAPATAP-Jingle-SHIFT-SKWEEK-Hollow-Ught and the sphincter effect is there with a vengeance! Not the sound my early season lack of brass-balls needed. Try one more swing.... Words cant describe the sound... anyone who ice climbes knows the sound... the sound that immediately give the "What the F$&* are you even trying to climb this Unconsolidated piller for? Do you really want to break you legs?" internal monolouge. HRRmmmm, ugh, down...

Some more inspection of the pillar and we start looking to the sides... Ah ha! ICE! a short jaunt and were now looking at a super thin WI2 line, but the ice looks solid-ISH. Gear-up, flake rope, and Richard is off! Haha, the Ice hunters are now looking success straight on! A little ways up and the first stubby screw comes out, turn-crank-crank-crank, slowly! Bottom out! it's only a 10cm screw, clip screamer, go... now more pro.... top out.
All right, my turn! I start up... hey this ice isn't bad... now if my balance would only allow for the traversing nature if the thin smear... OK, balance in check... clean screw, reach high, THWACK, kick kick, reach high, THWACK, kick kick. Then I see it... The belay... the tied off stubbies belay!

But we have done it! Three weekend of Ice Hunting and we have finally done it. WE HAVE STARTED OUR ICE SEASON! Even if on a much easier climb than planned

With only one thing left to do to make it official, he hike out and, and, AND... BEER!