In Search of Ice and Snow- Banff '09

Whenever Canada has a low snow year, they typically have a thick ice (waterfall) year. And so, given the low snow conditions consistent across the West, we headed to the Banff area for some ice climbing. We threw in the skis, just in case.

Our first venture was into the Ghost, a remote and beautiful canyon with several ice climbs. Since we haven't really had the ice tools out in a couple of years, we started with an easy classic climb that we were familiar with. This House of Sky is a rambling climb, with short 'steps' of ice that just go on & on. With two other parties on the climb, it was more crowded than we would've preferred but it was still fun.

[See the steps of ice below B]

After a few days of indulging in good food, the requisite trip to the Upper Hot Springs, and some general touristy wandering, we left Banff and headed up the Icefields Parkway to Num-ti-jah Lodge on Bow Lake.

At 2pm, we strapped on all of our gear and headed across the frozen lake to Bow Falls. Given our late start time, we agreed that we might need to do only one of the four pitches...but this is never how it goes with us. After the first pitch, we justified doing the next pitch, and then it only made sense to complete the climb.

[Bow Falls climb mid-photo]

I topped out at 6pm, the dusk light waning quickly. A party of two had gone before us that afternoon; since they didn't rappel down the route, we assumed there must be a good walk-off trail. Part of that assumption was correct...they had made a walk-off trail, but it wasn't any good. We spent the next two+ hours post-holing through deep snow, falling in up to my waist and then crawling out again. At one point, while sliding down a snow-covered cliff, the water bottle popped out of my pack, which we only figured out later when we were super thirsty.

[The small speck on the top pitch is a climber.]

Finally, we arrived at the end of the frozen lake, which meant easy, flat walking for the next 1/2 hour until we arrived back at the lodge. Exhausted, hungry, and dehydrated, we hoped the lodge staff would take pity on us and feed us a meal, despite the fact that we were now nearly two hours past their scheduled dinner hour. Thankfully, they did. We ate well and then slept really well.

This adventure had opposite effects on the both of us: I was exhausted and needed some rest, Brandon was energized and wanted to get out for more. So we took a day off to hang around the lodge, reading, enjoying the views, and playing games.

[From the Lodge, Bow Falls reaching up to Bow Glacier.]

[Num-ti-jah Lodge]

We headed out for one last climb the next day (Shades of Beauty), but only did one pitch as the top two pitches weren't well-formed.




Most of the climbs we saw were like this, with nowhere near the flow of previous years. The ice was thick enough but the routes were narrow and often chandeliered. And so...we headed to Rogers Pass, hoping to find some snow. We enjoyed seeing the pass, where they have tremendous avalanches that crash down from tall Selkirk peaks and over the avalanche sheds that protect the roadway...quite an engineering feat. The skiing was not great, mostly survival skiing over death cookies and tracked-out snow.



And so, the search continues. We're hoping the snow will come to us in a spring dump. Do your snow dance!!!