Beowulf (WI 4) and Grotto Canyon - Ice Review (sort of)

The annual ACC Ice Review took place this past weekend. Its amazing to think that I only tried ice climbing for the first time at this event last year. It is amazing what can change in a year! As an unofficial trip for this years Ice Review, Kyle, Alex, Cat and I decided to go into the Ghost Wilderness Area to climb Beowulf (WI 4, 6 pitches, 450m). Road reports were not optimistic, and neither were trip reports from the week prior, but nonetheless we crossed our fingers and hoped for the best as we rolled out of Calgary at 6:30 am. I had woken up feeling terrible so was only semi-conscious for most of the drive to the Ghost access road. I was not going to let a cold stop me from climbing, so I put on all my layers and snuggled up with a blanket and pillow in the backseat. Once we arrived at the big hill, it was too exciting (and rough) to continue dozing and I stared out the window eagerly at this amazing area that I had only heard stories about as the sun slowly rose.

An amazing sunrise welcomes us into the Ghost

Joshua Tree

OK, you are in for a long one. Here is the TL;DR in case you are just in it for the photos. We spent 4 amazing days climbing in Joshua Tree. Some of the highlights were the climbs (Overhang Bypass, Right On, Minotaur, Robo Ranger, Fothog, Toe Jam and The Eye), the sunsets and the amazing scenery. If you are heading out there, be warned that there is no water available in the park, so bring lots. Also, the climber campgrounds fill up fast, but we stayed at Jumbo Rocks and it was pretty quiet and still really beautiful. Climber coffee is at 8 am at Hidden Valley on weekends and is a good way to get some beta and meet other climbers. Apparently it gets really windy in J-Tree (our tent almost blew away when we tried to take it down), and it gets cold at night! Finally, the ratings are all over the place so be prepared to get spanked by a 5.5 right after you run up a 5.7. Alright, if you are ready to find out about the trip in more detail, read on and enjoy.

Instead of dreaming of a white Christmas this year, I have been looking forward to heading south for a climbing trip to Joshua Tree. We flew to Phoenix first then drove 450 km to the National Park, arriving in the dark on Friday night. The two campgrounds near the climbing areas (Hidden Valley and Ryan Campground) were both full when we got there so we backtracked to Jumbo Rocks Campground and were able to find a site. We awoke early Saturday morning to an amazing view. Since we had arrived in the dark, we hadn't realized what the landscape was like. The park was full of granite formations and unusual looking plants called Joshua Trees that apparently aren't found many other places. 

Sunrise at Jumbo Rocks Campground

Bozeman Ice Climbing Festival

December has been a crazy month filled with exams and rad road trips. It started off with a trip to Bozeman Montana for the Ice Climbing Festival after Kyle won a facebook contest for a 3 night stay in Bozeman and 2 days of ice climbing clinics for two. I guess people actually do win those things! Despite being up to my ears in school work, I wasn't going to let Kyle take anyone but me. A few emails later, I had switched my schedule around and we were able to leave Friday morning to drive down for the weekend. I wasn't a fun road trip partner as I had to study most of the way, but it meant that we were able to enjoy the festivities together once we arrived. We pulled into the Lewis and Clark Motel (a bit of a crazy place full of strange antique furniture) around 7 and were able to get over to Emerson Lawn to watch the women's and men's World Cup speed climbing finals. It had been really warm that week and into the double digits that day so the event was held on a plywood wall which was interesting, but it didn't seem to phase the athletes who were able to scale it in mere seconds.

We got up early Saturday morning to drive out to Hyalite Canyon, the local ice climbing epicentre. Here we met our guide for the day and the rest of the people in our clinic. There was a big turn-out and groups dispersed all over the valley for the day. We had a bit of a hike to get to the Mummy-Scepter area where we spent the whole day.

Our first look at the Mummy/Scepter climbing area

Highwood Pass and Rae Glacier Nov 15/16

-20 in the parking lot. Brr

 Hooray for winter! In what is becoming an annual event, Kyle and I returned to Highwood Pass for some November turns (the highway closes for the winter on December 1st). Kyle's friend Dan came out too and we got to show him some new spots. It was cold on Saturday but there was snow from the parking lot and the trail in wasn't too crazy. There were a few icy off-camber sections through the trees but nothing too bad. I was having some issues with my skins so I ended up boot-packing all the way to the bottom of the ridge that we were going to ski. The skin track was firm and I think that boot-packing was actually a bit easier than trying to ski in.

Bow Hut - Remembrance Day Weekend

Four day weekend! We had to make the most of all our free time. Lots of ideas were thrown around but nothing seemed like it was going to be as amazing as we wanted it to be. A few days before the weekend, we saw a post on facebook about the skiing up at the Bow Hut. We immediately made reservations for the hut and started getting stoked! Saturday morning we got up bright and early to pick up Alex (and meet him for the first time).

Early morning light on the way to the Ice Fields Parkway

Heart Mountain Scramble

 It's hard to figure out what to do during the off-season without subjecting yourself to some serious discomfort. It is too cold to climb, too wet to bike, and not snowy enough to ski. To get our mountain fix this week, we settled for some good old-fashioned hiking near Canmore. The forecast was bleak, so we slept in a bit longer than we had planned before loading up the car and heading out. The theme of the day (for me at least) was disorganization. I realized at the trail-head that my mountaineering boot insoles were still in my hiking boots from the summer, and I had forgotten a few pieces of gear (like my ice ax). It would have been easy to just get back in the car and head home, but we were there already and the mountains were calling!

Sign at the bottom of the trail for Heart Mountain

Unnamed (Pumpkin Route) - Yamnuska

I don't want this fall to end! We have been having the most amazing weather for the last few week, allowing me to get out more than I was expecting. I hadn't been climbing in a while so took advantage of the good forecast to head back to Yamnuska for the second time this year, this time to climb "Unnamed", a 5.7 on the west end of Yam.

Lots of vertical to get up to the base of the climb!