Advertisement
Published: December 30th 2007
Stanley Headwall
Paradise of hard mixed climbsAfter working January and February in SLC for Exum of Utah, I
headed out on the road to Canada. The idea of
spending some ice climbing time in the Rockies came
about as I was linking up some climbs down in Ouray
with Canadian climber and photographer Jon Walsh. We
figured that Canada would be a great place to go on
an ice climbing binge and March would be a good time
as I would be done with work and he would be back
from a trip down in Patagonia.
So, there I was, on the road to Canada in my
sweet gear loaded car and with a stack of audiobooks
to keep me company on the drive. It would take me
18h of driving to get to Golden, BC, amongst which
2hours were spent driving in the wrong direction!!!
Just what you'd want on such a long journey! I slept
on the way and was in Golden at 9am the next
morning.
I unloaded my car, geared up and we were soon on
our way to do laps on Pilsner Pillar, a local WI6.
We were back the next day to start
Curtain Call
Me on pitch 1
on our link ups.
First in lines were the Beer climbs on Mount Dennis
in Field:Guinness Gully (WI4), Guinness Stout
(WI4+), High Test (WI4), Kronenberg (WI6), Carlsberg
(WI5) et Pilsner Pillar (WI6), which summed up to
over 650m if ice climbing that day.
The next day, we drove out to Rempart Creek, a
small hostel half way between Lake Louise and
Jasper, on the Icefield Parkway, to get an early
start to link up the great local classics: Wheeping
Wall(Wi5), Wheeping Piillar(WI6) and Curtain Call
(WI6). Hanging out at the Rempart creek on the night
after our link up, we met a bunch a really nice
climbers... was really great to hang out there. Our
link ups was posted on
climbing.com:http://climbing.com/news/hotflashes/canadaicelink/
On our way back to Golden the next day, we
stopped in Field to savor a nice Chaï Œatte at the
local coffee shop: Truffle Pigs... then, we climbed
a small three pitch climb called Twisted and headed
back to Golden to get some work done.
The day after was the 16th and this is when I
turned 30. I'd been waiting for that moment for a
long time. Somehow,
Wheeping Wall
Soloing the wheeping wall, on our way to the Wheeping Pillar i've been really looking forward
to turning 30. So, there it was. I was blessed with
a beautiful day and had some dinner with all the
people I knew in Canmore after climbing nemesis on
the Stanley Headwall. I was really touched that
almost all the people I know there showed up to
celebrate this special day with me... :-)
After 2 rest days, we headed out to the Ghost
valley for some photo shooting on Wicked Wanda
Jennifer Olson, a local guide and friend, joined
us at 3am to link the Sorcerer and Hydrophobia. A
rather long and bush-wacky hike took us to the base
of the Sorcerer, a beautiful 210m WI5 ice climb. Jon
soloed and shot pictures as i lead the climb...
getting to the top, we were caught up in zero
visibility, snow and cold... satisfied with our day,
we decided to head back to the car, spend the
afternoon in Calgary and sleep at Jen's.
I hooked up with a friend from Colorado, Adam
(who would become my husband!!!) the next
day to climb Louise Falls in Lake Louise. He was
leaving the next day and
wanted to take it easy and
i was happy to spend the day with him just hanging
out and making up for almost killing him on our
first encounter on Ames Ice Hose in Ouray, as I
unintentionally dropped my ice axes down the
climb... The day after, Jon, Rene, a climber from
Quebec, and i headed up to the Trophy wall. This
Wall holds some of the hardest and most challenging
routes in the Rockies. Climbing either of them is
somehow considered a trophy, thus the name. So, we
headed out on our bikes along the Golf course road
to the start of the steep path that leads up to the
base of climb. Jon and rene were talking about how
it would be a good idea to link up the first pitch -
The Post Scriptum - and the 2nd pitch. I didn't
think much of it as I believed Jon was going to lead
the first pitch. Yet as we geared up, Jon said he
would be shooting pictures and so i would
get to lead the first pitch. Damn, it looked thin
up there... so, I started climbing up the hooked out
Post Scriptum, and
soon headed out on the thin
traverse. Where to put my feet? And my tools? It
tool me a while to make the move, but putting a mini
screw half way in helped psychologically and I made
the move across. I thought it was over, as I
realizaed that the climb only got steeper and
thinner. Don't think, climb... the pump in my arms
slowed me down a little as I needed to make it go
away. I added a small worthless screw in for my
psyche, and was soon over the bulge. A few more
meters and i ran out of the 70m rope... I could
finally rest. I belayed Jon and Rene up. the rest of
the climb is steep but not as thin. We celebrated
our ascent with some great Sushi in Banff! Goodie...
On our drive back to Golden the next day, we
stopped in Field for some Chaï Latte and then headed
out on our second Beer climb link up...a small one
this time: Cool Spring, Superbock. dinner at the
Truffle pig and Twisted at night to shoot some
headlamp shots...
After a rest day, we headed back
on the Stanley
Headwall with the intention to climb with Nightmare
on Wolfstreet (M7+, WI6+) and French reality (WI6+,
M5). We ski toured up to the base of the climb. As I
don't have my diamir bindings with me here, I get to
carry my climbing boots with me in my back pack each
time... :-( We climbed a total of nearly 400m of
hard mixed and overhanging ice mushrooms... the link
up took us less than 13 hours car to car... sweet
day with sweet conditions.
After hanging out in Canmore for the evening, I
met up with Jon to climb Political World a really
aesthectic climb by Bow Lake on Crowfoot mountain.
The next day, we climbed an apparently unclimbed
pillar, Jacob's ladder... This pillar touched for
the first time ever this year and we kept on seeing
it from the road as we drove back and forth from and
to Golden.
Riptide was our next objective... Riptide has
the reputation of being the hardest ice in the
Rockies. So, we left early. I felt frustration
rising inside of me right from the start. The snow
was really bad,
we'd sink in to the top of our boots
each step we took... we went up the wrong drainage
and ended up doing some severe bushwhacking. I was
going crazy. the thought of turning around kept on
nagging me the whole time. I didn't want to be
there. All I could think of was being in Banff or
Canmore, sipping on a nice cup of tea, hanging out
with some friends... the snow sucked, I hadn't had
breakfast and was bonking, the slopes look loaded,
why was i there... I felt no pleasure in this
undertaking. Yet, I stuck to it... to both the climb
and the whining and being bitchy. We made it the
bottom of the climb and our focus soon turned to the
line 5 meters to the left of Riptide. It looked
thin, yet it looked in. How could we not give it a
try? Jon lead the first pitch. It was soon my
turn to lead. But I was still not psyched to be
here. Still wanting to be elsewhere. I geared up all
the same. It was thin right off the belay. I put in
a psychological screw in the thin smear of
ice right
above the belay, and made my way up, somehow,
pulling on nothing, standing on not much either.
With the gear we had along, all the pitches were run
out... our pro was close pure fiction. I set up a
bad belay and brought Jon up. He left on the next
pitch... suddenly, I heard him scream: "Ice!!!!!"
and even sooner, I felt it, right in my arm. The
pain overwhelmed me. was my arm broken? no it
wasn't... but the pain, the pain... I hate it. I
still don't want to be here. And now, i want it even
less... spindrifts are coming down unceasingly...
it's cold, and I hate being here. I make it up to
Jon and grin as I see what the belay is made of: 2
ice axes, a mini nut and nothing screw... great!!!
We're out of pegs, nuts, or anything else for that
matter. the next pitch is thin, brittle,
overhanging rotten ice... this is it... we're out
of here... plus, my friend Vince is having a slide
show on Nanga Parbat and i don't want to miss it.
friends are more valuable than a stupid cold climb,
aren't they? We
Wicked Wonda
Soloing pitch 1
leave our ropes at the base of the
climb. We'll be back.
Back in Golden, we rest for two days. it's been
snowing and we need to wait until the snow slopes
below our climb stabilize again. So, we head back
out to Stanley Headwall to finish our link up
mission: we climb Suffer Machine (M8, WI5+, 200m)
and then Nemesis (WI6+) in less than 1h45 backpack
to backpack. We head out to the Mosquito Creek
Hostel and get an early night in to be well rested
for the next day.
The alarm clock rings at 3am. I force something
down my throat and we're soon on our way. The trail
is nicely broken in by now... conditions are great,
it's a beautiful day, temperatures are nice... am
happy and psyched. Suddenly, what felt like the hike
and climb from hell all seem pink and cheerful and
exciting. I can't wait to get back on the climb...
our packs are light as we had left the 70m ropes at
the base of the climb. This time around, we've got
all the gear we need, from pegs to friends, to a
hand drill
Jon, the photographer
On Wicked Wanda with Jon and Jia Condon to nuts and screw. The pitches are less
run out as we are able to put pro in the rock... as
we climb the fourth pitch, we realized that we had
made the right decision by going down on our first
try. The pillar is thinner and more brittle and the
climb is the hardest we've both ever climbed... but
with a good belay and some pitons, the climb is now
less exposed. it's been a great adventure and a
great way to end my stay in the States... We named
the climb: "The Shadow",
crediting Maria Coffey's book: Where the mountain
casts its shadow, a book about the psychology of
alpinists, and what a hard drug climbing can be. An
absolute must read for every addicted climber and
for their families...
Here's a story of our
climb:http://www.climbing.com/news/hotflashes/riptide/
http://www.gravsports.com/Ice%20Pages%20Folder/Route%20Descriptions/ware_walsh_trip.htm
Advertisement
Tot: 0.04s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 9; qc: 19; dbt: 0.0191s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
