Canadian Rockies Feb 12-Feb 17

Look a distant cousin of Reuben!

On February 12th we rolled out of Portland headed to Canmore...12.5hrs later we were there! As we were only going to be sleeping for about 4ish hours we opted to stay at a hostel called The Hostel Bear. It was actually really nice and our room was empty so it was just like having a hotel room. I just love love love Alberta Canada and I totally want to figure out a way to move to Canmore. I mean, where else can you see views out of the windshield of your car like this? This picture was actually taken in the Icefields Parkway...but very similar views are in Canmore as well.

We started out the adventure on Professor Falls on Friday the 13th. This is a climb right outside of Banff...about 5 pitches WI4...

Daniel on P1

Elisif on P4

Pitch 5...I actually led the first little section and Daniel took the last (long story)

Daniel styling up P5

Fun go-to climb, great weather, good times. After the climb, we grabbed some dinner and headed to the Icefields Parkway for more fun! We stayed at the Rampart Creek Hostel, a "wilderness" hostel. It was interesting when we first showed up...you have to park down by the road and hump all of your stuff up to the hostel and when we walked in we couldn't find the host for a while. But we soon got used to it, despite no running water, and it ended up being quite nice. Definitely worth missing out on a 2hr drive to and from Canmore each day.

Our Cozy room. Each room has 6 bunks...pretty tight, but for 2 of the 3 days we were by ourselves with plenty of room to yardsale wet gear.

On Valentine's day we did a climb called Polar Circus. It's been on our list for quite some time. It's an 8 pitch climb WI5...so a full day long commitment. Since it was a Saturday and a long weekend (apparently Monday was "family day" in Canada...what a way better country) we got a super early start just in case multiple parties had the same plans.

Daniel gearing up at the bottom of P1...waiting for daylight...go figure that once crampons were on, harness tightened, knots ties, he decided that he desperately needed to poop. Nothing to do but drop your leg loops and send one over the edge I guess.

Daniel starting up P1 WI 4 at first light....him a little lighter too!

Pitch 2

Elisif on P2 WI3

The Pencil is the unformed pillar on the left. It rarely forms...last in 2004? (not sure). When formed it goes at WI6. To the right of the pencil was a short WI3 pitch (?) that Daniel and I soloed (technically the 3rd pitch I think)

Here's a pic of the upper tier with the two WI4-5 pitches at the very top. A fairly continuous headwall with stretched out pitches...

Pitch 4 WI4 is looonnnggg, a full stretched out 70m brought Daniel to a belay directly below the ribbon

Pitch 5 is called the ribbon. It is a narrow but short section. This is where we called it day. We had had a great day so far, and though it was still early The Ribbon was a funky mix of thin ice and mushrooms...unprotectable until the very last short step. Daniel decided that he just wasn't feeling up to it so we ended on a good note. We'll be back to finish the whole thing one day though!

Daniel and I cheesing on Polar Circus. Happy Valentine's Day! No romantic dinner and a movie for us...we're slightly unconventional!

Views from Polar Circus..Breathtaking!

So back down we go with plenty of rappels. One of the raps is a free-hanging off of the pencil...you have to be fairly ginger as to not knock down the fragile pillar. Glad we didn't have to do it in the dark, fairly intimidating! This is Daniel easing his way off into thin air.

Since we had plenty of time left in the day we took the opportunity to drive over to take a peek at Andromeda....home to the impressive climb Andromeda Strain. It's also home to other alpine climbs, including The Shooting Gallery and Asteroid Alley. We had toyed with the idea of climbing Asteroid Alley (the line of ice on the middle of the right side) the next day... but we ended up making the decision to opt out as the forecast was cold and windy. As you can see from the names of the climbs there is high potential for rockfall...not worth the risk...too many other options in the Parkway!

Andromeda

So on the 15th we decided to take a more chill day and go take a look at Bow Falls 2 pitches WI4 . The approach is a great short ski tour...you can ski over the lake and the Falls are in the bowl in the background of the pic.

Skiing on Bow Lake and Bow Falls in the far background

Views from the Lake

Skiing over to Bow Falls

Bow Falls

We got to the base as you can see...and of course it was super windy and the route was in the shade (which we knew)...we hemmed and hawed...and though we were there, we just weren't feeling it. Since this was definitely not an "it doesn't have to be fun to be fun trip" we decided we were just satisfied with a good ski that day. Possibly not a decision our hardcore climber friends would have made, but definitely one we were content with.

Monday, February 16th we climbed Murchison Falls WI4+. The approach I've heard can be quite taxing in heavy snow years but with the lack of snowfall lately there was an excellent bootpack and we made it up to the base in 1.5hours.

Daniel hiking up to Murch (we climbed up to the very last tier)

I lead up the first pitch up and we simul-climbed just a little to get to some rap v-threads on the right. Daniel then headed up and left for the second pitch.
Daniel starting off...

...And still going

We got to the third and final pitch and sat there for a while deciding if it would go or not. Hopefully you can enlarge it to see but at the top are delicate mushrooms and and other formations that looked like they would come crashing down if one tried to top out. The left side was making tons of noise too (cracks and pops) so we decided to call it a day, slung a pillar and rapped down. We talked to a pair from Colorado the next day who said they did the same thing...

Pitch 3 of Murchison

Elisif on another fun rappel

I couldn't resist posting another scenery pic just to give you an idea why we love to do what we do. I think a lot of times our friends don't understand why we leave all of the time...drive so long, put ourselves in risky (calculated and safety conscious...but still dangerous in nature) situations, get hands so cold we want to barf and pee our pants at the same time, and come home with cuts on our faces and a week of unpacking and work to look forward too. It's hard to explain what the feeling is but there's something I get from seeing this/being here. Often the situations are difficult, painful, and on the occasion miserable. But the accomplishment, the peacefulness and solitude, and wonder of God's nature are truly centering.

After Murchison we drove back to Canmore. The next day, February 17th was my birthday! We had breakfast and pastries at Summit Cafe and then went to the upper hotsprings in Banff. Hotsprings with a view felt sooo good after hard, cold days of climbing!