Ice Climbing I

Ice climbing – February 4, 2007

Elevation gain: approx 600 m (only 25 m on the actual ice climb, but that was more than enough!)

Roundtrip time: 9:15

Ice climbing with Mark.

Our planned day was to try ice climbing at Grotto Falls. We had watched a party ascend the fall several weeks earlier and the ascent seemed fairly straightforward and a good choice for beginners. That plan changed when Mark suggested we return to the drainage on the south side of Cougar Peak. A year earlier, on an attempt of Cougar Peak, we had deviated Bob Spirko’s route up the north side and went around the south side. That trip ended when we reached a short and not too steep frozen waterfall that we were not capable of ascending. We had tried to circumvent it, but saw that there was another fall beyond that would have stopped us anyways. Returning to the area seemed like a perfect way to get some practice on easy ice and also see if we could further our progress up the drainage.

The hour up Cougar Creek to the forks was fast and easy, but the next hour and 20 minutes up the creek on the south side of Cougar Peak was much slower and tedious. Finally, we reached the aforementioned frozen fall to discover it had not formed. There was ice at the top, however, and after gearing up for some easy ice travel, we continued through the scenic canyon to reach the first obstacle of the day. This one was perfect for us – a 3-4 metre, near vertical step with an easier route on the right for descent. Mark led us up this step which provided a good opportunity to practice placing ice screws. Shortly beyond that fall we found a real fall. This one was significantly larger and more impressive. Thankfully it was on the left side of the canyon and therefore did not impede our progress. We continued on, past the frozen fall and up the canyon to see if there was any more ice. There was none, so we returned to the big fall to practice on that one.

The fall was about 25 metres high at its lowest point and perhaps 40 at its highest point. Obviously we chose the shortest and easiest route towards a large tree about 25 m above. Again, Mark led the ascent and did so in fine form. He placed around 5 ice screws on the way up, making it look pretty easy. At the top, he set an anchor and started to belay me up so that I could remove the ice screws. We would then both rappel down from the tree. I was absolutely flabbergasted at how steep and scary the terrain was. Even with a bomber belay and numerous points of solid protection, I found the ascent to be nerve-wracking. The last step was particularly riveting as the ice was thin and didn’t feel particularly solid. Mark basically had to pull me up the short, vertical step. I was certainly glad that Mark had the guts to lead it, because I’m quite sure I would have started to cry at that point!

After an exhilarating rappel down a steeper section of the ice, we returned to the car and raced home to catch the second half of Super Bowl XLI – a disappointing game with Indianapolis beating Chicago 29-17. An enjoyable and very successful, if somewhat scary, first ice climb.