The Wrong Side of Zero

And we ain't talking Celsius!  

Chad and myself enjoyed a chilly uber-bowl weekend ice climbing up in Canmore this past few-days.  We were joined by Marcus and Jeff for a couple days.  Scary avy conditions kept us away from the big rigs.  For the most part we stayed in the canyons clipping bolts and enjoying some of the best mixed climbing Canada has to offer.  Add to that watching an epic failure by Ben Raper Rothlisberger  and I'd say it was a pretty good weekend.

Pretty busy day at Bear Spirit our first day.  The curtain is starting to fill out, but there are still a lot of moderate mixed lines to tune up on.  Day 2 saw Marcus and Jeff at Louise Falls with single digit temps and heavy snowfall while Chad and I scrapped around at Haffner.  Chad crushed his first M lead which included a runout on overhanging ice.  The temps plummeted even further on our third day, -8F.  We got a late start and went for some low hanging fruit at Grotto Canyon.  The climbs are short, 12m, but surprisingly fun.  With the ice in current condition there was a big of a run out from the last bolt to the first screw... but that just added to the routes.  The middle route featured a double steinpull followed by a big reach to a free-hanging ice feature.

Chad running up Pitch 1 of Carlsberg.

Pitch 2 of Carlsberg.

The surprisingly fun mixed climbing in Grotto Canyon.