Canada 10th. - 31st. of Jan.

 In jan. 2013 I spent 3 weeks in the Canadian Rockies with Simon Lund Jensen, climbing ice. We had bomber conditions with lots of ice, fairly warm temperatures for that time of year with nothing lover than minus 18-20 and that only for a couple of days.

We started out with the easy classic Cascade WI3, in very beutiful settings in Banff National Park.

On the drive to Cascade Falls on Mount Cascade

On the short approach

Simon leading the first pitch

The next day we drove 2 hours to Lake Louise to climb Louise Falls WI4, it was a sunny and cold day. We bailed before the final pillar pitch, as it looked a bit thin.

                                                       Simon following the first pitch

Simon leading the second pitch on Louise Falls WI4+

The day after we drove in to British Columbia to the small town of Field. Where we climbed Guiness Gully WI4 in 3 long pitches.

Simon leading the first pitch

Me leading the second pitch

We drove back and spent a night in the back of the Jeep, before waking up early and driving to Calgary to pick up Anders Hedeager Pedersen at the airport. He came out for a week of climbing and it turned out to a great week. We climbed Moonlight WI4, The professor falls WI4, Polar Circus WI5 and Weeping wall central pillar WI5, all classic routes.

We started in Kananaskis country, climbing in Evan - Thomas creek, Anders and I climbed Moonlight WI4 110 m and Simon climbed a pretty thin line next to it with Toby Pritchard.

Anders Hedeager Pedersen and me climbed the route on the left, Moonlight WI4. Simon lund jensen and Toby Pritchard climbed the route on the right.

                                      Me leading the first pitch of Moonlight

                                         Anders leading the second pitch

The next day we were back in Banff national park climbing the classic The Professor Falls 280 m. It was a pretty cool walk in, next to the Bow river.

The climb is known for being very wet, and this day was no exception, but the route deserves it classic status. There was no other people on the route.

Unpacking in front of the first pitch. The climb gets it´s nice color because of the high water flow, thus it is very famous for being wet.

                                       
                                  Me leading the second pitch of The Professor Falls

Anders leading the last pitch, it is steeper than it looks. We abseiled off chained anchors, which is widely accepted in the canadian rockies because of the poor rock quality.

On the walk out from the climb, along Bow River.

As Simon had promised, the trip up Icefields parkway to Rampart creek was amazing. Incredibly beutiful and remote place about 150 km from Lake Louise. 

Icefields parkway

Mount Temple from Icefields Parkway

All the talking about the scenery came to a complete halt, when all three passengers dropped their jaws at the sight of first Polar Circus 700 m, V, WI5 and 10 min later the Weeping Wall 300 m with lines from WI3 to WI6. 

The lines out here was of a totally different character, compared to the stuff we had climbed so far. The length and steepness was pretty intimidating.

Polar Circus is called “ the showpiece of the Canadian Rockies and a must for all climbers” by Joe Josephson in the guidebook for the area

The last 200 m of Polar Circus, visible from the road.

Anders in front of the Weeping Wall

With the forecast for the next day being cloudy and not too warm, which made for the safest possible avi conditions, we wanted to start out with the Circus the following morning. We got up at 5.30 and simulclimbed the first part of the route in the dark. 

We belayed 6-7 pitches and spent 13 hours car to car, making pretty much the whole of the descent by headtorch. All of the 13 abseils are equipped by bolts or pegs.

Me leading the first WI4 pitch on Polar Circus

Leading the pitch around The Pencil on Polar Circus. The pencil is a famous WI6 climb, that is rarely in condition. It usually collapses before it becomes climbable.

Simon leading the technical Rogue pitch on very brittle ice.

Anders doing the bootpacking towards the upper tiers which is the crux of the climb. We passed the cave in which the first ascenders bivi´ed. The first ascent in december 1975 took 8 days!

I thought that it felt a lot more like alpine climbing than “regular” ice climbing on Polar Circus, the weather, ambience and terrain made for a great day out.

Simon and Anders following the first pitch on the upper tiers

Anders leading the second to last pitch. Very impressive piece of ice.

Finally at the belay after the last pitch. Soaked after climbing the last pitch in it´s standard wet conditions. Very happy for having climbed the main project of the trip. We descended the route by around 9-11 abseils and some downclimbing. 

Anders at one of the abseils in the dark.

After a day off hanging around in the town of Jasper, eating burgers and drinking coffee, Anders and Simon wanted to get on the Weeping Wall. I was still a bit beat after Polar Circus, but once we stood underneath the lower Weeping Wall, and Anders offered me the first pitch, it just looked to good to miss. 

We climbed the Central Pillar WI5+ 180 m, on the lower Weeping Wall in three pitches, the middle pitch being the definite crux.

Simon walking towards the Weeping Wall.

Anders starting out on the second pitch, which turned out to be quite difficult.  

Simon on the last pitch. The route was one of the highlights of the trip.

After dropping Anders off at the airport we picked up norwegian climber Anna - Malou Petersson. I took a few days off climbing, hanging round in the Canadian Alpine Clubhouse in Canmore, before we drove back to Field in Yoho National Park.

Simon and Anna led the two pitches of Carlsberg Column, the grade 5 classic of the area. 

The small town of Field. 

Simon on the first pitch of Carlsberg Column

The next day we walked a few km along the tracks of the Trans Canada Railway to a 5 pitch WI5 climb called Super Bock. 

It was a really windy day, and all the new snow from the bowls on the upper mountain, were being funneled down the climb.

When Anna was leading the last pitch in horrible spindrift and bigger and bigger slides were going around us, we decided to bail. 

We abseiled down low angle snowslopes, as slides kept setting off.

It was good to get back to the traintrack. 

The long slog along the trainstracks to get to Super Bock

More snowy approach, the climb in the background.

Anna - Malou following the first pitch.

Simon and I enjoying the conditions at the belay before we decided to bail.

Anna - Malou in the heavy spindrift. Anna - Malou abbed back to the belay after this pitch and we descended.

Abseiling low angle terrain because of the avi danger. Several smaller slides were triggered from just walking around this area.

                              This was the perfect way to end my Canada 

                              trip, a day out in moody weather that ended by headtorch, walking the long way back to Field on the train tracks.

Thanks to the people involved in the adventures.

Valle Orco Italy 29. Sep - 4. Oct.

In late fall I spent a short week with Sune Buur in the granite paradise of Valle Orco in the Grand Paradiso national park of northern Italy.

We only had a couple of good weather days, but got our main project done which was "Fessura della despirazione" and a few other routes. We only met 4 other climbers during our stay in this fantastic place, certainly going back. The Espresso´s were only 1 euro!!

Sune Buur taping up for the first pitch of "Nautillus 270m 6a"

Sune Buur arriving at the belay after the second pitch and traversing to the Nautillus chimney, which was very wet. It started raining again after this pitch so we bailed.

Enjoying the rain at the belay

Bringing the big guns out for the classic of Valle Orco, this 3. pitch climb hardly takes anything smaller than a Camelot 4.

Hanging out on the first pitch in sweet 18 degree october sunshine.

Sune following the first pitch

Sune getting involved on the second and hardest pitch. None of us had ever felt so beat up after 50 m of climbing.

Following the second pitch.

Great positions 

Swiss guide on the first pitch

Local fox in the national park