Terry met some guys down Grotto Canyon. One British guy, Damion, was dry tooling around His & Her’s and looked neat. We got talking. I asked him what he’d done in Canada so far, his first trip. Turned out Haffner Creek, Bears Spirit, oh and something down Kananaskis – a little thing called Whiteman’s Falls, without too much fuss by all accounts. Enough said!!
So its been minus 28C for a while and loads of new snow. We need something safe and Moonlight Falls seems a good choice. Both in quite good condition this year. But ice like cast iron.
Terry starts off and its very thin ice over rock. Higher up the ice gets thicker but the going seems no easier.
Damian comes up.
And carries on to finish the climb in one big 60m run out…
Terry starts to climb….and only finds out now what his problem had been lower down … when he looks at his axes!!!!
Gulp. Daminan is way out of earshot. Nothing for it now but to climb on up, hooking what I could with the broken pick. Grateful when I got in to shouting range to ask for tight rope!!!!
You’ve broken a few picks now haven’t you Terry? ❓
Yeah, Whiteman’s, what a route! 😛
Another great route.
The ice looks hard – that smooth glass like ice with not many hooks.
How’s the finger?
Body and equipment all starting to fail 😯 😯
The ice looks great though….. keep those points sharp!! 😀
Translation:- Pete’s comments above are really ‘Pete speak’ for:-
‘You’re a b..awful climber, Terry, that’s why you break picks 😆 ‘
Well, I’ve only broken 3 over my career.
Finger holding out and growing nice new skin now. Local cat enjoyed old skin :yum: :yum:
The rabbits are about in force and have crossed the Bow river to Val’s part 🙄 also moved up to Cougar canyon. They reckon even the Kayotes won’t keep them under control now 😎 😎
😆 Well maybe, but in reality I was wondering about a potential lowering in quality of BD equipment. 😯 My picks are fine and I know these are slightly older than yours. So, for example, I’m wondering if they have moved their manufacturing operation away from the US and compromised quality?
C’mon Pete, you know Terry must use his pick ten times more than you… he’s always on holiday 😉
My picks broke at same point.Could be a BD fault or maybe we are just too strong. 😯
Yeah, guy in climbing store said BDs always break in that spot :geek:
My daughter was climbing in the area too and she said the ice was so hard she couldn’t get her picks in…but at least she had a pick. Wow, that was pretty awful!Good photos tho
Well done Terry, 😎 you must be climbing well if didn’t notice it was broken!
Or, conversely, so badly it didn’t make any difference. 😆