Got to feed the monster today...a bit that is

Nice view from the top of Rogans

yes, got out and did 400 meters of easy ice today, or this morning actually. Left the house at 0930 and headed to Rogans gully for some sunny WI2 300m. The route is due south facing so I had to be fast up and down before the melt-out would ruin the route.

After Rogans I headed to Urs Hole which is also a WI2 but has more shade, didn't have to hurry so much there! Urs was way more fun as it is actually steep and offers more climbing although it is shorter. It is situated in an avalanche trap so although I knew there wasn't a threat from above my subconscious kept telling me that being in this terrain is not the best for a long time!!! There is so much old avalanche debris in the gully that it makes for amazing formations when topping out the route! I kept going a bit but common sense told me to get out of there...if you get crushed alone in there they will never find you!!!

Arrived back to the house before lunch to enjoy some good food and to find out that I could do a couple of hrs of work today. If I hadn't had to work today I would have gone to Sinatra falls to complete the ultimate hat-trick of WI2´s and a good 700m day of ice climbing!Cascade trying to recover after collapsing 2-3 days ago. Rogans Gully is on the left hand side and Urs Hole is on the right hand side of Cascade but both routes cant be seen on this photo.

Change of plans

Today I was going to be on a 500m alpine/ice route in the Crowsnest Pass area with Ryan but the weather decided to play a roll in our decision, so I am still here in Banff in my PJ´s!

Erin and I did get out with Ryan on Sat and Sun, where we did go to Kid Fall´s and Kid Bowl the day after. The Fall´s were super wet but a good day non the less and the Bowl provided very easy terrain for me to practice my short-roping techniques!

Plan today is to head out to the nearby Cascade and sole some easy ice that I have never been on. I´ll get back on here later today...

Finally conected at home

Yes, we have connection! And all the carpets are on the floors and all the painting is done!!! Good job gang.

And now its only a week until I have to be at work at the Monashee Powder where there is only 15-25cm´s of snow (usually there is close to 2m in the start of December) so I am going to look for a good sacrifice to the snow god´s to let it snow.

Here are a few pic´s from the Stanley Headwall from a couple of weeks ago...

A climber get close to the top of Nemesis WI6

Two climbers on Suffer Machine WI5 M7, can you see them both?

French Reality forming well so far

Yep, no skiing so far...just climbing and will keep doing that until the ski-work starts at the end of next week.

I´ll keep you posted

Still waiting

No Internet still at the new place although I did get the new modem in the mail today! Not going to hook it up as we are painting the new place and tomorrow ripping out the old carpets and putting in new ones...should be good to go this weekend!
Been out a few times so far since arriving to Banff! Went up to the Stanley Headwall for a recon last week and soloed an easy ice line that was barely there! Got on Twisted Sister WI4 5.7 R with Fraser last Thursday and turned around after a late start and no ice to follow with two pieces of pro after 15 meters of climbing (the pro was a bad micro-cam and a knife blade piton that only got half way inn!) Saturday I climbed a pure ice route with Mike and Ellen and Sunday we all went out again, with Erin as well in the posse, to do a mythical route...so mythical that we never found it he he!
Stay cool kids

No Internet

...sitting in an Internet cafe doing this. Erin and I finished a 10 day Wilderness First Aid course last Tuesday and were moving at the same time, CRAZY!
We are slowly getting settled in and still waiting for a Internet hookup...but when that happens I will get back on the blogging horse.
Yep, no more Canmorones, just Banffites now