Yamnuska Advanced Ice Systems Course

by: Kevin Esler

Date: January 21-22, 2012

Attendees: Jeff Dmytrowich, Howard Hemingson, Kevin Esler

Ice climbing is sometimes considered a dangerous sport. One of the biggest causes of danger in the sport is lack of knowledge and experience. As the three of us are finally at the age where we are slowly admitting that we are not immortal we decided to get some more experience and signed up for the Yamnuska Advanced Ice Systems Course.

The first day we met at the Yamnuska office, sorted out gear, checked weather conditions, discussed location, reviewed the avalanche report, and of course signed the customary waiver form. With all the formalities out of the way we headed out to “The Junkyard” which is located right in Canmore near the Spray Lakes Hydro Station. Our guide Nick Sharpe set a couple fixed lines so that we could demonstrate our skills and get some quick feedback on technique. After that was completed we did a set of simulated lead climbing with the protection of top rope still in place. We reviewed proper technique for setting ice screws, building anchors, rope management, and site hazard assessment. After a couple of climbs we moved to the south end of the wall and did some real lead climbing. This included setting our own “pro” on the way, and building an anchor at a belay station to set up for a multi pitch climb. After getting past a little sketchy ledge we made it up to the top and set up a tree anchor and rappelled down.

The second day took us out to Johnston Canyon. After about a 35 minute walk to get to the upper falls we quickly set up ropes and led up the first small pitch to set up for the main climb. We had two rope teams between the five participants. It was interesting how vastly different the ice conditions were between the two routes that were only separated by about 3m. After the lead climbers reached the top they set anchors and were belayed down and we set up on a more vertical section that was about 10m tall. I was able to take a video of one of that climb to help everyone get an idea of what it was like from a climber’s view. Later we practiced making V-threads and had a discussion about the rope management and protection systems.

While we were at Johnston Canyon there was a story being done about a climber that had used what he thought was an old V-thread to rappel from and fell 60ft when it failed. They later found that it wasn’t actually a V-thread but was an old piece of cording that was frozen into the ice. He was returning after surgeries and several years of recovery. It was a very good reminder of the value of making good and conservative choices when the consequences are so severe. It was surprising how many people were standing near or under overhanging ice that could have fallen at any time and how they seemed surprised or unconcerned when the hazard was pointed out. It was a great testament to the value of good education and training so that people can remain safe and control the risks and hazards to allow them to continue to enjoy the sport for many years to come.

You Want to Climb Ice, Eh?

by Jeff Dmytrowich

Climbing ice sculpted like blue glass can be one of the most demanding, exhilarating, and beautiful forms of climbing. Waterfall ice is a wonderfully varied medium, it can form in sheets, smears, pillars, bulges, grooves, icicles, roofs, cones, chandeliers and cauliflowers. It can also range in hardness from concrete to ice cream and is never the same from week to week and season to season.

Luckily for us, the geography and climate of the Canadian Rockies is perfect for frozen waterfalls, making it home to the best concentration of big, classic ice climbs in the world. The Rockies are the ice climber’s mecca with a wide range of climbing possibilities for frozen fun and adventure.

With adventure does come risk: sharp tools, falling ice, unstable formations, storms, and frigid temperatures are some of the hazards for the ice climber. One of the main things that keeps people from trying ice climbing is the cold or rather the thought of being cold and the the discomfort that comes with it. However as Will Gadd has said, “Being cold is not a mandatory ice climbing experience; suffering is a failure in planning and systems.”

There are three important factors for staying warm: stay dry, stay fed & hydrated and plan ahead. Planning ahead means just that , anticipating what the conditions will be in the near future and adjusting for them. Staying dry means keeping your clothes and skin moisture free. If you are well hydrated you will stay warmer and be happier, drink warm water or other fluids.

The dreaded “screaming barfies” (the unpleasant experience when blood flows back into cold hands and the feeling of wanting to simultaneously scream and barf occurs) can be avoided when ice climbing. Most people ice climbing wear gloves that are too heavy and just get filled with sweat. Also, thick, snug gloves can cause even a small amount of constriction that will decrease circulation. If your hands are dry and your core is warm, you won't get screaming barfies. Your core temperature is what determines your hand warmth when you are moving, not the amount of insulation. If you let your core temperature drop when belaying and then wear sweat soaked or thick gloves when you start to climb, you will definitely get the barfies. It is best to bring warm mitts, a warm belay jacket and a couple pairs of lighter Windstopper style of gloves for climbing.

Along with clothing to keep you warm and toasty there is a fair bit of gear that is needed for ice climbing: helmet, harness, boots, crampons, ice tools. Getting decked out with all this gear can be an expensive proposition; luckily almost all of the gear you need can be rented. It is often best to rent when first getting into ice climbing as it allows to try different types of gear. The gear for ice climbing, such as the ice tools become an extension of your body and it is best to find what works best for you and learn its intricacies before making a purchase decision.

So, how hard is ice climbing you may ask? Well, ice is difficult to grade accurately because it is constantly changing over the course of a season and even sometimes from morning to afternoon. Early season is usually thin and poorly bonded to the rock and these conditions can sometimes be the most demanding. As the season goes on the bottom of the climbs get fatter and so often the overall steepness decreases. Busy climbs can get chopped out creating easy axe holds and footsteps that take a difficult climb down to a beginner’s level. In the morning a climb can be brittle and strenuous but by afternoon it could be plastic or it could be plastic in the morning and slushie in the afternoon as the sun hits the ice.

Despite all these things, there is a rating system that rates water ice (WI) on a scale of 1 to 8.

• WI1 is solid, thick, low angle ice that would be easy to climb with one ice tool and crampons. This rarely gets used just like 5.1 in rock climbing.
• WI2 is rambling low-angle ice that will require a rope, especially for beginners.
• WI3 is where technical climbing begins and may have short steps of near vertical ice (about a body length) and longer sections of 50-70 degree ice.
• WI4 has a short bit of vertical ice or a longer pitch of 75-80 degrees and most beginners can top-rope but leading is now serious.
• WI5 has long sections of vertical ice so it can be technical and pumpy and may have funky ice that finding reliable screw placements may be difficult at times.
• WI6 is overhanging mushrooms, bad placements, very thin ice, free-hanging daggers, technical and brutally continuous. Only very experienced, fit climbers lead this rating.
• WI7 & WI8....lets just say it starts to get real scary with horrendous protection placements and the concern that it could all come tumbling down at anytime. Risks on ice climbs often increase with difficulty because the ice gets more precarious and difficult to protect.

Even though there are ratings, they are sometimes difficult to figure out , luckily ice routes are easier to assess from below than rock routes. This lets you see what you are getting yourself into (a WI4 route can feel like WI3 by mid-season after it has been chopped out).

There is not much left to get introduced into ice climbing except the technique. Ice climbing is not rock climbing. The technique involves the swing, the kick and linking them together. Rock climbers with less ice experience can get pumped on WI4+ more than they could on 5.12 rock and some ice climbers that send the hardest routes can barely climb rock harder than 5.10. The only way to learn and practice the technique for ice climbing is to get on the ice.

To get out on the ice to learn the technique, build some confidence and cruise up some ice routes while shedding fears, join us on the Section beginner ice climbing weekend, Choppers. The Choppers weekend takes place every February and we will have you going from absolute beginner to smoothly climbing WI3 with style.

The reward of a good ice climb is enormous, and I look forward to climbing with you at Choppers.

Ice climbing with my GoPro helmet camera at Bear Spirit Crag. Jan 2012.

Mark climbing the ice curtain at Bear Spirit Crag in Banff National Park.

If you have any questions about ice climbing or the Choppers weekend, I will be happy to answer them in the comments section.

Adventure Racing in Saskatoon

by Howard Hemingson

Race Director

This summer saw the ACC Sask Section and Prairie Dog Racing hosting two adventure races in Saskatoon. The Urban Adventure Race was held on Saturday, June 11 and the Gopher Chase was held on Saturday, September 17.

This was my third year organizing the Urban AR, which has been occurring off an on for the past decade or so. The Urban Adventure Race is a rogaine-styled race during which teams have a set time to find as many checkpoints (CPs) as they can. The race was based out of Gabriel Dumont Park, which is located on the East side of the river in Saskatoon. I had hoped for a canoe leg this year, but it was not to be since the river level was way too high. Twenty-three racers making up ten teams entered the race. Entries were lower this year, but I’m blaming the Bridge City Boogie, with its 6000+ entries, that was the next day.

The race started off with a 2 hr running leg which sent teams looking for CPs along the East riverbank, in the neighbourhoods of Exhibition, Buena Vista, and Nutana, and downtown. There were several strong running teams in this race with one team (Interrobang!?) reaching all of the running CPs and several others only missing only one CP. Teams then started a 2 hr bike leg that took them North to the trails in Sutherland Beach and along Whiteswan Dr. The bike leg proved to be more difficult than the running leg, since fewer CPs were reached.

Team Interrobang (Scott Theede, Kyle Gunderson) built on their lead and went on to win the race. Krat’s O’Shay (Jay Stark, Sheri Stark) finished second, which makes three podium finishes in row for them. Third place went to Strueby Sandwich (Shanna Strueby, Drew Bell), and Drew continued his tradition of losing a place due to accrued time penalties :-) .

The inaugural Gopher Chase adventure race was held in the fall. I’m hoping the Gopher Chase will be a stepping stone for bringing the Prairie Pitch back. The Gopher Chase was a point to point race with running, biking, and paddling and was meant to take between 7 to 9 hrs. Unfortunately, I've never organized a race like this before and the winning time was 9 ½ hrs. Some teams were unable to do the last running leg (I think some were OK with that). The race was based out of Victoria Park and had 11 teams consisting of 25 racers (there was even a solo racer!).

The race started with teams biking to the Arts tower on the U of S campus where they had to run to the top floor. They then continued on bike to the West riverbank on the North end of the city, where a repel challenge was set-up on the river bluff. From there, they biked back to the U of S campus where they did a trail run along the river. Teams then biked around campus and then returned to Victoria Park. From Victoria Park, teams paddled downstream, going ashore at the Bessborough for an obstacle course challenge, and then returned to Victoria Park. Racers then biked up to the Sutherland Beach trails and then through the city’s Northeast neighbourhoods. The racers then completed a mini-orienteering challenge in the Varsity View area before biking back to Victoria Park. The second paddle stage then took the racers upstream to the South Train Bridge and back. At this point, the race turned out to be much longer than planned and so the last leg was varied for some teams. The top two teams proceeded on foot to Diefenbaker Park where they played a few rounds of disc golf and then they ran back to the finish at Victoria Park. The next group of teams traveled to Diefenbaker Park on bike, while the last group of teams got an early head start on the post race BBQ!

Team Carbon Fibre (Barret Dunbar, Scott Theede) won the inaugural Gopher Chase, and this was Scott’s second win this summer! Dribzz (Geoff Meinert, Dan Guenther) came in second, while Lion’s Roar (Kristen Seimens, Andrew Jahsen) were third.

All in all, the Gopher Chase was a success. I had a few set backs, primarily making the race too long, but the racers didn’t appear to mind too much (or at least they complained behind my back). The paddle stages and the challenges, especially the repel were highlights for a lot of people.

Results from these two races can be found on the ACC Sask website and pictures can be found here. Planning is already underway for the 2012 race season, with the Urban Adventure Race and the Gopher Chases both returning. A winter race is also in the works and will coincide with Wintershine Festival this February.

See you on the trails!

Mountain Film Festival - January 16, 2012

Some, but definitely not all, of the films set for the two and a half-hour show coming to Saskatoon on January 16th, 2012 , are described below. As always, there is the possibility that the lineup can change based on recommendations from the Banff Centre. We usually also include some shorter clips in the lineup as time permits. Keep in mind that our contract with the Banff Centre imposes strict limits on how many minutes of video we are allowed to show, otherwise we would probably just keep the entertainment going on all night :-)

• On The Trail of Genghis Khan (Adventure, exploration, culture)
  • People’s Choice Award
  • Australia, 2011, 46 minutes
  • Classification: General
  • On an epic journey of truly historic proportions, Australian Tim Cope, his band of horses, and his dog Tigon travel overland 10,000 km from Mongolia to Hungary, following the footsteps of legendary warrior and nomad Genghis Khan. Cope visits distant parts of the world rarely seen, places on the cusp of modernity yet proud of nomadic traditions. The Last Frontier captures the culmination of his stunning three-year journey, the crossing of the Carpathian Mountains.

• Seasons: Fall (Kayaking)
  • USA, 2010, 4 minutes each
  • Classification: General
  • Fall: Deep canyons with steep, spring-fed creeks provide Kate Wagner with a soul-session in this paddling paradise.

• Towers of Ennedi (Rock Climbing)
  • USA, 2011, 14 minutes
  • Classification: General – coarse language
  • The Ennedi Desert of Chad is a hot, sand-scoured and unfriendly place. But from its vast belly rise clusters of breathtakingly lovely spires, towers, and rock formations. Veteran climber Mark Synnott – known more for his far-flung adventures than his technical accomplishments – brings young climbing stars Alex Honnold and James Pearson to the Ennedi to explore its untouched landscapes.

Cold (Mountaineering)

• Grand Prize
• Best Film
• USA, 2011, 19 minutes
• Classification: Parental guidance – coarse language
• Experience Gasherbrum II in the middle of a deep, dark winter as seen from the raw, honest perspective of alpinist Cory Richard’s camera. This film deftly captures the interwoven roles of pain, fear, and doubt – and reveals a harrowing descent that amplifies their isolation and exposure.

Tickets should be available by mid-December. Information about prices and where to buy your tickets is available on our website.

People attending the Film Festival should be aware that some videos may be rated Parental Guidance and/or may contain Coarse Language.

Avalanche Transceivers - Recommendations from the Safety Committee

The Safety Committee of the Alpine Club of Canada recommends to the Board of Directors the adaptation of the following policy:

• Participants on all mountaineering, skiing and ice climbing trips, camps and courses of the Alpine Club of Canada in avalanche terrain are required to use a modern avalanche transceiver, as recommended by the Canadian Avalanche Centre. Recommended avalanche transceivers are digital, multi-antenna transceivers; analog and single-antenna transceivers are no longer acceptable. This policy becomes effective with the winter avalanche season 2011/2012, as of November 1, 2011.
• ACC members are advised to take note of the manufacturer’s recommendations for the expected useful service life of avalanche transceivers.
• ACC members are encouraged to upgrade avalanche transceivers to digital, three antenna models such as the Tracker 2, Ortovox 3+, Barryvox/ Mammut Pulse, Pieps DSP…;digital, two-antenna beacons (Tracker DTS, Ortovox X1…) are still acceptable.
• ACC members are also advised that the usefulness of any transceiver depends on the familiarity of the user with the transceiver. Regular practice throughout the season is strongly recommended.