Monthly Archive for January, 2009

High and Dry

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admin-julianiles
on January 27, 2009
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Sean and I headed up to Roger’s Pass on Monday trying to catch a perfect day. The stability had improved miraculously from the weeks before when size 4 avalanches were ripping across the road making it difficult to keep the highway open for more than a few hours at a time. It had warmed so much and then froze again locking down the week layers. The weather was meant to be mild and bluebird. We met Ross, our old roomate, up there. We were a half hour late, he was hung over, and it was minus 25 degrees, but still we mustered up the psych to make high goals for ourselves. A healthy 6,000 foot climb and excellent 40 degree ski descent of Roger’s Peak somehow morphed into an attempt at the North couloir of Swiss. This is a gem of the range. A continuous descent all the way to the valley complete with a steep climb up a SE couloir and no-falls skiing.

We had a bit of a problem though, we were not sure which couloir on Swiss led to the entrance to the North shot we were heading for. We tried calling friends and searching on the map, but we were truly left guessing by the time we reached the base.

But we climbed with heart. We kicked steps through the glassy crust all the way laughing about how great it was that we did not have to ski down this in such condition. The north side would be much better.

I trudged up the final steps. Staying far away from the cornice overhanging the steep north side, I scrambled up on some rocks on the right.

“We’re too far right!” I yelled down. Still undefeated, Ross climbed up the opposite side, looking for a way in- but it was all steep rock below. We lingered, discussing rappelling in with our 30 meter rope, traversing into the couloir, or just anything. But alas, it was hopeless. We, through lack of planning, were fated to skiing glass with little pebbles of ice on it. ICK! There is always a bright side though: the sun was still shining, and the slope was not about to slide.

Turns out, after doing my “homework,” that the correct ascent is published on Greg Hill’s website in perfect clarity. It was the couloir just to the left of the one we climbed.

We did not ski the gnar, but we definitely found some good snow on the way down. And now, next time we have 6,000+ feet of approaching in us, we will know the way.

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Sun Baked

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admin-julianiles
on January 27, 2009
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Belaying on Forbidden Corner

Belaying on Forbidden Corner

It was sweltering. We were dripping sweat hiking to the base of Yamnuska. ALL three of us ran out of water. The temperature was above 30 degrees Celsius most of the day. You would never believe it was January 18th in Canada. But alas, the weather gods showed us some mercy last weekend. Will, Brandon, and I reveled in the feeling of hot rock under our fingertips while we remembered the strange pleasantries of summer.

Its hard to imagine that that was only one week ago- as the temperatures yesterday at Rogers Pass were minus 25 when we left the car a ten o’clock in the morning. But we did not let the heat fool us. We carried our jackets and our gloves up the eleven pitches believing that it was too good to be true.

I had never met Will or Brandon before- so was not quite sure what I was getting into. We were planning on doing four pitch routes up until the very last moment. Suddenly, eleven pitches with two guys I had never tied in with before, in the short days of winter, when obviously none of us had been climbing much, sounding like a huge objective. Nevertheless, I threw my headlamp in my pocket. And really, as the boys made sure to point out, they did not know what they were getting into either- after all, I was a girl.

We wiped the snow off our climbing shoes when we launched- realizing that the nuts were still in the car. It was my first time climbing on Yamnuska, but from what I could tell, the limestone was probably a good type of rock to not forget the nuts. But it was hard to get too worried about anything in such perfect weather- so we charged on. Then I realized that none of us had sunscreen. We were going to be in direct sunlight all day- and the rays were already piercing at nine o’clock in the morning.

Somehow, the sunshine erased all of our worries allowing us to climb as if it were the 32nd day of Rocktober. We laughed at the belays, heckled the leaders, and made phone calls to our friends to brag about our solarium. We were making excellent time until Brandon’s rope got stuck in a crack causing such sever rope drag that it took every ounce of strength and fierce effort to lower back to the belay. Poor Will was hauling up his pack the whole climb being sure to avoid having to post hole with a recently injured ankle in running shoes. We were all hot, out of water, and feeling the effects of the epic January sun. But, after pulling it back together, we raced to the summit where finally there was a bit of a breeze to cool us off.

Apparently, nuts are superfluous to Forbidden Corner, the cracks are superb- and if you climb it in January, be prepared for some serious post-holing to get back to your stuff.

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