Rockies Ice Specialists

Aaron Black (Beyond Gravity) releases the climbing film “No Permanent Address”
Which documents the first ascent of a 23 pitch climb up of one of Canada’s most imposing faces. Sean Easton (yes, the Rockies Ice Specialist) and Aaron Black team up for the first ascent of “Call of the Granite” 5.12 A1 2700ft located in the Eldrid Valley of British Columbia. The film highlights life on and off the rock, showing the tricks of survival in the real, inspiring, and sometimes shocking world of the modern climber”
Good Family Entertainment…

No Permanent Address -Link-

This is being presented Sat. Jan 7th at the Vision Climbing Gym in Canmore.
Its bound to be a fun nite of good stories and psyched climbers, maybe with some bouldering mixed in.
BTW, thats my girlfriend and her cool cranking climbing buddies.

Check out the visions website for directions.
VisonGym

Out of clutter, find simplicity.

From discord, find harmony.

In the middle of difficulty, lies opportunity.

———- Albert Einstein

Well, this could be the best example of a top notch guiding service I have come across yet. Accomplished cast of rad climbers and guides offering custom high end alpine climbing trips. Plenty of good advice contained in the sites pages as well.
If I ever need a guide in Europe this is who I’m gonna call…

AlpineGuides

Got a 5am start this morning (Dec 22nd) hopeing to climb in Field (where temps. were forecast to be cooler than elsewhere) However, a forecast is only that, and actually temps hovered at -2, with a suspected inversion (warmer temps. at higher alt.), a light, light drizzle, high winds only yesterday (with a skier triggered avie. 1.5 by Sherbrooke lake) along with feelings of general maliase made me wish I hadn’t rolled out of bed so eagerly and early. Temps. were even warmer up on the Parkway, making the Seven Pillars feel like an unreasonable alternative for the day. The climbs we were interested in were in avalanche terrian, so we pulled the pin on the day. At least we got a free coffee out of the day from our good buds Larry and Grant over at Lagans. (sounds like they had a similar experience) Steve headed to Calgary to buy an $80.00 casual yet dressy shirt, and I had yet another cup of coffee and then went back to bed.
The forecast for the next few days sure is a mixed bag of unsettled and uncertain conditions for the Rocky Mountains. The snowpack has a few layers of concern at present, and I for one will be playing it conservatively until I see what mother nature throws down and how it all sorts out. New snowfall depth, wind speed , and temperatures are some of the key elements to keep your eye on through this cycle. There are lots of iceclimbs with no or minimal avie. hazard to play around on.
Check in with the CAA bulletin and the ACMG MCR forum regularly for valuable info.

CAA
ACMG Mountain Conditions Report

Alpinist has a short slideshow on an ice route that Eamon Walsh, Craig Mcgee and myself found on the N.W. summit of Waddington this summer. In JULY actually, 10 pitches of fat water ice, what a sweet score no? This is such an amazing range, in the same trip we were able to climb south facing granite rock off the Tiedeman glacier, in rockshoes windbreakers, and then up on Wadd. wintery alpine conditions were found.
Can’t wait to get back there.

AlpinistSlideshow Click Here
Then click on the slides at the bottom of the page for the story

A climber on a long pitch on a mixed route clips to a piece of
pro, looks ahead at the crux, and calls down to the belay: “I don’t have any
friends, I need another screw, and my nuts are too small”!

If you consider it a sport to gather your food by drilling through 36 inches of ice and sitting there all day hoping that the food will swim by, you may live in Alberta.
If your local Dairy Queen is closed from September through May, you may live in Alberta.
If you instinctively walk like a penguin for six months out of the year, you may live in Alberta.
If you have worn shorts and a parka at the same time, you may live in Alberta.

YOU KNOW YOU ARE A TRUE Albertan when:

1. “Vacation” means going South past Calgary for the weekend.
2. You measure distance in hours.
3. You know several people who have hit a deer more than once.
4. You often switch from “heat” to “A/C” in the same day and then back again.
5. You can drive 110 kph through 2 feet of snow during a raging blizzard, without flinching.
6. You design your kid’s Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit.
7. Driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with snow.
8. You know all 4 seasons: almost winter, winter, still winter and road construction.
9. Your idea of creative landscaping is a statue of a deer next to your blue spruce.
10. Down South to you means Calgary…
11. Your 1st of July picnic was moved indoors due to frost.
12. You have more miles on your snow blower than your car.
13. You find 0 degrees “a little chilly.”
1 4. You actually understand these jokes, and you forward them to all your Alberta friends

No one is really sure what happened up there that day, some people say this photo was taken after climbing eight hundred feet of ice in the dark only to find out the crux pitch had fallen down the nite before, some say this scream was let loose when he found out there were no more pepperoni sticks left, but I think it was because…he had to go to work the next day…

Your tool gets away from you.