Guinness Gully

January 17 - We went to Kananaskis and climbed Chantilly Falls. A nice easy climb, perfect for my second time out. A great place to learn more about ice climbing. We then drove out to Field to stay with friends.

January 18 - We slept in a bit, then leasurly packed our bags and headed off to climb Guinness Gully. It was -25C, and I had no idea how long this climb was going to take, I figured a few hours at best, well I was wrong.





















Domhnall got everything ready, and started up the first pitch. At least there wasn't any wind as it was really cold.




The second pitch went well, but I got tired on the third pitch, and just couldn't continue. So Domhnall lowered me down, and we rappelled down to the bottom where we had left our packs. We had only had a few snacks along the way for the entire day and no water, so we were almost out of energy. We were most of the way back home, long after dark when we ran into his friends who were heading out to look for us.
















January 19- We headed off to Bow summit for a day of skiing, but all we could manage was to skin up once, and ski down. We were still tired from our efforts from yesterday. Plus the snow wasn't all that great...so it was an easy decision to head back to Field to spend the day in front of the wood stove.

Wasootch Slabs

October 7- I made plans with Domhnall to do what I thought would be some hiking in the Bow Valley, but he had other plans. I picked him up at 8am, after he had worked all night, and loaded up all his gear. I should have been suspicious when I saw everything he was loading up into the truck. We headed off to the Kananaskis area, and went to a small one pitch crag where he proceeded to teach me how to rock climb. After several hours there, we drove the back way into Canmore. On the way it started to snow.

October 8- We got up early and headed off to the Wasootch Slabs. This is a perfect place for a beginer climber. The approach is all of 5 minutes and the slabs have numerous bolted climbs. So after a bit more of a lesson, we headed up, with Domhnall leading the pitches.

The weather was good, and we had a great time climbing.

Later on in the afternoon, we decided that I should try my first lead. I had already seconded the pitch, but even though I was familiar with it, leading it was a whole different ballgame. Domhnall was encouraging, and eventually I made it up to the top. What a great feeling.

October 9 - The next day we went off to do Grey Waves next to Kid Goat. The approach was about 1 hour, around the waste disposal site. This is 3 pitches long, but we did half pitches so that Domhnall could give me advice as I was going up.