Mt. Everest 2010 #13

Gabcast! Mt. Everest 2010 #13

This House of Sky

Janet came to pick us up and drove to the Ghost area where we decided to climb This House of Sky.

I just wasn't too sure about this, 12 pitches, 2 creek crossings and 1500' of elevation gain.

As it turned out I was up to it and as usual we had a fabulous day. Sunny skies, with barely a breath of wind and spending the day in the canyon was great. One team ahead of us turned around when one of their team broke through the ice getting on foot wet. Unlucky for him, but he clearly marked for us the area to avoid.

Domhnall and Janet free climbed and they set up a rope to belay me up for most of the pitches. At the end we continued to climb two other pitches.

Domhnall free climbed the first, setting up a belay for Janet and I, then Janet climbed the last pitch.


The three of us after a full day of climbing. Grins all around must mean that we all had a great time.

Snowline

I got up at 4am to pick up Domhnall, and we headed out to the Kaninaskis area for another day of ice climbing. Our destination was the Evan Thompson Creek area where we would decide on the climb once we arrived. There was one other vehicle in the parking lot when we got there. The lead was part ways up Moonbeam, so we set up to climb Snowline which is the line on the right.

It was thin at the bottom, and it was quite a while before Domhnall could place any protection. I felt uncomfortable at the bottom with all the ice falling from the other group. The second pitch was a cold shower, and at the top we were rewarded with a great view.



We quickly got down and headed to do Chantilly Falls. We were here earlier in the season, but it wasn't quite formed at that time. This time it was nice and fat. Domhnall climbed it in one pitch, only placing one ice screw. The ice was great but we were on a schedule so we got up and down as quickly as we could. Another spectacular day.

Elliot Left Hand

Climbing the first two pitches of Elliot left hand. I spent the night in the bivy bag outside while Domhnall slept in the truck. I had a great sleep, and was actually too warm which was good because I was unable to zip up the bivy bag. I just felt too enclosed. We slept in, and took our time in the morning.....so arrived at the site a bit late.

We missed the trail by 20 meters, so we bush whacked for 45 minutes to get to the icefall.

The icefall was spectacular and I had a great day here. We only had time to do the first two pitches as I had to be back in Edmonton for 7pm. The third pitch is the crux, but it will have to wait for another day.


On the way out we found the official trail. Someone has spent significant time cutting through the fallen logs to make a great path. I felt really good today, and the climbing is feeling better.

Two O'Clock Creek

I picked up Domhnall from work at 0730 and we headed out to the Nordeg area to do some climbing. We got to Two o'clock creek at 1030, and headed in. The approach is only about45 minutes on a good trail.....well it would have been good if we had found it. The climbing was good, but I was feeling a bit uncomfortable.

After we got to the top and rappelled down, Domhnall free climbed it. Pretty good for only having had a few hours of sleep on the drive down. We set up for the night at Preacher's Point, Domhnall in the truck while I tried out his bivy bag.