Yo! Just an update on Jorg's post from a few days back.
Had a good day up on Bow Falls yesterday, despite some fairly nasty conditions. Temps were good within a degree or two of -5* all day. Winds aloft and in the surrounding area were reasonably calm all day, but we got a pretty good pummeling from the downdrafts (moderate to strong gusts all day) being sent down off the Wapta Icefields that sit right above the falls. Lot's and lot's of spindrift, my hood came off all day, and the gore-tex froze solid a few times. The ice isn't in the greatest shape right now, and it felt like it definitely slowed us down a bit on the way up. Lot's of aerated sections through the first pitch but still easy enough to get descent full length screws. Had to really clean to get a good anchor at the top of the first pitch. The second pitch, a line just right of the middle of the falls, was pretty delicate, with very thin sections of delaminated ice covered over with a thin skin or shell, the "good" ice underneath, being no more than about 10cm's thick. Lot's of delicate cleaning to get through it, and maybe one or two good screws on the pitch. On the top out on the right side I also ran into a small patch of hanging snow, that if starts to tighten up with a bit more wind would probably want to pop out of there, just a heads up. Topping out on the left hand side looked like it would be a better option if you could weave a line into it. The line we did would probably be solid WI4+.
Lot's a folks out climbing the short single pitch stuff down and right of the falls too yesterday, looks like the place to be for early season ice cragging - looked like a lot of cool stuff to do, and like Jorg said probably plenty for the WI3 - 5 climbers, be a fun day out!
That's it for now, guess it's game on - have fun and be safe!
Ciao.
Mike Trehearne
ACMG Assistant Alpine Guide.
m_trehearne@hotmail.com