First Time Ice Climbing

This past weekend I tagged along on an ACC trip and went ice climbing for my first time!  I'd been wanting to try for a while and this seemed like a good chance to do that.  Although the trip was officially on the ACC schedule, it was practically full before it even was released.  Luckily, JP was leading it so I managed to snag a spot early.

I drove down with Chris and Damon on Friday and we got to the Shunda Creek hostel pretty quick.  Everybody showed up and soon the group chemistry got going.  A bunch of friends in a hostel, and one crazy french guy to spawn numerous jokes meant that we were a relatively loud group!  Saturday we went to Balfour Wall along the parkway, just south of Saskatchewan River Crossing.  A short hike in brought us to the waterfalls.  As soon as I saw them, I was stoked.  Top ropes were set up and soon enough I was headed up my first pitch of ice!  It was a bit scary and surprisingly different from rock climbing.  The more I climbed, the more I liked it.  Eventually I even managed to head up the WI 4 on the extreme left side of the wall.  It was fun, taxing and exciting all together, but with quite a few takes for me.

Kevin leading up the WI 2 which ended up being my first climb.

The drive back to the hostel was a pretty nasty one, heavy snowfall meant that we drove down the highway between 40 and 60 kph, keeping a tire on the rumble strip.  We got back though, and soon tore into some pasta, garlic bread, salad and great desert.  Oh we also had 11 bottles of wine between the 9 of us.  We went for a quick dip in the hot tub and then hurried off to bed.

Sunday dawned cold and clear.  We decided to head to Owen Creek and see how long we could endure the cold.  This venue was a little different in the way that we hung out above the falls and lowered in to climb them.  Once the sun peeked out, the area warmed up a bit.  I still climbed while wearing everything piece of clothing in my possession.  Once we had all had our share, we headed back to the hostel, picked up the ladies and drove back home.

Damon (bottom) and Dave (top) climbing in Owen Creek

What an awesome weekend with a great group of people!  It was a sweet time just hanging around, climbing and having pure fun.  I really hope I can get out a few more weekends with the gang, I sure enjoyed this trip!  Thanks to JP and Dave for leading the trip, and Kevin for bravely leading a lot of ice!