Fat & thin ice

So today we climbed at the Junkyards, near the power plants. Does not sound like a very exciting scenery, does it? Well if you think away the power lines and stuff, it's ok.


After the 3 pitches of easy fat ice, I choose a line with thin ice to lead. It didn't look that bad, with just enough thicker spots to drive in some (short) ice screws. My ice axes didn't agree. Still used to the very thick and - due to the cold - britle ice, I whacked my ice axe a bit too hard on a spot where the rock was much closer than I thought, what resulted in some little sparks and the need for a file session.

I learned my lesson quickly and switched to a gentle thin ice climbing style, almost drytooling on ice... and on rock. At the end of the pitch the ice stopped, leaving me nothing else but some rock to hook on my tools, and yeah my last gear was some meters below me. Thrilling!
I don't even remember whether that last ice screw was screwed in completely and on a solid spot of ice, as indeed not all of them were. Sometimes gear placement is more of a morale thing.

Even in Canada - or especially in Canada - I meet people I know! Sean Isaac is the one who brought us the idea of ice climbing in Canada, and he was guiding a couple of beginners at the Junkyard today. He lives in Canmore if I'm right. He wrote "See you in Canada!" in my copy of his book about mixed climbing, mission completed I suppose!?

We went to drink coffee in the Bagel Shop after climbing, not for the coffee, but for the free wireless Internet. I think this will become our daily stopover now, but maybe I will switch to hot chocolate tomorrow. And the place closes at 6pm, so we will only be able to post our stuff if we are back from climbing in time. But just as before, we write our stuff offline and post it later.