A winter story - ice climbing in Canada
19 March 2019
My winter has been incredible, full of travels and adventures in various places around the world where it’s possible to practice ice climbing.
I was lucky to have been invited to the Bozeman Ice Festival, one of the largest gatherings of American ice climbers held in Bozeman Montana (USA). There I met all the best American climbers: Conrad Anker, Anne Gilbert Chase, Chantal Astorga… It has been very nice seeing the American communities meeting ours, as well as participating to the multiple ice clinics, film screenings and day climbings together with these local legends.
CANADA ICE CLIMBING
At the beginning of January I left the USA, travelling to Canada to climb in one of the most interesting places in the world for the ice falls: the Canadian central-west area, just between Alberta and British Columbia. There I spent 10 days, climbing some of the most beautiful ice falls I’ve ever seen.
Our base camp was the small town of Canmore, not far from the famous tourist town of Banff and Lake Louise. From there we had so many destinations to choose from!
To the south, the famous Ghost Valley with its continental climate and its large forests and frozen meadows surrounded by large calcareous walls from which the ice falls flow and form.
The atmosphere there is mystical. The iced-waterfalls rise up to the sky like thin white lines on large rocks; all around everything is frozen: the rivers, the lakes, and air too. Surprisingly, there’s no snow.
In the Ghost Valley the waterfalls are legendary and their names are well-known: "Hydrophobia", "the Sorcerer", "Cryophobia". These vertical walls have an aura that cannot be found anywhere else in the world.
Not far from the Ghost Valley there are the Kananaskis mountains, where, once again, the great wild nature offers a unique stage where wolves, bears and deer are the main actors.
In this area I will always remember the fabulous "White man" - a giant 100 meter tube located at the bottom of a large gorge - the "Redman" waterfall that stands out from this canyon and the "Amadeus" waterfall.
During this trip I didn't make it to climb to the west in British Columbia as there was too much snow in January. Nevertheless, I was able to climb the famous "Weeping Wall as it was well protected from avalanches. Actually, the best months to climb safely in this area are November or December.
I came back from this journey with great memories, other than a new light in my eyes. I will always remember those stunning climbing days in the Ghost valley and that fairy-tale night when I was returning from the great “Hydrophobia”, certainly one of my best moments of this trip.
I was completely surrounded by the wild nature: the cold night was illuminated by my frontal lights, the grass meadows covered with snow and paw prints of wild animals. The sky was stunningly full of stars. I could hear far away a pack of wolves howling….
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