Hidden Valley Climbing...: 2014

Thursday, March 13, 2014

Canada 2014

Another excellent trip to the Icefields in the comfort of the CanaDream RV. Major temperature changes over the week: got down to -41F first night and up to +45-50F by the end of the week on the Upper Weeping Wall! Started out with Melt Out which lived up to it's name. Even with the cold temps there was a fair amount of running water still. Next warm-up was Shades of Beauty a classic multi-pitch Grade 4.

John on the crux last pitch of Shades of Beauty

John on the first pitch of Curtain Call

Curtain Call has been on the list for a while so on day 3 we went for it under clear skies and ideal temps. The second pitch crux was climbing inside the bowels of the pillar that had formed a tube with a several cracked curtains as the walls, topped by a horizontal roof. After a little finagling with screws, an exit through an opening led to the final vertical pillar and the top.
Incredible route.

The snow started to fall as we headed toward the Stanley Headwall. With increasing avalanche conditions and deep snow with no trail caused us to bag that and head back up to the Icefields Parkway.

After a trip up Sniveling Gully (Grade 4 right now) to check out the Upper Weeping Wall we decided to give it a go. Eating, drinking and lounging around for a day, we watched a couple of parties climb it in persistent snow on Thursday and geared up for the attempt on Friday.

Upper Weeping Wall on a snowy day with a couple of parties on it

First pitch Upper Weeping Wall

Friday looked good but with warming temps we decided to get an early start and head up Sniveling again. The route up the left side of the Upper Weeping Wall, Teardrop, seemed to be the route of choice the day prior so we headed up that side.

Turned out to be great, very comfortable belays with reasonable screws most of the way. The crux was the top of the third pitch with a lot of chandeliered and aerated ice and questionable screws.