Author on Icy BC

So, after several weeks of knee recovery and a quick snowshoe trip to test out the stability and equate the distance to pain ratio it was time to start winter. After a bout of increasingly common sea-level snowfall and then record rains and floods hear in Western Washington, it was about time to get out to cold climates where precipitation came in the form of light and dry powder snow. Maybe all this global climate change with it's extreme weather events isn't so bad after all, especially if this climber friendly cycle of warming, raining, and then extreme cold never lets up.

Getting home after 10pm on Friday from my company Christmas party made the wakeup time of 2:30am sound especially unappealing. Jens and Eric where headed up with their girlfriends even earlier than we were, so at least we knew there were others that would be in worse shape. I crawled out of bed and washed down the weak feeling of a mild hangover from drinking some of the free alcohol that is always a highlight of my employer's events. I made a quick phone call to remind myself of the location of our meeting point and was out the door by 2:50am. I was the last one there when I rolled up fifteen minutes later. We all made haste in loading up my rig and were off no more that ten minutes after my arrival. Speed is safety.

A later discussion our route of Approach made us keen to the fast that we took what amounted to the "scenic" route up the Duffey Lake Road, north of Whistler, BC. The stops for breakfast and road conditions made the 7+ hour ride that much longer, but as we drove further down the "Duffey" the glimpse of ice on the cliffs hanging made any prospect of sleep pretty distant. We pulled into the plowed out parking area across from The Rambles climbing area right at 11am and immediately headed up the opposite hillside to the base of the climb with numb hands and a distorted mindset of the outside air temperature.

"How cold do you think it is guys?"

"Its probably pretty close to zero"

Later, we learned the high had barely reached the positive mark in Fahrenheit in town, which made our elevated position easily in the negative teens.

Jens on Dihedral

We climbed up three lower pitches of Rambles and Stewart did a lap on the fourth as Pat and I passed since I was already pretty wiped and it was getting late. It was obvious that my fitness level was dramatically lower than it was near the end of summer and my enjoyment of the ice was definitely suffering.

We made the three rappels back to the ground and reach the base right at headlamp time and gathered our gear we had left there. It was a quick, yet slightly painful trek back down to the cars as the thick ice crust from the warm rain of a week earlier had made for the perfect leg-breaking conditions. Only after a few mild outbursts of profanity did we make it back to the car and load back up for the last leg of the drive into Lillooet.

Fortunately the last few kilometers went quickly and uneventfully, and we pulled into our slated accommodations for the evening to see an empty parking lot. Except for the other Washington climbing foursome, there was not another car in the lot. So, the negotiations started and we ended up with a nice room with a kitchenette for the price of a single room. Winter time in the small towns of BC do not attract a whole lot of tourism, so we are always a welcome sight when we come to small towns such as Lillooet and Mt. Curry.

The ritual of hanging wet gear in the hotel room to dry proceeded with marked post-haste, and then all seven of us decided on a place for dinner for the evening. After some great food, and a not so great outcome of "Credit Card Roulette", we were off the Reynolds Bar to finish off the evening with some suds, my wallet that much lighter. Some rather dexterous drunk dodging and pool shark sandbagging ended the evening on a high note, even though I seemed to be rooting for the wrong hockey team showing on their plasma screens.

With a solid 8 hours of sleep, I nearly gave Stewart and I a coronary when the alarm went off and 6:55am to some extremely harmful auditory racket from the hotel provided alarm clock. It really did not seem that loud when I set it the night before, but then again that was after a day of sleep deprivation and a night involving at least three pitchers. Feeling rested and relaxed, we cleared out the hotel and headed back the Reynolds for a nice Greasy breakfast to stoke the fire for the day.

Eric on Deeping Wall

At 9:00am we were on the road to Marble Canyon, which offers several climbs with a fifteen minute approach. On the way, we were glued to the windshield as large flows of frozen water filled the steep valley on either side of the road cut. As we neared the parking area for the canyon, we noted that it looked as though the ice was fairly thin and we maybe in for a skunked day. Not too mention, the lake up valley of the one we must cross was decidedly not fully frozen as the surface ripples indicated. We pulled into the parking lot and I made a quick foray to the lake to make sure the ice was frozen.

Regardless, we packed up and I started out across the frozen lake with much trepidation. The thick ice crust over the powder that was banging our shins the day before now was not only causing physical pain, but mental anguish as well. This crust was just thick enough to make that gut wrenching sound that cracking ice makes right before you are baptized in severely sub-freezing water. Fortunately, mind tricks was the only thing this lake had in store for us.

Stewart on Icy BC

Upon reaching the base of the lower tier of the climbing area, it was obvious that we were all in store for a stellar workout. Though the ice was in obvious early season conditions, there was plenty of ice to climb between the seven of us. We promptly setup top-ropes on some of the harder routes and proceeded to bash the ice to our hearts content. Milking the winter solstice daylight for a second day, we were required to make another headlamp equipped deproach back to the vehicles.

Driving back to Seattle was much shorter and the road conditions, though less than perfect, were much more manageable than the "Duffey". This brought our one-way road time down to six and a half hours which included a nice one hour sit down dinner in Hope, BC. Jens claimed a sub 5 hour drive for himself, so it seems that there should be a few ways to shorten that a bit more. Maybe next time, stopping for breakfast can be substituted for cold turkey sandwiches at the car. On the other hand, hot grease in the early hours of twilight always makes for a good last meal, too.