Early Season Ice Accidents Remind Us To Play Safe

One close call and one accident resulting in numerous injuries are reminders to play safe this winter. 

On Murchison Falls WI4+ on the Icefields Parkway, two climbers were rappelling at the end a day last week. On the final rappel, one climber forgot to clip into the anchor and leaned back. He took both ropes with him and landed some 30 metres below, forcing his partner to down-climb the first pitch. The fallen climber broke a leg, punctured a lung and suffered other injuries. Due to the remoteness of the climb and lack of cell phone coverage, his partner had to carry him to the road. A long day, but both men made it home. The injured climber has started the long road to recovery.

On Nov. 15, climbers were top-roping one of the left-hand mixed routes at Haffner Creek in B.C. When transferring onto the upper hanging ice curtain, they accidentally knocked the entire dagger off. The accident could have been deadly if anyone was under the ice.

Due to the high volume of traffic at mixed crags and an unusually warm year, most routes have not formed to the size they often do. This means climbers must move gently through unformed curtains. An old practice is to kick potentially dangerous ice off while on rappel to prevent sudden collapses.

Despite the urge to jump on routes this time of year, sometimes the best thing to do is wait until things freeze up more.

Be sure to check your local ice climbing conditions page (Rockies, Ontario, Coast, Quebec, New England) and the avalanche conditions across Canada here. For a relatively accurate forecast for specific mountains and ranges, visit Mountain Forecast here. A good resource in the Rockies for up-to-date information is Kananaskis Country Public Safety here and Parks Mountain Safety here. There have already been big snow falls and large avalanches. Play safe this winter.

Ice Climbing Safety Tips from ClimbingTechTips.com on Vimeo.