Squamish Ice Climbs Form in Arctic Weather

The recent Arctic outflow cold snap brought perfect conditions to Canada’s west coast for several ice climbs to freeze up. While it looks like the sub-zero temps won’t stick around, a handful of lines saw ascents over the past few days.

The biggest flow of water near Squamish is Shannon Falls, which did freeze but not enough for any safe ascents. A photo of the climb was shared on the West Coast Ice form here which led to veteran Squamish climber Matt Maddaloni saying, “I called several parties off a ledge yesterday who wanted to climb it. God damn dangerous route! Please don’t get people stoked on this line unless it is actually FAT and even then waaaay too much water comes down and eventually we will read about someones death. The biggest problem is that it looks really easy, which it is but a hidden danger lurks that young climbers just don’t know about.”

However, ice to the left formed fat and was climbed by several teams. Ice was also climbed at the Smoke Bluffs, Gonzales Wall and at several other crags. The classic WI4 multi-pitch A Scottish Tale, which forms behind The Chief, was also climbed by several parties. “The lower pitches were thin and a little run-out but the upper pitches were in great shape,” said Matt Brooks who travelled to Squamish from Revelstoke to ice climb.

A few years ago, Jia Condon, Paul McSorley, Jason Kruk and Tony Richardson made the first ascent of Ultimate Ultimate Everything up The Chief, watch a video about the climb below.

Ice on The Chief