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Ice Climbing is Game On in the Canadian Rockies

A possible new ice/mixed line on the north face of Temple and Storm Creek is good to go

Photo by: Chris Petrauskas of a possible new Temple line

The Canadian Rockies are a world-class ice climbing destination with hundreds of five-star ice and and mixed lines spread across countless ranges.

Over the past few weeks, a handful of those established ice and mixed lines have formed, as well as a few news ones.

Storm Creek, which has risen to popularity over the past few years thanks to the early-to-form ice, already has a number of climbs in, including Shocking Alternative.

Local Jon Walsh said that the classic Scar Tissue is forming nicely. Other lines that have been climbed include Xena, Cosban and Buddha Nature. For a topo to the wall and history visit here.

A long new route was climbed on Mount Whyte over 430 metres at AI3 M4 by Sebastian Taborszky, Austin Goodine and Paul Taylor. Taborszky added a description to the open-for-all-to-use Rockies Ice and Mixed forum here, that said, “We continued to the summit and right when topping out we witnessed massive serac fall from Lefroy. Two days later, while coming to investigate a variation, we ran from avalanches and got dusted, hence the name, Whyte Noise.”

This week, Chris Petrauskas, Taylor Sullivan climbed “a beautiful six- to 10-pitch” new route on the north face of Mount Temple above the town of Lake Louise.

Petrauskas shared the news and said, “It seems too much of a striking line to not have been climbed before, in which case we’d love to know more info re this great route. Then again, possibly it’s been newly formed through changing serac activity?”

The huge serac above the north face of Temple, where the classic The Greenwood/Jones climbs, is constantly changing, with huge chunks falling off each summer. The serac has been climbed in the past via a summer rock route, but as far as we’re concerned, it’s never been climbed via a pure ice/mixed line. They graded it WI3/4+R M3/4+R. If you have any information on the route, visit here.

We’ll be continuing our weekly ice climbing updates starting in November. For a look back at last winter, visit here. Below is a new-for-October 2021 video of Canmore climber Quentin Roberts on the famous Haffner route Caveman M10.

Quentin Roberts sending Caveman M10

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Lead photo: Chris Petrauskas of a possible new Temple line