Close Call as Climber Avoids Falling Ice on WI6 – They Bailed

Watch Whiteman Falls collapse as climbers make their way up. It’s a near miss for the climbers, but a great video showing when best to maybe avoid climbing big ice. It’s obvious that it’s a warm day, either early fall or late spring, because of the conditions of the ice. It’s soft and wet, which means the air temps are high.

In the video, you can hear the roar of the water behind the ice. While this is something maybe not too bad on low angle routes, on steep routes it means that very little ice is connected to the rock.

Whiteman Falls is a classic two-pitch WI6 in Kananaskis Country near Calgary. It regularly forms and can be combined with Red Man Soars M6 for a fun day out.

Ice Climb Goes Down