You can ice climb eight months of the year around Canmore, Alberta. Our guide Pat Delaney of Yamnuska Mountain Adventures tells us there are three places in the world that are the best for Ice Climbing. Norway is one, I can’t remember if it was Russia or somewhere in the Himalayas for his next choice, but who cares because The Canadian Rockies in Alberta are the tops!
Ice Climbing – Alberta Rockies
We had been in Alberta during a particularly cold snap with several days under -20 Celcius for our outdoor ice climbing adventure extravaganza. There wasn’t a doubt in our mind that we’d find big ice to climb. We were just unsure how we and it would react in the mind-numbing cold.
Our friend Jeff Bartlett told us that optimal ice climbing temperatures were about -9 degrees. Mostly because who wants to climb in unbearable weather? But secondly, the ice becomes brittle when the temperature plummets too much. Putting ice screws and steel crampons into ice that dry and cold can chip it away with ease.
Ice Climbing in Canmore
Canmore is located just outside Banff National Park in Alberta between Calgary and Banff. And when you go ice climbing here, you’ll be climbing with the best mountaineers in the world!
We were in good hands. Our guide Pat is a professional climber with over 20 years of experience and our second guide Jean Gamilousky has 9 years of guiding experience with several more climbing under his belt.
There is always one guide for every two people and since we had a film crew with us, we had two guys to keep us company today.
When we asked him how he got started he said “It was with my dad’s pick-ax and some rope” He’s been climbing big ice around the world ever since.
Yamnuska Mountain Adventures is the biggest and best climbing company in all of Canada. They have skilled and experienced staff and have rigged huge high mountain film shoots such as The Bourne Legacy and Inception. Check out The Best National Parks in Canada
Safety Meeting Before Climbing
The early morning meeting was spent going over safety procedures and putting our gear together. We’ve never had anyone go through the waivers so thoroughly and they would not let us sign until we had actually read it all.
Ice Climbing is a whole new level of danger and we liked it!
After all our gear was in order, we strapped on our harnesses, helmets and boots and took a short drive to the junkyard nearby. From the parking lot, we started our hike up to the high waterfall to get a better view and better ice.
Hike up the Mountain in Crampons
It was about a 20-minute hike up and through the forest and we even saw cougar tracks leading away from the trail. Soon we were surrounded by nothing but frozen trees and ice. We came to a bench on the trail and strapped on our crampons for the rest of the hike up to the waterfall.
What are Crampons?
Crampons are steel spikes that help you walk on ice and when climbing a frozen waterfall, they help you dig in and stand on the wall. We took a short lesson from Pat on how to walk in crampons. It’s easy to get tangled in them and if you fall, you could easily get your foot stuck breaking a leg.
If you fall down the side of a steep hill you would normally slide until you came to a halt. With crampons on, your foot will most like catch something, ripping your leg and doing some very serious damage.
So when walking with crampons, walk with your feet wide, look where you are going and don’t be in a hurry. We all made it safely to the waterfall.
View of Canmore from Above
We weren’t cold anymore after our hike up and we were ready and excited to start the climb. Pat and Jean set up our top ropes for us. He climbed up that frozen waterfall up the ice like it was an easy set of stairs.
He screwed in a few bolts to keep him from plunging into the cavern below should he fall, but I don’t think he needed them.It wasn’t long before he was at the top of the climb setting our protection, tying into a tree, so that Dave and I could climb in relative safety.
I volunteered to go first.
Pat gave us a lesson on technique. It’s important to ice climb with good technique or else you will waste a lot of energy. Here’s what we took away.
Tips for Ice Climbing Technique
- You start by swinging your ax up to a spot where you can reach comfortable and plant it into the ice.
- Once you test it and pull down on the ax to make sure it will hold you, you swing the second ax a little bit higher.
- When both are firmly planted, you kick your feet into the wall shoulder length apart. Bring your hips in and when you can stand comfortably, take out your lowest ax and swing higher.
- When you move your feet this time, move them up and together below the highest ax.
- Once you are up to the next level, you move your feet out again to shoulder width, take out the lower ax and swing it up and above.
- You never move until you have tested the ax to make sure it is secure.
Ice Climbing is all about solid footing
Like regular rock climbing, Ice Climbing seems to be a lot about footwork. When your feet are firmly planted into the ice, you can easily relax and stand on your toes with your heels pointed down.
When your feet are secure, you can take your time to find a good spot to swing your ax into. You want to swing your ax into a dimple or divot in the ice. It’s much easier than swinging into a solid hard piece that will probably break away when you hammer into it anyway. At least that is what we learned.
The Screaming Barfies
We had heard about “the screaming barriers” before we went ice climbing and it wasn’t until I climbed that I actually understood what that was.
When it is extremely cold outside and your hands are constantly above your head cutting off circulation it causes excruciating pain when you put them down.
I spent the first half of my climb holding on to the axes and not taking a moment to sit back and relax. Once I figured out that I could stand easily on my feet, I took a moment to shake out my hands.
That’s when all the blood came rushing to my fingers and they felt like thousands of needles were jabbing into them. They were so cold and in so much pain, it made me want to scream.
Sometimes climbers have it so bad, they don’t know whether they should scream or barf!
Luckily I didn’t get that bad and after a bit of time shaking them out and yelling down to everyone that “I have the screamy barfies” I continued on.
It was the greatest feeling to reach the top and look down at the beautiful valley below.Dave lowered me down and it was his turn to climb.
He made it look easy and climbed it quickly and I joked that because I went first, I showed him just how to do it and cleared a route for his ax. He just giggled.We climbed a few more times and started to really get the feel of it.
Pat told us that we did great and it was probably because of our climbing experience. I felt particularly proud when he told me my belay was excellent.
In the end, we really loved ice climbing. Dave and I agreed, that we liked Ice Climbing more than rock climbing.
It’s really easy to understand the technique and pattern of hammering into the ice, kicking your feet and moving up methodically.
I know that it takes a lot of expertise and training to be able lead climb ice and that would take us to a whole new level, but when having someone lead it for us and set up a top rope for us, it’s all about the fun! Now if only we could find an Ice Climbing route in 90 degree weather?
For courses and more information on Ice Climbing in Alberta visit Yamnuska Mountain Adventures
Plan Your Trip to Alberta with These Resources
- Lake Louise: Pond Hockey on Lake Louise- A Good Old Hockey Game
- Winter Adventures: Banff Helicopter Tours and Snowshoe
- Banff National Park: The Best Things to do in Banff, Alberta
- Canmore: The Best Things To Do In Canmore, Alberta
- Calgary: Canada Olympic Park – Fun In Calgary Alberta
- Edmonton: The Best Things To Do In Edmonton, Alberta
- Southern Alberta: Things To Do In Drumheller, Alberta
- Jasper National Park: Amazing Things To Do In Jasper, Alberta
- The 52 Best Things to do in Alberta, Canada – The Ultimate Guide
WOW, THANK YOU FOR SHARING THIS EXTREME ADVENTURE…
I LOVED THIS, I AM SURE THAT AM GONNA TRY THIS…
GREAT IMAGES… I LIKE TO ADD THIS TO MY ADVENTURE BUCKET…
I have been wanting to try ice climbing! That blue ice is alluring. I’m kicking myself I didn’t give it a try when we were in Iceland. Ah well, just another reason to head to a snowy destination!
All the more reason to choose another cold destination so that you can give Ice Climbing a try. We’ve been wanting to try it for years and finally had our chance here. I know that wherever you do it will be worth the wait.
Wow! What a feat! I really enjoyed this post and all of the information it offered. Thank you for sharing!
Thanks Mary, cheers
Amazing. Makes me want to go. Ice climbing in Alberta is now on my bucket list.
BTW – really liked the video, just wished there was a little more there.
Great job as usual guys!
Walking through the ice is always amazing. I’m excited about this. But careful least you don’t slip. Happy Journey……………..
I look at this article compared to the one about your European River cruise experience. This definitely seems to fit you better. I love cruising, but not everyone does. You looked like you were waiting for the adventure to arrive in your river cruise pictures. ๐
Thanks Lauri, the River Cruise was definitely a different experience, but yes, Ice Climbing is a little more up our alley. But all travels are exciting, some just fit better than others.
Quiet an adventure. Ice climbing has always been on my bucket list, but have never got a chance at it. Thanks for the information.
Thanks for stopping by Rambow. I hope you get the chance to try Ice Climbing one day soon!
Having spent some time in Jasper, I regret never having tried ice climbing. This has motivated me to try again when I’m back in Canada next time it’s winter (not this year though, soaking up the sunshine in Thailand!) ๐
Ooh, enjoy Thailand. It sounds like we may be doing the Switcharoo with you next year. You may be in Canada, we were thinking of heading back to Thailand next winter. ๐
Ice climbing! I never go anyplace that’s less than 80 degrees. Brrrrrrrr!
Let me know when you guys want to warm up. I know a place in Thailand where it never gets cold!
Happy to see you still living your dream!
Ling Yai
Haha! Great to hear from you John. I hope everything is going well in Thailand. We look forward to coming back soon! After we get all our cold weather adventures out of our system that is ๐
Very helpful tips. Thanks Dave and Deb for sharing.
Cheers thanks!
Ice climbing is always something that I wanted to do, I just don’t know if I could handle the cold. I hate spending more than 15 minutes outside when it’s 0 degrees. Imagine what I’m like when it’s colder!
Ooh only 15 minutes at 0? I don’t think you’d fare well. Ice climbing needs to be well below zero. Here in Canada in the winter 0 is balmy weather ๐ You should be ok though, if you dress for it anything can be ok.
Great article ..
I don’t know if I could brave ice climbing, kudos to you guys though. My vertigo would kill me o_O
Ooh, yes, vertigo would definitely be a problem.
Wow looks like a lot of fun. What an awesome experience, definitely on the bucket list.
It’s something you definitely have to try once. We really enjoyed it and will totally do it again.
Your ice climbing experience sounds amazing- incredible photos too. It’s somthing I’s really like to try, but didn’t really have the money for when I was in New Zealand and havent been anywhere else with the right sort of ice! One for the bucket list though I suppose! Happy New Year!
We were going to go ice climbing in New Zealand at Fox Glacier. We had it all booked and ready to go and then it got cancelled due to weather. We were so bummed. But we finally got the chance 3 years later and we are so glad we waited. Alberta has the top quality climbing in the world and to be able to do it at a waterfall is awesome. you should give it a try when you come to Canada. I’m sure it is much more affordable than New Zealand, because of not having to climb on a glacier and Canada is all around more reasonable.
Today I learnt something new! Ice-climbing sounds thrilling! I’m glad to know that it’s better than rock climbing. Thanks for the technical insights.
Well, I don’t know if everyone would agree with us that it is better than rock climbing, but we really loved it. We’ve done a lot of rock climbing in the past and we found ice climbing to be more fun for us. WE aren’t qualified to lead an ice climb or read the waterfalls frozen ice, but when going with a guide who knows what their doing, it’s awesome! He planned the route and we got to sit back and have fun climbing. I could see myself doing more and getting in to it if we weren’t moving around so much.
Tried ice climbing once & it was a humbling experience. I thought it would be all brute strength (not that I’m a really strong guy, but I thought if I could just smack the axe into the ice with enough force I could make it work). That was not the case, it’s 100% technique. I remember the guide made it look so easy, putting hardly any force behind his swings but just hitting them perfectly. Would love to try it again, but will not take the “she’ll be right” approach next time!
You described it perfectly Phil. A lot of guys (even in rock climbing) have a tendency to climb with their upper body and pull themselves up. It’s about footwork and technique for sure. When we used to climb a lot, we found that women caught on faster because they didn’t have the natural upper body strength of men. They’d have to get their technique figured out quickly to be able to climb the routes. Our guide showed us the type of places to swing our axe in to. Even knowing where to place your ax helps.
I’m not sure that I’d be fit enough for this, but it does definitely sound like a challenge!
Looks like fun! I bet your sore the next day though. Unless your in great shape I guess ๐ I don’t think I have ever seen ice climbing shoes before. be carely not to kick anybody..lol