[MCR] Rockies, Kananaskis, Opal Creek, Whiteman Falls

Guided Whiteman Falls yesterday December 15^th.

 

The Weekends cold snap and new snow changed the conditions considerably in the Opal Creek area.

 

The Road section of the approach is now covered with about 4cm of new snow, still not enough to ski, but some awkward snowshoe tracks were observed!

Approach shoes still felt reasonable and our feet stayed warm enough given the fast pace walk to the trailhead.

 

Thanks to the cold snap, both the open holes, on the approach pitch, as well as on the main climb, have completely formed over. The large hole on the ground below the approach pitch is still open and it’s apparent that without debris plugging the whole, it is likely going to remain open for the rest of the year. Its challenging to not get your ropes wet on the rappel.

 

The climb was in very challenging conditions and was, compared to reports from the past few weeks, completely different.

The first pitch, via a fairly direct line required challenging management and physical climbing over 3 significant overhangs. Long slings proved very useful while climbing over and around the surreal overhanging features.

Reasonable protection was found but required lots of work and thought, some of the roofs were at least 3 feet wide!

 

The last pitch required extensive cleaning, every swing took at least six or eight cleaning swings just to clear the 30 or more centimeters of chandelier ice.  Sticks where impossible without cleaning and screws took even more work to place.

The previous climbing surface was completely covered for most of the climb and despite all my cleaning and efforts (I was on lead for nearly 1.5 hours on the last pitch) the climb remains delicate and challenging in the first 15m leaving the cave. After this point the climbing remained delicate due to the cold weather but provided some hands free terrain allowing me to recover from my four battles with “screaming barfies”. I must admit that in these conditions, the statement "ice is easy" really did not apply!! Conditions dictate difficulty and grades don't as much.

 

Rappels required caution managing the hanging ice hazard.

 

A beautiful day with some great climbers but a surprisingly challenging climb on what is usually a route that is soft for its grade.

 
 
 
Patrick Delaney
ACMG Alpine Guide

Yamnuska Mountain Adventures

"Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value."
Albert Einstein

 

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