Today nobody had a problem getting up at 7am. We all knew what was awaiting us – an amazing 8 pitch, 210m monster climb – Profesor Falls. It’s a Canadians Rockies must do classic.
We quickly drove out to Banff, as we wanted to get on the climb as early as possible.
The walking is pretty lengthy – over 5.5km, some people actually ride their bicycles there.
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As with every ice climb, the routes can be pitched differently depending on conditions. It’s worth noting that the climb is usually very wet (we got lucky as it was relatively dry) – and also that it can be quite safely climbed by multiple parties – as pitches are split by big ledges (on which debris are usually stopping and don’t follow through).
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We did it in following way. (bolt anchors everywhere.)
Pitch 1 – Wi4, 30m Padraic
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Pitch 2&3 combined – Wi3-4, 50m Del
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Pitch 4 – Wi 3-4, 30m Padriac – It’s worth nothing that this pitch formed amazing and very rare icicle over the rock feature. – Climbing behind it is very interesting experience
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Between pitch 4 and 5 we walked 50m to the drainage.
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Pitch 5 – Wi 3-4 35m Del – Some say it was supposed to be lead properly, Del just went at it free solo style without waiting for belay 😉 – No photo as by the time I got there with the camera he was already at belay station of next pitch.
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Pitch 6&7 combined Wi 3, 45m Michal – That actually opened opportunity for me to claim next 2 pitches
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Guys being amazed by my fantastic leading skillz.
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Another short walk up the drainage to the next, final and crux pitch:
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Pitch 8 Wi 4-5 45m Del arrived first, removed his belay jacket and was ready to go.
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Some say though it was Gibbons turn to lead.
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It was all good though. Plenty more good ice still to climb over next few days!
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Traditional top out victory photo:
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There was a party of 3 climbing behind us, so we wanted to absail ASAP. Some efficient rope management techniques displayed below:
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Yet another abseil:
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And one more. It was total 5 abseils. There are bolts everywhere, so it’s quite straight forward.
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It was an excellent day out and a good example for long multipitch day done efficiently. The whole thing car to car took us just below 8 hours.
The walking can be off-putting, but it’s rather flat terrain and the views compensate the effort:
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