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Canada – Day9 – Carlsberg Column WI5
This WI5 climb can be pitched in different ways (depending on how it’s formed in given year). We did it in following way: Derek Aherne – Pitch 1 30m WI4 & Pitch 5, 20m WI5 Michal Samsel – Pitch 2 30m WI2 & Pitch 4 WI3 Padriac Gibbons – Pitch 3 60m WI5 Pitch 3…
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Canada – Day8 – Rest day, relocation and Banff
Our original plan to move up the valley today changed as we discovered the area more over the week. Basically the 2 options for accommodation for ice climbers in the Bow Valley are either Canmore (where we arrived 7 days ago) or Banff – a very touristy Chamonix-like town 25min drive NW on Trans-Canada Highway. Banff…
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Canada – Day7 – Guinness Gully WI4
With: Derek Aherne – Pitch 1 & 3 Padraic Gibbons – Pitch 2 Michal Samsel – Pitch 4 For today we had planned to do of amazing 300m of Cascade Falls WI3, however upon arriving to the base of the climb it turned out it was nearly gone (due to its south facing position). Our…
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Canada – Day6 – Weathering Heights WI4
They say not to step into the same river twice – I mostly agree – unless it’s a Ghost River Wilderness Area. We’ve revisited the place after scouting it yesterday – this time fully geared up From Canada2016-Day06-WeatheringHeights with intentions to either climb Wicked Wanda WI4+ (as seen from the car yesterday, around 40min walk from the…
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Canada – Day5 – Rest day aka location scouting
A bit different schedule than usually today – instead packing up early for climbing we decided to take a day off and do some research on the Ghost River area. It’s a very remote place- around 2h drive from Canmore. Details here: http://www.summitpost.org/south-ghost-climbs/291125 The Ghost was established in 1967 on the front range of the Canadian…
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Canada – Day4 – Lake Louise Falls – WI4
Yet another epic day – completely different than yesterday, when we were pretty much done by lunch time. Today we got up as usual at 7am, I made my famous eggs and bacon, and by 9.30 we were gearing up at the car park. Lake Louise is based around 1h drive from Canmore. From Canada2016-Day04-LakeLouise The…
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Canada – Day3 – Grotto Canyon Falls – WI3
Easy ground. Short drive, short walking. Good WI3 2 pitch climbing – I led both, boys followed, and then free solo’ed. From Canada2016-Day03-GrottoCanyon Place is set in amazing canyon – you walk up frozen river for around 2km. While it’s relatively safe, and a popular destination for tourists and climbers alike even easy…
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Canada – Arrival and first climbing- Moonlight Falls WI4
We arrived to Calgary on the 4th of March. It took over 20 hours, as our flight was delayed and we missed a connection in Toronto. Luckily I planned ahead and had a hotel booked at Calgary airport. Good night’s sleep, visit at local climbing store (mec.ca) and a short drive (1.5h) to Canmore next…
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Day3 – West Kyoto: Arashiyama and Sagano
Today I’ve woken up around 4.30 am (the jet lag is still in me), and decided to spend the morning planning the day. Original plan was to hire some bikes and cycle around the city, but considering it was supposed to be quite hot again I’ve figured it won’t hurt to fix up a backup…
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Day2 – Nara&EastKyoto
We were planning on sightseeing Kyoto only today, but since we discovered our 3 day local pass rail ticket (KANSAI THRU PASS) could be used on un-consecutive days, we’ve decided to go to Nara first (50min train ride of Kyoto) in order to avoid going there on Sunday. We left pretty early (around 8) to…