July 30th - August 1st 2019
July 30th:
Met up with Jeremy whom I met off of Facebook at 10:00 and headed towards Tunnel Mountain in Banff for some sport climbing. Jeremy and I both didn't have guide books and had never been there so we arrived and after some difficulty finding the trailhead and then the crag we sort of just chose a route that looked easy to warm up.
Jeremy lead first and we found out later we had luckily chosen a 5.9 as our warmup. He made short work before I also lead and finished it easily. After the first climb Jeremy's friend came up huge and sent us some guidebook pictures however Jeremys phone was dieing and because he was from the US he couldn't send pictures to my phone... so I ended up taking pictures of pictures.... needless to say the quality was shite and basically useless. We still didn't know what climb we were doing but we met a rope solo climber, Martin, who told us we were climbing ~5.10c's and d's. Perfect. Right up our alley.
I led the next 5.10c that had a fun crux move pretty quickly although I did take so it wasn't clean. Jeremy followed and cleaned after and we moved on to a few short (~10m) slabby routes. The first was a 5.10c that we both did clean however at the top I struggled to get my locking carabiner out for nearly 15 minutes which sucked. Eventually I did get it out and we did another slab 5.10d that had a really difficult crux move. Jeremy tried to lead it first but couldn't get pat the crux even with pulling on the draws so I went up and managed to get it (pulling on the draw). Then he top rope cleaned it and we moved further down the wall.
I chose a long easyish route that I thought was the first pitch of a multipitch (Ballista, 5.10a) but it seemed harder. It was fun and very long (~30m) with a few nervous run outs but I managed to get it clean pretty quickly. Jeremy didn't have as much fun but he did lead it. It took him a while and we joked it about it later. When he came down it was nearly 7:00 and we headed back to Canmore for some food and rest. We agreed to meet up the next day to climb at Grassi Lakes.
July 31st:
Jeremy and I met up at 10:00 again and went to Grassi Lakes in Canmore to climb. My hands were pretty sore from the previous day which was indicative of my climbing for the rest of the day.... shitty. Jeremy had climbed the previous two days but while he didn't say it I think he was suffering as well.
We started off with an easy 5.9 limestone full of pockets and I lead first. It didn't feel great which I took as a sign the rest of the day would be painful. I was right. Jeremy lead and cleaned and we moved to a 5.10b full of beautiful jugs. I lead first again and got it but I had to take (bad day like I said). Jeremy followed and cleaned no trouble and we moved on.
Next we went to a short 10m 4 bolt 5.10d that Jeremy had worked on when he had previously been there but hadn't done clean. He lead it and had to take but set the anchor. I top roped because I wasn't confident and managed to get it but not clean on top rope and then he top roped again not clean. I went up top rope again trying to get it clean and couldn't even make it to the top.... he top roped again and cleaned it. It was pretty bad and we spent a lot of time here.
We finally moved on and attempted a 5.10c in a cave with hilarious results. It was very overhanging and the guide even said "You'll be surprised this is only a 5.10" and since we were both pretty pumped we barely made two bolts. It was fun and Jeremy kept whipping (on purpose) because we didn't think we'd be able to get to the top so he didn't want to clip any more bolts. We were both laughing a lot at our state and decided one more climb and to call it quits.
Our final climb was a short 5.10c and I lead. I had some trouble and wanted to call it quits but Jeremy wouldn't let me. My hands were killing me, I was pumped and my mental game was off but since he wouldn't lower me I eventually made it up. This was actually my proudest moment of both days since I managed to get it even though I was at the end of my rope. Jeremy top rope cleaned it and we headed off.
We both went to the community centre and had a swim and a soak in the hot tub before heading to bed. We made plans to meet up in Colorado when I went and do a multi-pitch.
August 1st:
This day was a travel day as I made my way to my grandparents cabin in Lac le Jeune. Very little interesting happened. I spent the morning on my computer and doing laundry then the remainder o the day driving the 6 hours to Kamloops that actually took 7 hours due to construction on the highway between Golden and Revelstoke. I got there at ~7:00 and had dinner with the family.
Met up with Jeremy whom I met off of Facebook at 10:00 and headed towards Tunnel Mountain in Banff for some sport climbing. Jeremy and I both didn't have guide books and had never been there so we arrived and after some difficulty finding the trailhead and then the crag we sort of just chose a route that looked easy to warm up.
Jeremy lead first and we found out later we had luckily chosen a 5.9 as our warmup. He made short work before I also lead and finished it easily. After the first climb Jeremy's friend came up huge and sent us some guidebook pictures however Jeremys phone was dieing and because he was from the US he couldn't send pictures to my phone... so I ended up taking pictures of pictures.... needless to say the quality was shite and basically useless. We still didn't know what climb we were doing but we met a rope solo climber, Martin, who told us we were climbing ~5.10c's and d's. Perfect. Right up our alley.
I led the next 5.10c that had a fun crux move pretty quickly although I did take so it wasn't clean. Jeremy followed and cleaned after and we moved on to a few short (~10m) slabby routes. The first was a 5.10c that we both did clean however at the top I struggled to get my locking carabiner out for nearly 15 minutes which sucked. Eventually I did get it out and we did another slab 5.10d that had a really difficult crux move. Jeremy tried to lead it first but couldn't get pat the crux even with pulling on the draws so I went up and managed to get it (pulling on the draw). Then he top rope cleaned it and we moved further down the wall.
I chose a long easyish route that I thought was the first pitch of a multipitch (Ballista, 5.10a) but it seemed harder. It was fun and very long (~30m) with a few nervous run outs but I managed to get it clean pretty quickly. Jeremy didn't have as much fun but he did lead it. It took him a while and we joked it about it later. When he came down it was nearly 7:00 and we headed back to Canmore for some food and rest. We agreed to meet up the next day to climb at Grassi Lakes.
July 31st:
Jeremy and I met up at 10:00 again and went to Grassi Lakes in Canmore to climb. My hands were pretty sore from the previous day which was indicative of my climbing for the rest of the day.... shitty. Jeremy had climbed the previous two days but while he didn't say it I think he was suffering as well.
We started off with an easy 5.9 limestone full of pockets and I lead first. It didn't feel great which I took as a sign the rest of the day would be painful. I was right. Jeremy lead and cleaned and we moved to a 5.10b full of beautiful jugs. I lead first again and got it but I had to take (bad day like I said). Jeremy followed and cleaned no trouble and we moved on.
Next we went to a short 10m 4 bolt 5.10d that Jeremy had worked on when he had previously been there but hadn't done clean. He lead it and had to take but set the anchor. I top roped because I wasn't confident and managed to get it but not clean on top rope and then he top roped again not clean. I went up top rope again trying to get it clean and couldn't even make it to the top.... he top roped again and cleaned it. It was pretty bad and we spent a lot of time here.
We finally moved on and attempted a 5.10c in a cave with hilarious results. It was very overhanging and the guide even said "You'll be surprised this is only a 5.10" and since we were both pretty pumped we barely made two bolts. It was fun and Jeremy kept whipping (on purpose) because we didn't think we'd be able to get to the top so he didn't want to clip any more bolts. We were both laughing a lot at our state and decided one more climb and to call it quits.
Our final climb was a short 5.10c and I lead. I had some trouble and wanted to call it quits but Jeremy wouldn't let me. My hands were killing me, I was pumped and my mental game was off but since he wouldn't lower me I eventually made it up. This was actually my proudest moment of both days since I managed to get it even though I was at the end of my rope. Jeremy top rope cleaned it and we headed off.
We both went to the community centre and had a swim and a soak in the hot tub before heading to bed. We made plans to meet up in Colorado when I went and do a multi-pitch.
August 1st:
This day was a travel day as I made my way to my grandparents cabin in Lac le Jeune. Very little interesting happened. I spent the morning on my computer and doing laundry then the remainder o the day driving the 6 hours to Kamloops that actually took 7 hours due to construction on the highway between Golden and Revelstoke. I got there at ~7:00 and had dinner with the family.
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| Rundle from Tunnel Mountain |
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| Grassi Lakes |
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| Jeremy leading |
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