Steve climbing the first pitch of Icy BC on top-rope
After a 20-month hiatus from ice climbing due to an accident, my orthopedic surgeon cleared me to resume ice climbing in February. His parting words were "just don't fall." Elain and I had originally considered driving to the Canadian Rockies. However, since we had no idea if I could actually ice climb on my rebuilt ankle, Canmore seemed a long way to drive. After reading some favorable reports about the ice conditions in Lillooet, we decided to make a brief trip up to Lillooet to get the cobwebs off our ice tools. The first day we climbed at Marble Canyon. It was about -6C that day, and the ice started out quite brittle. A large guided party (I think they were an ice climbing class from Vancouver) was climbing on the Deeping Wall, so Elain and I set up a top-rope on the first pitch of Icy BC (WI4). We initially picked a poor choice of tree to anchor our top-rope, and our top-rope was over a scary-looking mixed line rather than Icy BC. We set up a redirect through an ice screw, and after struggling a bit with rope drag, finally got our top-rope set up properly. We each took three laps. By the time we had removed our top-rope, the guided party had left. We set up a new top-rope on the Deeping Wall (WI4+), and we each took a lap. By then we were both tired and it was getting late, so we headed back to Lillooet. The second day was quite a bit warmer. We wanted to get back into lead climbing, so we selected Rambles Center (WI2-3), a very easy route that we had climbed two years earlier. We got a bit of a late start, but eventually found ourselves at the base of the route, racking our gear. It was a Monday, and as a result, we had the entire Rambles to ourselves. Elain led a short low-angle ramp up to a corner on the left side of the falls. From there, I led up about 20' to a spot where the ice was getting thin and aerated. So I set up a V-thread and lowered back to the belay. We downclimbed about 20' to a better belay ledge, and I started up again. This time, I led up a line just to the right of center, and the ice was nice and fat. I placed far too many screws, which I guess is good practice if poor style. Elain led the second pitch in good style, and we found ourselves staring at a third tier of ice, about 40m upstream. I wasn't feeling like going exploring, and in any event, it was getting late, so we decided to head back down. It was getting quite warm and the route was getting very wet. Two double-rope rappels found us at the base of the route; I cleaned my V-thread on the way back down. The walk down the scree slope was tedious with our heavy waterlogged ropes and gear. Due to fog and nighttime driving conditions, the drive back to Seattle from the Rambles took just under 7 hours.
Things we learned:
Gear we used: ice tools, crampons, 50m x 8.5mm half-ropes
Steve climbing the first pitch of Icy BC on top-rope
Steve climbing the second step of the first pitch of Icy BC
Steve climbing the Deeping Wall, on top-rope
Elain coiling the ropes, with the lower part of Icy BC in the background
Elain leading the second pitch of Rambles Center
Elain sitting at the base of Rambles Center
Steve in front of the first pitch of Rambles Center