A wild one

Nick celebrating finishing the crux of the route - just getting to its start

We finally managed to get on a route we'd been hopping to do all trip (infact it had been at the top of Nick's list for his last 4 trips to Canada). Riptide WI6-7 is rated as one of the finest ice routes in the world in the latest guidebook but there is one not so small problem - the approach. No tracks, thick wood, a river crossing, hanging seracs, an avalanche bowl and snow which at times was head height bottomless mush. Still 5 and a half hours later we made it to the base.

Mummy!

After that the route went fine. Waves of spindrift, the echoing sounds of avalanches around the cirque and a long long way above Icefields Parkway made for quite a serious alpine feel. In the end the climbing itself was quite a bit more reasonable than the hype. A fine experience.

Nick about to knock a 30 lb column of ice on the photographers head