the fabulous 2020 winter
Ferrethawk, 160m M6 WI3+, with James Walter. First attempt with Maarten van Haaren and Jasmin Fauteux
Katana WI6+ X 245m, with Stas Beskin and Dylan Cunningham
Dec 12 2020, Margaret Lake, above Hector Lak, Banff National Park, Icefields Parkway
Play with Fay, WI6 345m, Mt Fay, Valley of 10 Peaks, Banff NP
With Paul Taylor and Merrick Montemuro, April 14 2021
Some gems were found, and climbed.
Ferrethawk was first attempted with Maarten Van Haeren (The Fish) and Jasmin Fauteux (The Ferret), and during that attempt Ferret took a memorable 20m+ flight, ending in space and level with hid Fish belayer. The FerretHawk is real and spends his time divebombing along the cliffs in search of his favourite prey, Fish.
Katana was spotted from the road while driving, and it immediately became an obsession. The East aspect and very thin pillars meant it was not going to last long, and being visible from the car meant other peple had seen it too. The day started with many red flags, a questionable large snow slope, a near fall while soloing the approach, a broken pick with no replacement, a pair of fat pants lost to the wind, and severe misdjudging of the first pitch. Leaving the rock rack behind on that first pitch made it very serious, a bold and dangerous lead by Dylan. We rallied at every setback and everyone climbed it clean, with Stas leading the crazy 3rd pitch. It had a 2 inch crack half way up, and a very thin aerated bottom, the first screw at 30m, overall a horrifying, precarious feature. Every pitch was WI6 or harder, we gave the 2nd pitch 5+ because relative to the others it was easier. Taken as a single separate pitch it’s a 6. Hopefully this gem forms again and gets repeated.
Play with Fay was discovered using the beacon search principles used in avalanche SAR.
Signal search: a waterfall is spotted flowing from a glacier in the summer.
Coarse search: from far away, the Lake Louise ski hill, a binocular sweep confirmed the ice had formed, with just the top of the icefall visible.
Fine search: a ski patrol to Morraine lake confirms the line is there, but still only the top pitch is visible with the lower part unknown.
Probing and probe strike: motivated team goes in fully comitted, and the line is there, touching down, the lower half visible only when at the base. This is a king line waiting for a repeat as of 2026. The last 3 pitches go at 5+, 5 and 6.