Visiting Banff

Banff is one of the most beautiful and sought-after destinations in all of Canada. And would you believe that as soon as I arrived in the area, I came across this massive bighorn sheep! This was actually the very first photo I took during my winter visit.

Winter in the Canadian Rockies

Even though I spent half a week around Banff, I didn’t go to most of the famous areas of the park. No worries though, I’ll be sure to return! For this trip, my focus was ice climbing, and I was able to climb at three different places in the Canadian Rockies. One of them required a hike through deep snow to Haffner Creek, an established ice and mixed climbing area in nearby Kootenay National Park.

Along the way we saw this giant track in the snow. A local told me it was from a mountain lion, which seemed almost impossible to me because of its size. I later tried comparing it with different animal tracks online, but without measurements and a clearer look at the entire track pattern, I couldn’t identify it with any certainty. Whatever left it behind, it was an impressive track to come across on the way to our climb.

Ice Climbing at Haffner Creek

My motivation to ice climb was to prepare for some much more technical mountaineering. Post-Everest, I had some ambitious goals involving peaks that aren’t nearly as high but demand much more technical climbing ability. The photo above shows a fellow ice climber on one of the routes we climbed, with routes up to WI4. WI4 was a good challenge at my skill level, involving sustained steep ice and requiring considerably more technique than easier introductory grades. My long-term goal was to become comfortable following WI5.

I wish I had taken more photos of the entire area, but I did at least go behind one of the frozen waterfalls. The waterfall above was pretty massive and had some interesting colors as the light passed through the ice. Where the ice wasn’t covering the rocks, we found a small bird’s nest, which I assumed had been abandoned for the winter.

Johnston Canyon

The hardest climbs I did on this trip were at Haffner Creek. The most beautiful were without a doubt along Johnston Canyon in Banff National Park. My friend Jesse, who I had met 10 years earlier and hadn’t seen since, took me for a day of climbing. The hike along Johnston Creek alone was worth it, taking us through the narrow canyon past dramatic cliffs, ice, and frozen sections of the creek.

My favorite scenery from this trip was definitely the waterfalls at Johnston Canyon. The colorful pool above and the frozen Upper Falls below were perhaps the most beautiful frozen waterfalls I’d ever seen. The Upper Falls drop about 30 meters through the canyon, and in winter the combination of flowing water, snow, and enormous formations of ice completely transforms the landscape. Banff is an enormous area, though, and there is still an endless amount of experiences and places I have yet to see.