Banff is one of the most beautiful and sought-after destinations in all of Canada. And would you believe that as soon as I entered Banff, I came across this massive bighorn sheep! This was actually the very first photo I took during my winter visit.
Winter in Banff
Even though I spent half a week in 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, however, my focus was ice climbing, and I was able to visit three different places. One of them required a hike through deep snow to a place called Haffner Creek.
Along the way we saw this giant paw print in the snow. A local told me it was a mountain lion, which seemed absolutely impossible because of the size. After comparing prints online, it definitely seemed more like it belonged to a bear. 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 highly technical mountaineering. Post-Everest, I had some ambitious goals involving peaks that aren’t high altitude but are much more demanding in technical skills. The photo above shows a fellow ice climber on one of the routes that we did, up to WI4. WI4 is relatively easy in the world of ice climbing, but at my current skill level it was a good challenge. My long-term goal was to be able to follow 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 is 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. 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 past dramatic cliffs and frozen rivers.
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. Banff is an enormous area, though, and there is an endless amount of experiences and places I have yet to see.
