Moving on, to Canada (Hardwear Sessions)

Malcolm tops out, Vail, CO

By Malcolm Kent

25th Jan, 2008

It's been a tricky last couple of weeks travelling and climbing around Colorado. Tricky because I've spent most of the time trying to avoid illness. However this hasn't really gone to plan and for a number of days, illness has got the better of me. New week, new area and in this case a new country. So hopefully this will mean I can give the virus a kick up the back side.

This is our last day in the Vail area. I'll be honest, as climbers we're firmly in the minority. This is the skier/snowboarder home. Within a short drive is Breckenridge, Vail, Copper and Keystone. Again today the snow has dumped, a total bonus for people carving turns through the self raising flour, but a catalyst for four-letter profanity if your trying to wade your way up to the crag.

This is the most money we've spent on the trip so far and has made us understand just how great Ouray really is. It's a total climber's paradise and great value too. But equally there's no way that a mixed climbing trip to Colorado could be completed without stopping at the place where it all kicked off.

The ampitheatre area of Vail (just east of the main town) is where the likes of Lowe, Gadd and Takeda helped to take ice climbing to the next level. Routes like 'Octopussy', 'Frigid Inseminator' and 'Fatman and Robin' all echo the world-class events that have been hosted by this legendary crag. I first got encapsulated by the mystique of the place when I sat at home watching, like many climbers in the UK, the series 'Wild Climbs'. In the first episode, Stevie Haston battles with a now iconic line at the ampitheatre, 'Reptile'. I think back then and maybe still now, the route got M10. Although Stevie's brutally straight forward attitude was the compelling piece for many, I got stuck on the exposure and ambience of the setting. There was never any doubt that I had to go check it out.

29th Jan, 2008

And so we move on to Canada. After 2 parking tickets in a row in Vail for legitimately parking for access to the crag, I think a change to new surrounds is right on time. However, although myself and Rob don't seem to be suffering as much in Canada with viruses and bugs, the weather isn't quite what we'd hoped for. In the short time that we've been based in Lake Louise, it's either been heavy snowfall or super cold temperatures. Fingers crossed for some nicer weather over the next few days. So far we've been venturing out to Haffner Creek. A great place to get started on mixed routes for this area. Over the day or so I will be working on some of the routes in the upper cave, called the Hoar-House. Quite simply it hosts hoar crystals the size of your head. Hopefully I'll get pics of those pretty soon.