Hardwear Sessions

Julia Niles has a mountain resume as impressive as any I've seen. Born in the states, but relocated to Canada (because everyone knows Canada is better), Julia Niles was recently added to Mountain Hardwear's team roster, and definitely has the skills to pay the bills. Although I wouldn't consider her settled for long, Julia recently moved to Canmore hoping to get in on the action of the great Canadian Rockies. When I heard she was around town I figured I would see if she would be interested in some ice climbing or maybe some backcountry skiing. She was stoked about the idea of getting out. I told Julia I would get back to her with a game plan and we would go from there.

Brandon Pullan is a long time friend and devoted climbing partner. Brandon recently joined the respected Association of Canadian Mountain Guides and knows the climbing scene around the Rockies as good as the seasoned veterans do. Although he is a talented ice climber, his true forte is on the alpine rock. Brandon's personal goal for 2009 is to climb a route on Mt. Yamnuska every month of the year, and so far he's off to a good start.

When I called Brandon up, several days prior to finding myself halfway up Forbidden Corner, it was minus twenty something, and our plan was to go ice climbing. Avalanche conditions were high so backcountry skiing was out of the question as well as any ice route with avy hazards. We decided we would head into the Rehab Wall for a day of mixed climbing. The night before our plan changed significantly. Brandon had called to say that he just got back from climbing on Yam in a t-shirt with Urs Kallen.

"Really? That's impossible. Wasn't it freezing?"

"No way, dude! We wore our T-shirts all day long. Tomorrow is supposed to be even warmer. There is no way I'm going to spend the day freezing my balls off in some dark and icy canyon wielding ice tools, winter boots, and crampons when I know that I can climb warm limestone with bare hands, and rock slippers while wearing a t-shirt."

When I packed my duffle after hanging up the phone I was being a doubting Thomas, and I still packed my ice climbing gear. As a last minute thought, I tossed a pair of rock slippers in my bag just to be safe. Julia, Brandon, and I met that morning it was still freezing cold, but Brandon's enthusiasm about Yam wore off on both Julia and I. The ice gear was out and rock slippers were in.

Getting out the gear...

As we humped ourselves up the trail, it was still chilly, but the sun was out and the skies were bluebird. When we got to the base of the route, Julia and I still weren't convinced of this 't-shirt' story, and decided to climb with our insulated parka close at hand. After all, it was a frigid minus twenty-five only a couple days ago. However, as we climbed, the temperature kept climbing and climbing with us and soon enough we had climbed out of the cold funk of January and were magically transported into a cliff-side tropical paradise. With the help of Brandon's route beta, and Julia's effortless leads, our party of three danced our way up the playful 5.9 with ease. After a day of good conversations, memorable pitches, and overall classic climbing had been had, our trio topped out to a beautiful evening sky with huge smiles on our faces. It seemed as though we lucked out that day. After soaking up the sun for a couple more minutes on top, we packed up and ran down the trail back to the parking lot.

Wearing t-shirts and rock slippers in January

Several days later, the cold Arctic air moved in from the North and it was minus twenty again. If it weren't for the photos, I would be inclined to think it was all just a sublime dream. I guess it just goes to show that anything can happen in the mountains and you've got to be ready for anything. Sometimes its a suffer-fest with screaming barfies and a numb face, and other days it's pure sunshine, t-shirts and all.