Kristoffer Szilas

This weekend I first did “The Sorcerer” in the Ghost with Carlos and Rafal, which was a fun and remote ice climb.

The next day I climbed “Sea of Vapors” with Erik Schnack. This route is a classic test piece of the Canadian Rockies. It was pretty thin on the first pitch, meaning that you could see the rock under the ice, and the second pitch was spicy too. The upper pitches were pretty easy but very long and straight which meant you had the full weight of the rope on your harness. "Sea of Vapors" was in WI6 conditions when we did it and it is by far the best ice route I’ve ever done!

Trophy Wall with Sea of Vapors on the right and Replicant and Terminator on the left.

Me on the first pitch of Sea of Vapors.

Erik Schnack on the second pitch of Sea of Vapors.

This weekend I did a few really good ice routes. First I climbed Nemesis with Carlos, then Whiteman Falls with Crista-Lee and then Pilsner Pillar with Rob and Ramon. It was a fun few routes, but on Nemesis I got a chunk of ice in the face, which scratched my cornea, on Whiteman Falls I broke of a huge mushroom of ice that hit me so hard in the face that I got my jaw dislocated and on Pilsner Pillar I got absolutely drench with water as I only had a soft-shell with me that day. Anyway it was a great weekend of ice climbing.

Nemesis (WI6) on the Stanley Headwall.

Me on the crux pitch of Nemesis.

Me on Whiteman Falls (WI6).

Pilsner Pillar (WI6).

Me getting a shower on Pilsner Pillar (Photo by Rob Gibson)

This weekend I did a bit of mixed climbing in the Canmore area.

On Saturday I went to Bear Spirit with Carlos Buhler and we climbed “No Love” (M7-) and Dumerac ( M8 ). On Sunday I went to Haffner Creek with Crista-Lee Mitchell and Rafal Andronowski. They are both professional photographers, so lots of photos were taken that day. Below are a few that Rafal took of me while I redpointed a super cool mixed route called “The Boyd Mystery” ( M8 ).

You can see more of Rafal’s work on his website: www.photographybyrafal.com

Here’s a few photos that Rafal Andronowski took of me on “Half ‘n’ Half" (M7) at Haffner Creek.

I’m currently staying a few weeks in Edmonton (Canada) to do some isotope analyses for my PhD-project. This gives me the opportunity to go and do some climbing on weekends.

A good friend of mine in Copenhagen (Hans Bräuner-Osborne) knows Carlos Buhler and his wife Crista-Lee Mitchell. They live in the Canadian ice-Mecca, Canmore, and have been kind enough to let me stay at their house and show me around the different venues in the area.

Carlos, who is one of the most successful American expedition climbers ever, introduced me to the Canadian Rockies by taking me out on the classic alpine route Coire Dubh Integrale on Loder Peak. We had a fun day and Carlos found a pretty desperate and sketchy alternative finish just to spice up the experience.

The next day Crista-Lee and I went out to Lake Louise and climbed Louise Falls and this weekend we climbed the amazing Weeping Wall at Icefields Parkway where we met Rafal and Jeff, who snapped this photo of me leading out of the ice cave in the middle of the wall:

The day after Jeff and I went to the local mixed crag, Haffner Creek, and climbed a route called Half ‘n’ Half (M7) and later that day I climbed Swank (M8-) with Niels, who had that route as a project.

Canadian winter is FUN!