Merewyn leading W14 (she “can’t believe she did it”) Merewyn Ellis and Josh Groom are spending the Northern Winter in the Canadian Rockies. Here’s Merewyn’s latest report: “We are based in Calgary as that is where the work is, but only 1.5 hours from Banff which makes day and weekend trips very easy. Most of our adventures have been waterfall ice climbing in an area called the Ghost Valley which is in the Rockies front ranges behind Cochrane. Access to the Ghost requires a fairly decent 4WD and involves steep hills, river bed driving and deep snow drifts, often done in the dark due to the short daylight hours in winter. Then the real fun starts – on foot - winter river crossings teetering over fallen trees or ‘thinking light’ as you try to cross on a delicate ice bridge – anything to keep our boots dry. Walking poles sure come in handy for this kind of nonsense, but one pair can be tossed back across the river for the whole team to use… most of the time. We have also climbed in some more famous locales – Johnston Canyon which was a circus complete with falling ice and spectating tourists, Haffner Creek and Bear Spirit for mixed climbing. Recently we did a fantastic alpine mixed route Coire Dubh Intergrale which is graded WI3 and has 4 pitches of 5.6 rock to put you onto the ridge near Loder Peak. A quick trot over the summit and we descended the ridge in a 100km hour Chinook wind clinging to the rough Rockies Limestone. Then it’s back to the pub for beer and wings, (deep fried Chicken Wings) a Canadian tradition. Towards the end of the season we have got onto a few ‘Ultra Classics’ such as The Professor Falls WI4, Guiness Gully WI4, and High Test WI4+. Unfortunately as I write this it is 12deg outside, even though it was snowing this morning, and everything appears to be melting out quite early this year. The Chinook rules this place, similar to the Nor’wester of NZ it comes over the Rockies and can raise the temperature in Calgary by 20 deg in a single day. Legend has it that this occurred right before the Winter Olympics in 1988, melting out the ski jumps. For more photos and updates on the trip visit our trip blog at: http://placebojim.blogspot.com Merewyn Ellis