10 Must-Climb Moderates

Every year, thousands of ice climbers

visit the Canadian Rockies. By early November, there are dozens of frozen smears ready to be climbed. In Januar y, there are hundreds. Since the spor t was pioneered in the early 1970 s, the popular it y of the area has grown exponentially. From easy WI2 rambles to some of the steepest WI6+ pil lars in the world, if you want to test yourself on ice, the Rockies are the place.

The Rockies are big, so climbers often talk about them by referring to different areas. There are the front ranges, the Bow Valley, the Icef ields Parkway, the southern Rockies and the B.C. Rockies. Here is a list of 10 climbs, some are popular, and some are relatively unknown to non-local climbers. Many of these routes can have extreme avalanche hazards dur ing the season. See the sidebar for avalanche infor mation resources.