B.C. Beer Climbs
A Stronghold of Real Mixed Climbing Field:
The beer climbs of Field are some of the most-climbed waterfall ice routes in the Canadian Rockies, and have been popular for decades. In November 1999, I moved from the rock mecca of Squamish to the winter wonderland of Golden, B.C. and became hooked on the sport. Field was one of the best and closest venues for me to climb at, and it’s always had a special place in my heart. The short approaches and reliable ice conditions have made it easy to log hundreds of days in my 11 years of residence in Golden, as well as from my current home in Calgary. In the early winter of 1999, with only a handful of days under my belt, I climbed Carlsberg Column WI5 in my ski boots, which convinced me to invest in a proper pair of ice boots, and by the end of the season I climbed Pilsner
Pillar for my first WI6. I also discovered mixed climbing that season which was rapidly growing around the Rockies, including in Field, and it wasn’t long before it became one of my preferred ways to move over wintery terrain.
I’ve always felt that Field had some unique f lavours of mixed climbing that really appealed to me, the main one being that most of the mixed climbing there is really mixed! Your points often penetrate through thin ice onto rock, or constant transitions from one medium to the next are occurring. It always seemed to me that the term “mixed” was out of place or misleading for many routes around the Rockies and beyond that received an M grade, as more often than not they were either pure “drytooling” or pretty close to it. If you’re new to climbing with tools, “It has to be mixed to be mixed” is a common saying that is as true today as it always has been.
So, Field in my opinion, despite being first and foremost a great pure ice venue, is also a stronghold for real mixed climbing. Dozens of routes, some of which are pretty obscure but totally worthwhile, dot the slopes of Mount Denis, Mount Stephen and Mount Field as well as up the Yoho Valley and beyond. The Pilsner Amphitheatre is the main crag of the area that has a number of bolted routes. The overhanging cave behind the pillar and to its right seep with ice providing really fun overhanging thin ice to hard ice transitions. The best routes tend to be Last Call and Trad Ale, both M7 bolted rigs that require a few screws and sometimes a couple of pieces of rock gear for the latter. Good ice technique is also indispensable on these two as well as most the routes here. If there is some ice on the wall to the right, a couple of good bolted M8’s called One for the Road and One for the Ditch will nicely test your endurance. A few kilometres east, the lower slopes of Mount Stephen will give trad mixed lovers something to get stoked about. Old Milwaukee is a superb M7, often broken into two pitches but best done as a one. A 70-metre rope just barely gets you down. Combine that with hiking the gully just a little bit east up to Homebrew, a 60-metre tall, thin-ice chimney that checks in a M6 WI5. Keep your eyes peeled for Black Amber and Daggermeister on either side of the approach gully if you head up there. Cragganmore and The Chase is Better than the Catch are a couple of good multi pitches in the same zone. Right on the crest of the Mount Stephen’s North Buttress, is one of Field’s finest assets. It’s a four-pitch route called Twisted that can sometimes be mixed with some interesting options, and sometimes it’s a pure WI5. In fat years, McNally’s and Glen Morangie tend to form on either side it, but January to March of 2016 was a
particularly well formed year for this zone. Glen Morangie and Twisted became one, and a couple of high quality routes formed to their right.
I was climbing at Pilsner one day, which is one of my standard back-up plans when my main objective for the day doesn’t work out, when I noticed a steep and slender pillar formed in a place I’d never seen ice before. An interesting looking dagger dangled about 100 m above it with some moderate looking ice and rock in between. I couldn’t get it out of my mind all week, so sure enough, I found myself there the next weekend with a rack of trad gear, a power drill and a handful of bolts. By the time I was nearing the dagger, I ran out of bolts to get to it as the rock became too steep and compact to go naturally.
A few days later, I returned, finished bolting it on aid, then lowered and sent the pitch, thus finishing the first ascent of Nasty Habit. I suspected it probably would receive somewhere between zero and five repeats, however by the end of the season, over a couple of hundred climbers ticked it. Two other variation finishes off the halfway ledge also got put up that year including Blob Blob Blob and Fat Tug, and both became popular too. I suppose these shouldn’t be missed should they form again.
Many other fantastic mixed climbs lurk on the neighbouring mountains of this incredible valley, so be sure to venture beyond the handful of selects mentioned above. All of the above routes have avalanche danger so climb smart and conservatively, and consult Sean Isaac’s 2004 edition of Mixed Climbs in the Canadian Rockies for more information.