Ice Climbing In Colorado

Ouray Ice Park

The Park in Ouray is perfect for early season training.  The avalanche conditions are high at the moment so hanging out at the park is what we've been doing mostly. We hope to get an open window of good weather to do a few classic routes in the following week or so.

The first few steps of " Get it while you can"  a new ice route in Ouray. It's one long pitch ,  a few technical spots but nothing to crazy. WI4 and a few moves on rock . 

Driving dirt bikes in snow... what a trip!  Getting them started is the main thing . They seem to dislike the cold lately, at least this time  they did.  We had to boost them with Jay's truck. 

Chasing the light in Arches Nat Park

Calixte LeBlanc
We had a slow start that day but eventually we made it out of the house and went for a drive in Arches National Park. It' s been snowing non stop for the past 24 hours so it's very different looking landscapes. The snow makes it all the more interesting....

Driving through Arches was a little chill, but being Canadian we can handle it.  The big challenge with driving in cold is how long you can with stand the cold air with out stopping.  Stopping is good to warm up and it's an opportunity to take pictures. We stop a lot, we're in no rush but this day in particular we were chasing the light. It seem to be running away from us.

Landscapes of Utah

As a Photographer, the desert offers many photographic opportunity.

"The sun always seems to be in the way" someone once told me... I just always

include it in my shots.
This photo was taken at Gemini Bridges, few minutes before sunset.

One of the most beautiful views of Canyonlands, Mesa Arch

Sunset on Fisher Towers, some of the most impressive climbing lines in Utah.

Castleton Tower, one of the most climbed tower in the desert.

Photos by Alain Denis

Bouldering Big Bend Moab / Utah USA Dec 7th

Calixte LeBlanc
Traversing the Mushroom Boulder. Always a good warm up, before hitting the crimps. Big Bend's got it all. World class bouldering in Moab's back yard.

Renee

Renee is our new roommate. We met her three weeks ago and she's invited us to stay with her for the Xmas holidays. We couldn't resist an offer like that so we set base camp # 2 in Moab. We've already spent two weeks with her and she's been an enormous help to us. Not only as she welcomed us in to her home but she's been a great friend to us as well.

Lauren
Lately we've been bouldering a lot. The weather has been a little on the rainy side, but in the late afternoons we hit the boulders for a good work out. Lauren and Zeke are locals we spend our afternoons with at Big Bend. Zeke's three years old and he's already scaling the boulders.
Lauren and her son Zeke

Photos by Alain Denis

Cracks at Indian Creek Nov 20th 2007

Cat Wall, climber gets last call on Wild Cat.

Fiona Abraham on another 10+ Super Crack Butress

    Hanging out at Meat wall.... the view is OK???  Actually, as you can see it's more than "OK" . We had friends from all over Canada and the USA  reunite here for Thanks Giving, 2007. There was about 10 of us from Canada and 10 from the US .  We had excellent climbing days followed by good friends eating dinner together around a nice fire.
   Lots of Gear... Preparing before a climb  is necessary , It always helps when you know exactly what you need to bring for each individual climb.  They all require lots of gear.  Alain and I only brought 6 cams total.  Most people here with a standard rack consist of 50 - 70 cams.  Never would we be able to travel on our bikes with that amount of gear, luckily we had a lot of friends sharing their gear with us so we could climb these amazing cracks. 
                                    Darrel on Dos Hermanos 5 11+

   This is my second time spending thanks Giving with Darrel and it woudn't be the same with out him.  He's a great story teller around a fire, and he always makes sure that everyone has what they need to relax after a hard day of climbing.  He's also a great rope gun. He's been climbing there for a few years now and has climbed a number of routes.  He's great to have around cause he seems to be able to jump on anything and be successful.  

          Sore feet sore Hands... that's what the creek is all about!

Photos by Alain Denis

SPECIAL THANKS

TO

- PATAGONIA

Sterling Climbing Ropes

- Black Diamond Equipment

- MOUNTAIN EQUIPMENT CO-OP

- Turbo City

- INTEGRAL DESIGNS

Jasper Motor Cycle Tours

- GRAVITY GEAR &

- The Fitzhugh Newspaper

JASPER, ALBERTA

Base Jumping Moab Nov 28 2007

One day we were climbing at Wall Street along Potash road and we looked up and saw something fall from the sky. As it got closer we realized it was a base jumper. By the time Alain and I got our camera gear ready a second one had already came down. We were ready for the third one though. This video is from that day.

Some love the adrenaline!!!

Video by Calixte LeBlanc

White Rim trail, Moab Utah

Cal ripping around the desert

We spent a couple of days camping on the edge of the canyon lands. It's amazing the places you can access on a dirt bike. This campground here is on BLM land. You can sleep where ever you want. It's awesome it's exactly what Alain and I look for when we travel FREE CAMPING

Here's a shot of Cal drinking his morning coffee. It doesn't get much better than this. This is by far our nicest camping spot yet. A friend of ours from Alpine, Wyoming Steve Dicenso, invited us to camp with them at their usual spot. We saw them in down town Moab and they drew us a map on how to get there. We almost didn't find it but luckily we did. We stayed here for three nights. Had a great time.

Photos by Alain Denis

Indian Creek, Thanks Giving Reunion 2007

Darrel and Calixte taping up.






Darrell teaching me how to tape my hands, properly, I've never really crack climbed so I needed a little help with my taping technique. Tape helps the pain the Creek enforces on everyone. The sun was beating when we arrived at the Creek. Beautiful sunshine for a week, but day by day getting a little colder as december rolls in...

We woke up the morning after Thanks Giving in a foot of fresh snow.

It was time to come back to Moab.

Photos by Alain Denis

Fisher Towers, Moab Utah

Hiking around the Fisher Towers

is like walking in a giant sand castle land. A magical landscape.

Climbing is good here... if you're up to dirt climbs!

Photos by Alain Denis

Onion Creek

Cal having a little fun cleaning his bike, and the chaps! There must of been twenty of theses title river crossings. We had a blast ripping through them all day.

Our first night in Moab

It's two in the morning, we'd been driving since sunset, we were tired and wanting to arrive in Moab. I told Alain; lets pull over and find a flat spot to sleep and we'll go to Moab in the morning. He didn't seem to have a problem with that, so we agreed to pull over at the next road we see. So we turn right on to the road. To my surprise we hit a sand pit and I went down three times. I wasn't even in Moab 5 minutes and already I dipped my bike..............
We arrived at David Schipper's compound as we call it on Sept.28 2007. We heard he was showing a slide show on his recent expedition on K2. Alain and I though it would be a good place to meet some locals and get some info on Moab and the climbing area's around. As it ends up we stayed there for about a month. David or should I say "Schipper" showed the utmost hospitality towards us and made us feel at home in his home. As our stay progressed at David's we helped him with a few things he had to do around the compound. It was a beautiful place to wake up everyday and start the morning with a nice fresh cup of coffee and beautiful sun shining in our faces.

Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone is an interesting place.

Lots of tour bus, the park sees lots of traffic.

But we were lucky to be in off season with not so many tourists.

Climbing American Fort , Salt Lake city, Utah

Alex Terrance

Alex and Calixte climbing at American Forks, Great Sport climbing, only 45min drive from Salt Lake City.

Photos by Alain Denis

Climbing the Grand Teton 13 770 feet Oct 14 / 2007

We stoped here at 4 am in the dark surrounded by boulders and snow. It was time to pick a flat spot and establish base camp # 1 . We woke up the next morning at 9:30 am, packed our gear and headed up the boulder field. We didn't take the right trail and ended up by crossing 3 separate boulder fields. We arrived at the base of the route and it was already 4 pm. We were moving extremely slow. We decided to head back and try another way the next day. We found the trail on our way down. It was a lot faster going down in the trail. It'll a be a lot faster for next time we go up and attempt the route

Our first climbing destination was the Grand Tetons. We left at midnight with a 60 pound pack on shoulders made our up the valley guided by our little head lamps. We had enough food to feed a small country. We spent the following 4 days in this magnificent valley. Our 3 rd day we climbed the Owen Spalding route.
As you can see by the picture it was full on mountaineering conditions. We got about 100 feet from the summit and decided to turn around because of the ice on the route. None the less we had a great time.

Photos by Alain Denis

Entering Montana Oct 5 / 2007

Entering Montana was our first big challenge. They wanted to know everything about us and our bikes.

Alain did most of the talking or should I say flirting. He said all the right things cause here we are driving in Big Sky country. Photo by Alain Denis

Day 1 Sept 28/2007 Leaving the Canadian Rockies

Our only problem was saying good bye to Ice Climbing Paradise for the next 3 - 4 years...............

September 11th 2007, Alain and I organized and evening of live music and Photography.

We raised $1000 to donate to people in need all over the world. Some of the funds will go towards helping rebuild homes and schools that where lost in Hurricane Dean that hit Mexico and Central America in late august this year.

We would like to thank all our friends and family, and the locals of Jasper for supporting our cause.

Cal & Al

Our first day on the road was a little cold, but the feeling of freedom kept us warm. Never will we ever forget that day....The beginning of a long journey.

Photos by Alain Denis