Highway 16 Ice Climbing

Where to begin?...?

There is a ton of ice all along Highway 16 between Telkwa and Prince Rupert. There are also alpine routes and great mountaineering. If you're looking for some good ice cragging, there are tons of places to pull off and swing your tools. Although many of the ice flows are short and/or don't seem to form up very well, there are a ton of super fun climbs here. It seems like the further west you go, the bigger the climbs get.

Generally speaking, you can do your cragging directly on the highway. There is enough room on the sides for the snow plow to pile up a wall that will stop any car from swerving into you while on belay, but the rush of a semi-truck barreling down the freeway at 100+ km/h is enough to make anyone pause for a second while hanging from their picks. Most ice flows have a pullout plowed nearby and the approach takes just seconds. Simply grab up your gear and run across to the ice!

There are many alpine ice routes and the further west you get, the easier they are to spot from the highway. Of course, there is a ton of climbing in this vast area, but I'm only just discovering it's incredible potential for myself and it's winter right now.