Ice - Johnson Canyon

<p>Adventure cragging. **Catwalk is closed owing to damaged support allowing catwalk to droop and potentially collapse. Walking on the outside of the catwalk fence a few metres before following the hillside down to creek level, then up the creek to the base area. Part of the ice was collapsing and is likely to get worse this week as temps rise. Water depth was less than boot top but could get deeper if more ice disappears. **We started with an easy line on the right side slabs. We used a rap anchor located by crawling under a large tree. NB this large tree is the old anchor tree with the big chain. **We then lead up the main falls starting below Prism falls, climbing on petals that made finding screws hard and of questionable reliability. A leftward traverse on what I dubbed the "balcony" was pretty easy and offered some better quality screw placements, gaining the main falls. I had to clear lots of snow to get to ice, easily a foot deep. Main falls were fun highly featured climbing, lots of mushrooms and petals. There is a sizeable open hole with high flow behind it and a thin shell to be very careful of. I used much better ice on the left to get around it before getting to poor quality ice for the top out. I cut a hard right and belayed on some great quality ice for the anchor, along the rock wall. **The deep freeze resulted in a high collapse rate on the big pillars. Many snapped and fell but there has been some regrowth. Just a reminder that climbers access in this area is contingent on not mixed climbing or drytooling on the wall behind the pillars. This wall is home to many species of lichens and algae, some of which are endangered/protected. As such Parks requires we don't climb on that rock. This is old news as listed in both the old JoJo guidebook and reproduced in the I&M app. </p>

Weather Conditions

Cloudy, Sunny, Warm.