20 Questions
Describe your climbing background:
I am originally from the east coast (Saint John, New Brunswick). I was always into the outdoors and adventure type activities as a young lad. I white watered kayaked in the summers and snowboarded in the winters while in high school. I always knew that climbing would be something I would like. It seemed like the ultimate adventure. Finally when I went to university in Thunder Bay, Ontario when I was 18, I managed to beg someone to take me out to the local crag and show me how to climb. That same winter, I went ice climbing for my first time. I remember it was a brutal -30 Celsius, I got a wicked case of the barfies, bashed my knuckles all to hell but I dug it. I was immediately smitten and it didn’t take too long before climbing took more of my attention than classes. After two years of suffering through boring lectures, I decided to take a winter off school to go rock climbing in New Zealand and Australia. When I left I was a fledging 5.7 leader. By the time the 7 month trip was up, I redpointed my first 5.12 at Arapiles. I also paddled and surfed down there. It was the experience I needed—an intro to dirt bagging. I traveled and climbed for 7 months on only $3000. Needless to say, I didn’t make it back to school. After seeing the mountains of New Zealand, I wanted to learn more about mountaineering. I knew we had cool mountains in Canada, so I bought a station wagon and drove out west to the Canadian Rockies and never looked back….

Why climb ice?
A simple answer: It’s Canada. We have a looooooong winter to say the least, so ice climbing makes sense. Climbers who live in areas without winter denounce drytooling as contrived. Indeed it would be if your idea of winter were good crisp rock climbing conditions. Drytooling is our version of winter rock climbing when the days are short and the average temp hovers around -10 degrees Celsius.

Describe a climbing experience when things got out of hand:
Near misses and epics are OK as long as we learn from them. It’s when we have near misses and ignore the lessons taught by them that are foolish. My best epic of the self-imposed variety was Conny Amelunxen and my first ascent of the east face of Cerro Mascara (aka The Mummer) in Patagonia. We spent 14 days on the wall living out of a portaledge and getting hammered by some of the worst weather imaginable. The winds shredded our portaledge and ropes and scared us senseless. We had ten days of food and water so you do not have to be a mathematician to figure out that we were hungry. We were psyched to make the first ascent of this often tried 800-meter virgin face but it took its toll on our bodies. We both lost more weight than skinny guys should and both got trench foot. Ouch!

What are you up to when you’re not climbing?
Learning to be a parent; bumbling around on my skis in winter and my mountain bike in summer. I’ve also gotten back into skateboarding. I was fanatical about skating when I was a kid. Now I go to the skate park with my son, Noah. He is the youngest there (3 years old) and I am by a wide margin the oldest. I have 14-year-old punks laughing at all my pads.

Any training advice or suggestions?
If you are a novice or intermediate climber, get out and climb as much as you can on as many different mediums as possible. Ice, mixed and alpine climbing is experienced-based. The more experience, the better you are at making decisions and judging terrain. Bouldering is a great basis for building strength and movement skills that can be applied to all aspects of climbing. My main feedback to climbers who want to improve as an ice climber or alpine climber is to take it slow. Work through the progressions and learn from climbers with more experience. Get out with a variety of partners and soak it up. Maybe I’m a little too cautious, but climbing is a dangerous game so take small steps and get the necessary knowledge and experience.

Who or what inspires you?
Dharma climbers and weekend warriors; essentially both ends of the social spectrum. The climbing bum who has given up everything for the dream and the guy/gal with a full-time job and family that still is super psyched and pulls hard.

How do you see climbing evolving in the next five years?
My crystal ball is murky but if the last 10 years is any indication on how fast ice climbing can morph then the next 10 years is sure to have some surprises in waiting for us: “freeing” El Cap A5 routes with ice tools in winter; single-push ascents of north face of Jannu; massive enchainments like the traverse of the Cerro Torre or Fitzroy group; etc.

Care to comment on: heel spurs, leashes vs. leashless, falling on ice, impact of drytooling?
Ice and mixed climbing is a constantly evolving game. The rules are constantly changing at the whims of top-end climbers. I got into this type of climbing because there were no rules. I still like the anarchist aspect of mixed climbing. Yes, it is contrived but that is what makes it so cool. The further something is removed from real life the more intrinsic value it provides. But back to the question at hand, leashless makes climbing easier (and is way more intuitive) and heel-spurs make climbing big roofs easier. If folks want to make something more challenging then good but if someone wants to use the available technology to get up something and it doesn’t affect the environment or other people in a negative way then why not. I say do what you want and just be up front about how you did it. The worst thing in climbing though is imposing elitist attitudes on others. Climbing is about having fun so do whatever is fun to you. It’s not like we are doctors or coming up with the cures for the world, we are pursuing a selfish endeavor and must keep perspective on that.

As for the impacts of drytooling, this can be interpreted different ways. Its impact on alpine climbing has been and will continue to be significant albeit slow. Drytooling fast and “free” where aiders use to be used is happening and will continue to be pushed. Drytooling and mixed crags have also increased the overall standard of winter climbing. Now the average winter climber is knocking off M7 and M8 in their first year of mixed climbing when in the not so distant past this was the realm of few experts. Then there are the negative impacts of drytooling; the rock damage. Scratching has become an accepted evil of metal on rock but it is unsightly and should be minimized. Maybe the future will be true mixed free climbing where hands are used on the rock then tools are donned for the ice sections.

Any near death experiences?
I certainly hope not. however, a few good epics. My biggest wreck was in 2001 while helping to put up a new mixed crag. I climbed up three bolts Rob Owens had installed on lead then tensioned right to a WI4 pillar which I was going to climb to the top then haul the drill up to place the last few bolts instead of aiding directly up to the drip we were aiming for. As I neared the top of the pillar the whole thing cracked sending me for a 30 -footer with the falling mass of ice (estimated to be 20,000 pounds). I slammed side ways into the wall and the ice slammed me. When I came too I was surprised that no bones were broken, just lots of major bruising, a few deep cuts and a renewed respect for slender ice columns.

Are you a fan of climbing history? Explain?
Good question since I actually love climbing history. I have a big library of climbing books both vintage and modern. They are the only things I collect. I’ve always been into reading about the old expeditions. The explorations of Shipton and Tillman are so inspiring. Climbing history is important since it gives you a basis or foundation to build upon as a climber. You can’t go forward unless you know where you have been.