How to Climb Polar Circus in 4 Pitches

Over the past few weeks William Skea and I have gotten out a lot (mostly climbing... and a little bit of skiing) so I was pretty bummed when he told me he was leaving the Rockies and heading to the coast to focus on his ski guide training in Whistler. On Wednesday night however, I got a surprise text from Will telling me that his furnace in his camper van broke. He said he was going to have to stick around Canmore for the next few days to fix it and asked me if I wanted to do one more climb together before he actually left for good. During this time I was also dealing with some pretty major personal issues and as a result was not sure how much longer I would be in Canada for, so without too much convincing I agreed for one last hoorah before we both parted ways, and so we went about scheming for potential routes to do. Because of the uncharacteristically low avalanche hazards recently and the fact that neither of us had climbed it before, we quickly elected for a "lighting fast" ascent of Polar Circus with the plan of trying to simul climb the entire route using a combination of Micro Traxions and Tiblocs for running belays. We met at EP in Canmore on Thursday afternoon and carpooled in Will's camper out to the Icefields Parkway where we spent the night camped out in the Rampart Hostel's parking lot and watched some Australian comedy (Michael Cusack's Damo and Darren sketches Will was enthusiastically showing me).           

The key to covering LOTS of ground quickly (and safely???). In total we had 3 Micro Traxions and 2 Tiblocs for the route.

Gearing up in Will's camper on Thursday night, ready to pounce in the early, early AM.

When we left the car at 4:45 in the morning it was a balmy - 40 (that's correct, negative four zero) and to be honest it did not really warm up at all as we were in the shade for the whole route. Also a brief fun fact for all those people reading this... when the temperatures are that cold degrees Fahrenheit and degrees Celsius are the same! For this reason alone, I think simuling is a valuable technique as it allowed Will and I to stay constantly moving (with the exception of the last two pitches) throughout the 700 meters of ascent which kept us warm while climbing. 

Will marching off towards the base of the route in the dark.

Soloing the approach ice steps.

Once we got to the base of the first steep ice pitch, we loaded Will up with all of the widgets and ice screws and he set off into the abyss. Essentially our strategy was to climb with ~ 40 meters of rope between the two of us. I would lead belay Will with a Grigri until he got to the top of whatever pitch he was leading, at which point he would then clip a Micro Traxion/Tibloc directly to a screw (or the bolted anchor) and keep climbing. As soon as the leader rigs the toothed ascender device, the second immediately begins following and manages their own slack by feeding out or taking up rope using their Grigri which they leave attached to them. This way, if the follower does fall then the toothed ascender device prohibits them from pulling off the leader as well which would be catastrophic. Employing this strategy Will and I quickly dispatched the first three WI3 pitches on the route and arrived at the base of the three upper tiers (each normally climbed in two pitches) right at dawn. I then took the lead and we simuled to the base of the top tier where we switched leads once again.   

Arriving at the base of the top tier (normally the top of the 7th pitch of the route but technically the top of our 2nd pitch because of simuling...). 

At this point we took a quick breather, drank some water, ate a snickers bar, and then Will took the lead for the last pillar which we climbed in two FULL 60m pitches as the ice was pretty steep and we were both feeling a little gassed. 

Leading the upper tier. I love this photo because Will is completely dwarfed by the massiveness of the ice flow. Also for beta the bolted anchors are on the ice ledge directly above where Will is in this photo.  

Will heading out of the belay cave on the final pitch. 

The 3 upper tiers of Polar Circus. Photo credit to Mike Abbey, an Exum guide who was climbing the route behind us. If you zoom in you can just barely see a tiny climber (either Will or Myself) at the top of the ice flow which gives you some more perspective and scale for how big the route is. 

Looking down at all of the ground we covered. You can see the road (top right in the photo) very far below. Also just something to note: all of the guidebooks and the ice and mixed app list Polar Circus as 700m long but Will clocked the whole day on his fancy GPS watch and from the road to the top of the final tier the watch read 900m.

Nothing more than a Polish Circus! We were both looking a little frosty at the top...

Beginning the rappels, with a view of Cirrius Mountain in the way back.

Will rapping over the pencil. In some years this crazy WI6 pillar forms and it allows a much more direct line of ascent to access the base of the upper tiers. However this year Will and I balked at the M-hard conditions and followed the beaten in boot pack which avoids this pitch by traversing around up and to the right and then back left.   

Some serious Avy debris at the base of the normal/standard second pitch. 

More Avy debris! Be very careful when climbing this route. When we climbed it the Avy Bulletin was Low, Low, Moderate, and we both had a shovel and probe in our packs just in case. If the avy danger is any higher than what we had, I personally would not want to be on this route. 

The top tier of Polar Circus directly visible from our parked car. 

 All in all it was a fantastic day on what Will and I agreed was our favorite pure ice climb we have both ever done in the Rockies. Simuling that much terrain simply put was awesome and it definitely opened my eyes up to what is possible with a strong partner and efficient systems/techniques.

Mixed Master in some rather lean conditions. Gotta come back next time for this one!