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Levi's Ankle
Total Height:
Technical Grade:
Location:
100 ft (30M)
WI 4
Summit Lake, Waterton
Note for 13 Dec 03: I went with Blair Piggot and Mike Trehearne. Temperatures were around -5°C and no wind. Lots of snow in the Summit Lake area. The two climbs at the drainage of Summit Lake (Levi's Ankle and Franklin's Motel) were well formed. You might consider calling them grade 3 climbs.


13 Dec 03 - These are the two climbs. The left one is called Levi's Ankle, and the right one (which is where the creek drains) is called Franklin's Motel. They are both rated at WI-4, but for different reasons. Levi's Ankle has less of an angle, but rotten ice. Franklin's Motel has good ice, but the angle is pretty steep.



13 Dec 03 - We rapped off of trees at the top of Levi's Ankle. When you approach the climbs, you may find it useful to stay on the right side of the creek as you leave Summit Lake. The creek actually drains over Franklin's Motel, but you should be on the right side of the creek for either climb. While the climb is only 30m's long, a single 60m rope would be a close fit to rap from the trees. Depending on snow depth, you may have to downclimb a meter. As you can see from this picture, Blair is standing in a lot of snow.



13 Dec 03 - This is looking up the climb from the base. As you can see the ice is quite chandeliered. All three of us top roped this climb, but then Blair pulled the rope down to lead Franklin's Motel.



13 Dec 03 - Here we see Mike (left) belaying Blair (right).



13 Dec 03 - Here we see Blair starting the climb. The bottom part of this climb was more like frozen snow than ice. Lots of egg shell stuff too.



13 Dec 03 - This is Blair reaching the chandeliered ice.



13 Dec 03 - I'm not sure what kind of technique Blair is trying to use here, but it sure is funny looking.



13 Dec 03 - More of Blair playing with the chandeliers.



13 Dec 03 - Finally, Blair gets through the difficult section.



13 Dec 03 - Just above where Blair is at this point, the ice starts to disappear. You actually have to place your tools into frozen mud and moss.