Calgary’s unseasonably warm weather may have put a damper on some winter sports, but there’s still ice climbing in the city’s southeast.
Staff at backcountry shop Sequoia Supply created a nine-metre-tall ice climbing wall outside the building earlier this year.
Jason Shaver, who helped build the wall, said they knew they’d have to contend with Calgary’s fluctuating winter temperatures.
“One of our engineers came up with a design that kind of mitigated a lot of those things,” he said. “We have the fabrication resources to do this, so we just built it.”
Shaver says the team started construction just after Christmas, and used a steel structure to suspend chain-link fencing material vertically with corrugated steel sheeting on the south-facing side in an effort to shield the wall from the heat of the sun.
“We attached a water line, and it slowly drips from the top,” he said. “So when it’s cold, we just let it slow drip overnight. It’s actually not a lot of water that’s used, but we do heat (the waterline) so it doesn’t freeze overnight.”
Store owners Barry Nevokshonoff and Kevin Keenan say they regularly host evening sessions with experts to discuss various backcountry adventures.
On Feb. 27, the team is hosting an introduction to ice climbing class.
“It’s 100 per cent free,” Nevokshonoff said. “You will not get pressure from us, we don’t try to get you in the store, but just come in and enjoy yourself and learn something.”
Nevokshonoff says he and Keenan are avid backcountry users, but their knowledge doesn’t compare to what professional backcountry guides can offer.
“We hire guides to go to the mountains all the time, even with our experience,” he said. “To have them in to teach you different techniques, and the proper and the safe way to do things, that’s what we want to instill in our customers.”
Even as the mercury climbs, Philippe Marquis-Driard and Oakley Werenka say the wall is still good to climb.
The two regularly use the wall to train.
“If you’re cold, you can go inside the building,” said Marquis-Driard. “It’s nice to have it right here in the city, because otherwise we all have to drive like an hour at least to get to some good ice.”
Marquis-Driard says what he loves most about ice climbing is that it’s temporary, the ice forms and then disappears.
“Every year it’s different, every week it’s different, every day is different, the ice wall looks very different today than it looked two weeks ago,” he said.
“Ice climbing can be dangerous, but when you know what you’re doing, when you go out with people who have some experience, it makes all the difference and it’s going to make your first day out much safer and also just nicer than if you go out on your own.”
Shaver says this is a trial season for the ice wall and now they’re looking at designing a taller, wider wall for 2026.
