Sunday Oct 27 2013 - Climbing! Well...sort of..

October 27, Sunday, headed back to Campbell Lake with some gear and drilled an anchor, rock is surprisingly hard and the drill was not fully charged so one bolt only, but very likely the first climbing bolt ever drilled in this part of the Arctic. Set up a rope on a nice section of limestone and worked some moves on a mixed line that was entirely ice free. The irony of having a region so covered in surface and subsurface water, i.e. water everywhere and indeed above the cliffs and no water at all dripping anywhere does not escape me. Regardless, fun little route did it a number of times, utilizes some cool limestone features, strong horizontal break above a boulder start overhang to an eroded slot feature to smooth rock and a mossy exit. Fun. Then moved over to the main cliff to a clean pick width crack system under the primary roof system. Will try and drill this route from the ground as it cannot be top roped due to the roof. Worked out some moves that gets one to the point where a fall would start to hurt. It will move from great placements in the crack to an overlap and moves left to another crack leading to the base of the roof. From there perhaps right to skirt the issue or the roof directly on a crack that splits it. Will try and set up a rope system but would be infinitely easier with a belayer. Temps were mild all weekend hovering around -2 to -6, bit of a wind on Sunday, calm on Saturday. Dempster is in good shape, finally, and truck traffic is increasing. Seasonal averages are -10 to -17; so weather is really good right now.

Views up a gulley of frozen moss - which leads to the top of the bluff. Rocks frozen in the moss are really well embedded, if one isn't using crampons, better with though.

Back at the road, literally, and more scenic with the 300m L Series - sharp lens. This is the road surface in good to great shape, nice and frozen. It's been 4 inches of mud for the last 2 months - global warming

The morning started out with some lettering on the lake for passing aircraft. Why not?

Weekend of October 25 2013

Oct 26, went out looking for cliffs, etc. walked an old road that leads to an abandoned quarry. On Google Earth it shows the quarry as a lake in excavated bed rock. Not so simply an old pit on the edge of a small stream. No easy access to the cliff bands on the north side of Campbell Lake. Headed back and cut through the bush to outcrops in behind the active quarry. Found some nice clean cracks on boulder sized rock and another which would require a rope. Tripod fell over and filled the camera with snow. Fortunately no damage as it dumped into deep moss. Headed back to the truck and continued down to Campbell Lake. Hiked up to the scarp near the road and before the side road that leads to the other quarry; approx 7-8 minutes to the base via open brush. As with most things in the arctic it is about half the size it looks to be but still has several impressive overhangs. It’s very featured rock, dark, hard dolomite limestone, and solid. Much potential for route development, a person could easily put in 30 plus 4 and 5 bolt sport routes in the mid 10 range. Lots of potential power moves. Hiked back from the scarp to another series of cliff bands that were more rotten and chippy but could offer some route potential. I also hiked over to the official Campbell Lake viewpoint, which offers limited panoramas of the region, better views of the end of the unfinished trail. I walked another road leading to yet another gravel pit south of the parking lot for the view point. Old camper and tent site there, limited camping options unless one wants to sit and look at the pit. Someone had recently removed a canvas tent. People were down the way cutting wood with tremendously dull chainsaws. Apparently sharpening teeth is beyond some individuals who would rather chew through the minuscule version of spruce that abound in the Delta.

End of the old quarry, small creek in a gulley with some potential slopes for turns higher up when there is snow on the ground

Inuvik version of Stonehenge - teeth off of an excavator bucket

Very clean crack with very good friction, looks a bit rotten but you can actually pull on the small crimpers Views from the top of the bluff - Dempster heading south, open trees, and a very old fired damaged tree with 60cm DBH, big tree for here. Also a test pic to see if the lens was still working, through the snow event. Nice splitter crack on this bluff to -about 9m long.

Campbell Lake viewpoint proper. There is a viewing platform, bench and a cement pad or two. 5 minute walk from the parking lot. Nice views but the platform should have been further along.

Sunsets from the quarry across the way, looks still active though shut down for the moment. No equipment but measured piles of 3/4 crush. shots across the delta are actually after the sun has set and the blown out spot that looks like the sun is a linear refection off of the base of the cloud deck

Exploring the cliff band - nice layer of limestone, lots of holds, roofs, etc. Views across the lake, and looking down the Dempster. The big cliff across the way look very promising.