Swift Blade - steadfast in the Canadian Winter

Tanja Schmitt, Heike Schmitt and Matthias Scherer arrived on October 21st 2019in the Canadian Rockies. In 40 days they climbed 30 days ice and mixed. This film features two lines of all the climbs they did during that ice trip : 'French Reality' and 'Killer Pillar', both on the Stanley Headwall.
Conditions were severe with low temperatures and fresh formed ice. The last pitch of 'French Reality' - the crux ice pitch (WI 6+) - had seen no ascent before that season...
A full report and reflections about this trip can be read on:
matthias-scher...
www.tanja-schm...

[@mikelfernandezgomez1666]

"I was able to set a 13cm screw in a blob of ice well stuck to the rock before the CRITICAL part of the pilar..." RRRRRRRIGGGGHHHHT... the pilar you just climbed to get to that point was piece of cake....🤣🤣🤣🤣. Seriously, the three of you are light years ahead of any other ice aficionado... Great video!!!

[@c.5376]

Stas.

[@drewcunningham2]

The Stanely Headwall is serious to be sure - some great climbing!!! - loved watching Marc Andre LeClerc free solo the headwall in the film "The Alpinist"

[@brettnipps7205]

Great filming of the climbs, it's been 15-20 years since I ice climbed but I loved doing it. The sounds of the unattached ice brought back memories, so hollow is the sound probably vibrated the ice as well. The delicate axe work as well. Thank you!!

[@icespecter]

🤙🙏

[@thomaschilcott]

Icespecter crew! It's so good to see you making KZbin content again, I love all your IG posts obviously, but nothing beats a good long video. Best of luck for the New Year!

[@kimmccabe1422]

Nothing like the feeling, Pre, During and Post climb. A successful ascending, summiting and descending!! 👍 Wow. Let's get warm, hydrate, eat yummy food, lots of rest and lets do it again!!

[@VendettaProspecting]

That was pretty epic! Thanks for taking me along your journey! I’ll take the desert any day over that cold or however 🤙🤙👌

[@christophemonod4249]

Très beau film, une belle source d'inspiration et un trio au sommet de l’esthétisme. J'admire votre engagement et votre grande motivation !!!!

[@thomaschilcott]

Also, I just re-watched this and I have to say, the cut on those Norrona pants, especially at the ankle is AMAZING. I'm so sick of flappy trousers and these look really well thought-out.

[@icespecter]

Yes - the Trollveggen Gore Tex Pro Bibs is definitely the best hard shell pants I’ve used so far - the cut of the bibs especially the lower leg is excellent with very little possibilities for the crampons to get caught 👍 www.norrona.com/en-GB/products/trollveggen/trollveggen-gore-tex-pro-bib-mens/

[@RossThompson89]

lol 2:49 the belayer windmilling his arm to stay warm hahaha i love this.

[@shepusmc]

Excellent film. Each part was exciting. I loved watching the delicate movement up such thin scary ice.

[@themiddleog8930]

Incredible lead on Killer Pillar.

[@icespecter]

🙏🤘

[@MrJw0lf]

The Stanley head wall is awesome !! Glad to see you guys were able to get up that way this trip !

[@carlswenson5403]

10:30 - This is a commanding lead. Bravo. Reminds me of my old friend Jim Detterline.

[@xMrJanuaryx]

Pretty darn scary stuff, good job guys! Teamwork makes the dream work!

[@jaimenavarrogutierrez6337]

I've watched this video so many times! Great to see you guys always getting after it around here! i hope to bump into you this season. Question: What camera do you use for your recording?

[@jonmurua]

That looks like you had fun in Autumn! I see that you climb with Ergonomics. Do they perform better than Nomics for this type of terrain (90-95° ice)?

[@icespecter]

Hi Jon, the Ergonomics perform better in very steep and overhanging ice - they have due to their geometry and different handle a wider clearance than the Nomics.

[@Callahan555]

Awesome!

[@roxannegordon6162]

It's now Feb 2021. Are you two still alive? It boggles my mind that the statistics of living a long life doing this has to be a challenge. I wish you all well.

[@icespecter]

Yeah still alive and climbing 🤙

[@gabrielmarias972]

Hi guys! Amazing ice pillars! Looks really technical, but cool to see! What model of gloves do you prefer for climb-belay? How you do to matain the belay glove kind of warmth and dry during the climbs? Sometimes its snowing, water running down.... Any tip to avoid cold hands? And for the foot? Thin shock with more warmth boot? Mid shock? I experience maybe too tight boot could be a problem, or maybe the tension of the laces of the boot... Thx a lot!

[@icespecter]

Hi Gabriel, We use the Norrøna Falketind dri gloves for climbing : www.norrona.com/en-GB/products/falketind/falketind-dri-short-gloves-mw/ For belaying: the Norrøna Lofoten Primaloft Dri glove www.norrona.com/en-GB/products/lofoten/lofoten-dri1-primaloft170-short-ski-gloves/ and the Norrøna Trollveggen GTX gloves www.norrona.com/en-GB/products/trollveggen/trollveggen-gore-tex-gloves/ For the boots we use the La Sportiva G5 : www.lasportiva.com/it/calzature-uomo/alpinismo/g5 Works perfect with the BOA / Velcro closure and is the best compromise between warmth and precision. We all use one pair of thick wool socks in them - never two pairs or liner socks Cheers

[@petergaeta3730]

please keep posting these videos.

[@Govanification]

Awesome video, you and your crew are incredible climbers and I love your calm demeanor. At 8:30 did you cut off some of your climbing rope to leave for that double V-thread rappel setup? Looks much thicker than accessory cord!

[@icespecter]

Glad that you like the video 🤙 We used some old rope for the V-threads. Cheers

[@leigh-annewebster7675]

Wow! Amazing climbing.

[@evelynwall7470]

@7:00 well that's the scariest thing I've seen on KZbin holy shit

[@qthemusiq4461]

Do you have any merch with your logo? Love the logo and don't see enough people promoting ice climbing.

[@icespecter]

Hi Shawn, not yet - we are working on that.

[@FreakyExperiment]

Great video and great performance ;) I see that you climb with bi-points, but it's often said that mono are beter in steep ice, what do you think about that ?

[@icespecter]

On pure ice routes I climb always with dual points in asymmetrical configuration - it works perfectly as you can see well in the video.

[@wesgoulding9244]

That was so sick!!!!!!!!

[@markzieber9733]

The ice at 5:10 did not sound good :) Well done.

[@icespecter]

🤙🤘🙏

[@iboyce485]

Music was way too dramatic.... could’ve done without.. instead, watched it on mute. Footage from the second icefall (with gropro) was pretty sick 👍🏼 good job! Solid.

[@damienroy5846]

Ice climbing is terrifying.

[@micky3206]

Der Matthias Scherer ist da nur hoch gekommen weil Er den Petzl ERGO ( Ha Ha Ha ) hat mit dem Nomic hàtte es schon anders ausgesehen :-) :-) :-) Ich habe den ERGO auch und finde den Super den Nomic auch der ist auch spitze vielleicht weil Ich mit dem Nomic nur 200 Wasserfàlle geklettert bin und mit dem ERGO 300 :-)