Having arrived in Canada the day before, I couldn't wait to get myself on some ice. For the past month, I've been envisioning ice movements and following the local forums with climbers' reports. Luckily, Hedd-wyn was available to climb on Saturday. We planned to have dinner in Canmore with his family that evening, so decided to get an early start.

6:30am, we loaded all the gear in the truck and headed for the Ghost. Given that it gets light at 8am, our plan was to already be in the valley at that time. Everything was going smoothly, until we buried the truck in a wind packed snow drift. We got out to dig... brr, what a cold way to start the day. We were high centred on the windpacked snow, and after lots of effort with two shovels, we broke up the snow enough to start moving again. Unfortunately, there was a slight incline and the drift kept sucking us in deeper. Painfully, we watched a beautiful Ghost sunrise. In the end we winched to a tree and managed to get out (a group with a guy named Raz stopped by to help too, thanks guys!) Such is climbing in the Ghost!

After some more driving adventures and a hike up Malamute Valley and the frozen Claw Creek (which was very tricky without crampons!), we made it to the base of the Fang & Fist. It looked like the real business consisted of 3 pillars connected by easier ice. Since it was already noon and the drive had delayed us so much, there was no time to sit around. I was feeling good and gave the first one a go - the pillar was vertical and in difficult conditions (brittle, dry and chandeliery) but quite short, making it a grade 5. I went a full rope length to the base of the second pillar, which looked just as vertical and intimidating as the first one. Feeling strong, I carefully started up, cleaning the chandeliers and enjoying the technical nature of the climbing - it was over before I knew it. The joys of early season ice! At the base of the third pillar I excavated some good ice for a belay, and Hedd-wyn shortly joined me. There was only abou 60 feet to the top of the climb and I really wanted to give it a go, but it was 3:30pm already and we had a dinner to go to, so we started rapping off from there. We were pretty happy and felt like we had accomplished plenty, especially since this was the first climb of the season for both of us!

We aimed to get the most complicated part of the driving done before it got dark, as the route finding was tricky. We were both tense and knew the day wasn't over until we got out of the Ghost. Luckily, there were no more hiccups thanks to Hedd-wyn's excellent driving. Next was a yummy dinner in Canmore... a perfect day!

And here is a topo map and some GPS waypoints.

	Stuck in a wind drift in the Ghost	the hand winch comes out	Sunrise in the Ghost

	Sunrise in the Ghost		an essential tool for the ghost

	our tree	enjoying the sunrise as we are winching	Hiking up Malamute Valley

	Hedd-wyn hiking up the fork in the creek	hiking in	Beautiful approach!

	slippery :)	Lots of random climbs during the approach

		Our first view of the climb!	Niiiiiice.

	The gorgeous Fist & Fang	closer view of the pillars	First pitch

		First pitch pillar	Hedd-wyn with the first pillar

	gearing up for the climb	approaching the pillar	done the first pillar

	continuing the first pitch	it keeps going...	Belay

	The second pillar, overhanging at the start	Looking down the full length of the first pitch	Nice view across the valley

	i am almost done the second pillar	working the second pillar	spectacular valley view!

		Hedd-wyn coming up the 2nd pitch	Third pillar

	Hedd-wyn with his new beard :)	comfy sitting belay :)	So close to the top..

	Me at the bottom before we hike out