A lone climber hangs in a pool of blue light while the canyon walls rise into a sky full of stars. Banff photographer Paul Zizka made these night images at Haffner Creek, one of the most popular winter climbing crags in the Canadian Rockies.
Zizka is an award-winning landscape and adventure photographer, a mountaineer and a Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society. Much of his work happens in the high country around Banff, and ice is a favourite subject: his long-running Cryophilia project follows vanishing ice around the world.
Where Haffner Creek is in the Canadian Rockies
Haffner Creek lies in Kootenay National Park, just across the Continental Divide in British Columbia. The crag sits a little over 1,500 m (about 5,000 ft) above sea level, where the creek has cut a narrow canyon through the rock.
From Banff, drive about 30 km west on the Trans-Canada Highway (Highway 1) to Castle Junction, then turn south onto Highway 93, the Banff–Windermere Highway. The trailhead is a small parking area beside a set of solar panels. A forest path of 15 to 20 minutes leads to the canyon walls. The lot is small and fills fast on winter weekends, so arrive early.
In summer the same path is a short hike to a waterfall and the canyon. Nearby Marble Canyon, a few minutes further down Highway 93, is another of the park’s classic short walks and a winter ice venue in its own right.
Ice and mixed climbing at Haffner Creek
Haffner is best known as a mixed-climbing training ground. Many lines are bolted, so climbers can practise dry tooling, hooking ice axes and crampons on bare rock, before moving onto thin ice and hanging icicles. Other routes take traditional gear, and there are pure ice lines too: the Main Ice Wall and the Right Ice Pillar are both graded WI3.
Routes are single pitch, roughly 18 to 25 m (60 to 80 ft) long, and the descent is a simple walk back to the trail with no abseiling needed. Named lines include Half ’n’ Half, Fight Club, Sleek and Hand in Glove. Most grades are moderate, which explains why guides use the canyon for courses and why it is crowded on good days.
The season follows the cold. Ice forms through early winter and is usually at its best in the coldest months; at the start and end of the season expect thin, brittle sections. The canyon is generally seen as a low avalanche-risk venue, one more reason it suits learners.
How Zizka lights ice at night
In daylight a frozen canyon can look flat and grey. At night, a single light source turns it into sculpture. In these frames the ice glows blue and turquoise, while the rock around it falls into near-black. The climber becomes a small, sharp silhouette that tells you at once how big the pillars really are.
The same ideas work for any winter night shoot:
- Light from behind or the side. Backlit ice shows its depth and colour; frontal light flattens it.
- Use a person for scale. A bright jacket or a headlamp gives the eye a starting point.
- Let the shadows stay dark. A clean black frame around the ice makes the formations stand out.
- Keep batteries warm. Cold drains them fast, so carry spares inside your jacket.
Planning a winter climbing visit to Kootenay
A valid Parks Canada pass is needed to stop in the park. Read Parks Canada’s Kootenay safety information before you go, and check road reports for Highway 93, which crosses Vermilion Pass and can close in heavy snow. Ice climbing calls for proper training and gear; if you are new to it, book a course with a certified mountain guide from Banff or Canmore.
For more frozen scenery, see Stevin Tuchiwsky’s western Canada photographs, or read what the Dawn Wall’s first free ascent actually involved.
Related reading
- Apostle Islands Ice Caves: Brian Peterson’s 2014 Photo Gallery
- Will Gadd’s Niagara Falls Ice-Climbing Film
- Twenty-Three Waterfall Scenes: Winter Ice and a Mineral Lookalike
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