Highlining the Wolfs Ears
The call came at about 5:30 pm the night before. “We’re going to leave at 3 am… it’s going to be a long day. Are you in?”. I’d never done something quite like this before, but it sounded like a good time so who was I to turn it down? The plan? Set up a highline between the Wolf’s Ears in Valhalla Provincial Park.
A couple of days earlier I’d run into a friend while doing some errands in town and the talk quickly turned to skiing. It was June but coincidentally we had both been out within the last week. Douglas had recently been up to the Valhalla’s in an attempt to set up a highline on Mt. Dag but was shut down by weather. Next thing I know, I’d been invited to the upcoming attempt, this time on Wolf’s Ears.
The original plan was to leave Friday afternoon, rig and play on Saturday, and return either Saturday evening or Sunday morning. Thursday evening came around and the weather forecast had shifted; doing the whole mission as a one day push was now the best option.
3 am always comes early, but the people in the truck were full of energy. Hoots and hollers of excitement broke the silence as I ran up my dark driveway with a tea in one hand and a bag of climbing gear in the other. The drive went by quickly, and with the days being so long, it was already light by the time we pulled into our parking spot at the park. Unfortunately for a solo camper tenting in the parking lot, the excited hooting was nowhere near done for the day, but after a quick gear sort, the skis were on our bags and we began hiking leaving the parkin-lot camper to catch some shut-eye.
The rate of snowmelt in June is pretty impressive. The previous week the crew had started on skis not far from the parking lot, this week we hiked all the way up to treeline before we made the transition. We made good time in our travels and before long it was time to split up, one team per ear.
Team East Ear consisted of myself and Kirk Mauthner, while Douglas Noblet, Mia Noblet, and Isobel Phoebus went up the ear to the west. The approach to the East ear involved some extra time on skis so Kirk and I got a couple of extra turns in while the others jumped on the heel-toe-express.
While both routes required some rock climbing, the route we took on the east ear was considerably more snow-covered and thus much slushy bootpacking was necessary. We did get one small pitch of low-mid 5th class that included a large boulder whose connection to the mountain was uncertain at best.
Once atop the ears, it was time to build anchors and set up the line. With only a couple of delays due to snagged ropes, it wasn’t long before the highline was stretched between the twin peaks. Isobel was the first to walk the line and absolutely crushed it. Mia walked next with a casual nature found more often on sidewalks than 70m highlines. Watching these women walk was an impressive display of control. Myself and the other guys only dangled below the line in more of a zip line style.
Each of the women walked back and forth between the peaks twice, with the final walk being accompanied by a small plane circling around the peaks and Mia on the line. The pilot of the plane was the father of Douglas and Mia; this kind of family gathering is unique, to say the least.
Eventually, we had to take the line down and make our way back to the truck. Team West Ear had more to de-rig but a simpler descent to the col where we would meet. By the time Kirk and I made our way back to the col there was hot soup waiting for us, a welcome treat. Despite the good views, we didn’t linger long; we had a ways to go yet. Our descent was hastened by spending more time on snow, choosing sliding over hiking. We picked our way through the woods trying to milk all the shaded snow patches we could, but eventually retired the sliding devices in favour of boots and bushwhacking.
When we did eventually reach the truck, we had a small tailgate party while the last of the days light faded. Once the juice dried up, we all piled into the vehicle and did our best to stay conscious for the drive back. We were back to Nelson around 11:30 pm and said our goodbyes. Turns out we missed the Solstice by one day, but hey, not much you can do about the weather.
All photos were taken by the author, to check out more photos and other adventures swing by my instagram page @pistol.pan. You can also see more from Douglas, Mia, and Isobel at @wildairphotography, @mianoblet, and @isobelphoebus respectively.