We climbed Isaac’s Wet Dream on February 26, 2025. We were on a climbing trip to Lake Louise, staying in our RV at the campground in town. I had heard about this climb and how you can hike in to the top and hang a top rope. We decided to check out it.
It is close to Nordegg and the drive up the Icefields Parkway and out through David Thompson Country took us about 2 hours from Lake Louise.
While we were on our climbing trip, the weather was unseasonably warm. The three or four days leading up to our climb and the day of the climb, the temperatures were above freezing for long periods.
When we arrived at the ice, we found water pooling on the frozen surface of the creek at the top. Isaac’s Wet Dream was wet, wet, wet but we decided to rappel in from a tree anchor and look it over.
Despite the water dripping everywhere, we had fun climbing a few different lines. The ice had formed quite steep and full of icicles, each one dripping, some a bit mushy.
If climbing helmets came with an umbrella attachment, it would have been useful here.
Beta:
- a tall single pitch, about 35 meters high
- WI3? I think the line we climbed on the right was WI4. I’d give the middle a WI3+
- the approach hike was about half an hour from the parking lot
- we climbed it with one 70 meter rope
- tree anchors at the top allow you to set up a top rope
- rappel down to the base, climb back up to exit
Access
The access for the climb is from the Crescent Falls Provincial Recreation Area off Highway 11 in David Thompson Country. It is about 20 km west of Nordegg and about 80 km from the intersection with the Icefields Parkway at Saskatchewan Crossing.
The turn-off is signed on the highway. It is near a gas station.
Once you turn off Highway 11, drive about 6 km down a dirt road. There is a large parking lot with bathrooms and garbage cans. A trail kiosk is at the far end. Alberta Parks has thoughtfully marked the trail to the ice climb on the maps posted in the kiosk. Although they refer to it as “Isaac’s Ice Climb”.
Below is the map that is posted in the kiosk. The heavy gray line coming in from the right is the dirt road. Highway 11 is off the right side of map. Drive the heavy gray line in to the first parking area (gray loops on the map) and park. The dotted red line marked “To Isaac’s Ice Climb” is your trail. You hike up to the trail marked PLUZ Trail and turn left. From there, you’ll see a trail marker for the ice climb. See below for photos and more details.
When we arrived at the parking lot, there were two other vehicles already there. One had “IWD x 2” written in the dust on the back window so we knew another party was already on the climb. I had seen photos online of Isaac’s Wet Dream and it looked large enough to accommodate a couple of parties so we decided to carry on.
The Approach
The Approach starts from the kiosk on the side of the parking lot.
The trail is wide and easy to find. There is a close up of that trail sign below.
Wouldn’t it be lovely if the approach trail for every popular ice climb was so clearly marked?
The trail starts by dropping down to a creek with a bridged crossing. Here, the creek has crossed the bridge.
Micro spikes were very useful when we first went down. Later in the day, when we came back, the warm temperatures made the surface of the ice quite mushy.
On the other side of the creek, the wide trail is easy to follow as it goes gently uphill.
A little ways further, the trail to Isaac’s Wet Dream, or Isaac’s Ice Climb as the sign indicates, branches off from the main trail.
The sign points straight ahead for Isaac’s and continue left for Crescent Falls.
Crescent Falls Detour
Since it was our first time in the area and we had heard that Crescent Falls sometimes gets climbed, we decided to go check it out.
The wide trail dropped down to the creek.
We wandered down the trail and eventually arrived at another parking area with another kiosk. There were viewing platforms above the river and we walked out to see the falls.
Beautiful. But not something we wanted to try climbing.
We walked back to the trail to Isaac’s Wet Dream.
Back to the Approach
After turning off the main trail to the trail marked “Isaac’s Ice Climb” by the Alberta Parks sign, the trail narrows.
It’s still well-defined and easy to follow.
The narrow trail eventually takes you to a wide trail, the PLUZ trail marked on the map at the kiosk. Go left and follow this trail, which takes you gently uphill.
Looking back at the trail we turned off. Here is where it joined the wide trail, the PLUZ Trail. Note the orange ribbon on the tree.
After following the wide trail for a while, the turn-off for the trail to the ice climb comes into view on the left.
The big pile of rocks and orange ribbon made it easy to spot.
This final leg of the approach is on a narrow trail through the forest.
Eventually, it heads downhill, toward the river and the top of the ice climb.
The trail ended here, at the river. The top of the climb is on the left.
The Climb
When we arrived, the party of two who had left the note on their vehicle had an anchor set up on this tree. There was sling and cordelette there from previous climbers.
We could hear one of the climbers coming up.
It turned out, the party was just finishing up, the last second climber getting ready to climb out for the last time. We waited as they topped out and cleaned their anchor.
We set up our own anchor on the tree and rappelled in.
Here Dan is about to drop over the edge. It is quite a vertical drop there!
We rappelled down to a nice flat base where we could easily belay.
Because of the recent warm weather, the entire surface was dripping and in some places water poured in a steady stream. There was no dry line to climb.
We decided to try a few laps anyway, starting with the middle.
The right side looked steep and interesting so we decided to climb there next.
Here is a photo of me on the right side. It felt at that point like an icy rain was falling on me from the icicles above.
I enjoyed the climbing despite being soaked.
The Descent
We hiked back down the way we had come in. I have read that others have hiked down the river to exit back to the parking lot but we didn’t explore this option. Perhaps next time.
Isaac’s Wet Dream was a fun climbing area and we will definitely go back next year when we’re staying in Lake Louise. I like the idea of coming here early in a climbing trip to work on climbing technique before we go after more difficult routes. This venue has some steeper lines so you can practice on steeper ice climbs while climbing on top rope.
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