Meltout is a three-pitch WI3 ice climb near the Columbia Icefields in Jasper National Park.
This is a great climb once you are comfortable leading WI3 and are ready for a multi-pitch. Bolted belays at the top of pitches 1 and 2 make it easy to build anchors. They also make the end of each pitch obvious so you don’t need to decide where to stop climbing and build anchors.
On the third pitch, the tree anchor at the top right side is pretty obvious. All three belay spots are flat and comfortable with plenty of room to stack the rope and bring up the second.
The descent is by rappelling and there are rappel rings on the bolts at each of the two bolted belays and, when we were there, there was a locking carabiner on two pieces of cordelette at the tree anchor.
We climbed it twice in early March, 2025 and the ice was great – fat and dry. We had a lot of fun and plan to come back to this one every year.
Beta:
- three pitches at WI3, WI3 and WI2
- the approach hike was straightforward, about 20 minutes from the road
- we climbed it with two 60-meter ropes,
- we also climbed the first two pitches with one 70-meter rope
- the first two pitches have bolts at the top on the left side
- the third pitch has a tree anchor
- descent: rappel from the tree anchor at the top and the rappel rings on the bolts at the top of pitches 1 and 2
Access
Meltout is accessed from the Icefields Parkway, Highway 93N. It is north of the Columbia Icefields in Jasper National Park, just north of Tangle Falls. The dark blue line on the map below is our route from the parking pull-out on the side of the road. Tangle Creek is marked at the bottom.
Driving north past the Columbia Icefields, we drove up the hill past the Glacier Skywalk on the left and then, just over the top of the hill, past Tangle Creek Falls on the right. We continued down to the bottom of the hill and drove along the river, looking for the top of the waterfall on the right. Once we saw it, we started looking for a trail into the woods, heading toward the ice. We saw one across from a pull-out on the left, south bound side of the road.
We ended up driving past the pull-out and turned around to drive back to it. In the photo above, the Sunwapta River is on the right and Tangle Ridge, with Meltout on the lower slopes, is on the left. The approach trail starts across the road, up the bank and into the forest.
The Approach
From the road, look for a trail heading up the bank. It then turns to the left and enters the forest.
The trail went gently uphill into the forest and away from the road. Eventually it joined a small drainage.
The trail followed up the drainage toward the climb. Sometimes it goes up onto the bank on the left.
Eventually the drainage ends and the trail winds up the hill behind it and into the forest.
We stopped to put on harnesses and crampons here, just before the trail leaves the forest and steps onto the approach ice.
The approach ice starts just behind Dan.
Starting up the approach ice with the climb visible just ahead.
This steeper step is the most challenging part of the approach ice. A trail on the left goes up the bank and around to the top.
Finally arriving at the base of the climb, we stowed our backpacks near the base of the cliff on the left and set up the belay for the first pitch there.
The Climb
Pitch One
It was my turn to lead and I decided to climb up a trough in the middle.
It was fun climbing with lots of opportunities to rest and put all my weight on my feet.
The pitch ends on a large, obvious flat ledge of ice. It’s tough to see it in the photo so I added the black arrows.
Two bolts with rappel rings on the left are easily spotted when you come up onto the ledge at the top of the pitch.
Pitch Two
Dan got to lead this pitch. It was about equal length and difficulty to the first pitch. It climbs to the top of the ice in the photo.
This pitch also ends at a large, flat ledge of ice. Two bolts with rappel rings again are easy to spot on the left side.
Pitch Three
This pitch rambled back a bit into the canyon. There was a short, steeper section near the top.
I got to lead this one as well. Here I am about to start that last little steep bit.
Coming over the top and looking up at Tangle Ridge, the snow and mist made it seem a bit like a magical land. I half expected Mr Tumnus to appear and welcome me to Narnia.
I didn’t spot any fauns but I did see a tree with cordelette and a locking carabiner off on the right side of the creek. There, I made an anchor to bring up Dan and then we started our rappels.
The Descent
We rappelled each of the three pitches.
Here I am about to come over the ledge at the top of Pitch Two.
Although our 60 meter ropes might have reached the ground from the top of pitch 2, we decided to do three separate rappels. We had read about peoples’ ropes getting twisted and stuck when they tried to pull them down.
I was glad we went with shorter rappels. Our ropes did twist a lot in the rappel rings and were hard to pull down. However, we managed to retrieve them without having to reclimb anything.
The second time we climbed this, we brought our 70-meter rope. We didn’t do the top pitch but we were able to rappel the first two pitches with the one rope. It’s a bit of a stretcher though, so we made sure to tie knots in the ends.
Overall, our climbing days at Meltout were successful and enjoyable days. With the easy approach, fantastic ice and beautiful setting, this is sure to be a climb we will do again and again.
Comparison Across Multiple Years
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