We looked at End of the Line when we climbed Lovely Parting Gifts on February 3, 2026. It looked amazing. We saw a beautiful, steep first pitch that disappeared around a narrow turn in the canyon at the top. We decided to return and climb End of the Line as soon as we felt ready to lead WI4.
That day came just over a month later, on March 6, 2026. Below, I have duplicated the information on Access and Approach from the Lovely Party Gifts trip report.
Beta:
- WI4
- 2 pitches
- bolted anchor points
- descent: rappel the route
- we used 2 sixty-meter ropes
Access
From the Icefields Parkway, turn onto the David Thompson Highway, Highway 11. Drive about 35 km and look for a creek bed on the left. Pull a u-turn and park just off the road near the creek bed.
The red line on the map above is our route to Lovely Parting Gifts. End of the Line is just past it, at the end of the canyon.
We parked just off the road, on the left side of the creek near a big clearing.
The Approach
We hiked across the road-side clearing toward the creek.
There was a trail in the trees at the edge of the clearing, leading down to the creek.
I was relieved to see a well-worn path in the snow going up the creek. I hoped that this time, we would be able to follow a trail to the climbs.
Looking back at the road, there is a big culvert where the creek runs underneath it.
We started our hike up the creek, heading toward the rock wall ahead.
The creek bed continues to the rock wall.
As we approached the rock wall, we saw bolts in the rock on the left. We stopped to scope out the rock climbing routes. They looked like a lot of fun. Maybe we’ll be back in the summer.
Here we turned left to continue up the creek. We had come nearly 1 km and up about 100 meters of elevation gain.
Around the corner, we could see the start of the canyon.
On this day, the creek was fully frozen and we didn’t need to worry about falling in.
When we were here a few years ago, I stepped through the ice and into the creek. With all the snow packing into the hole, my foot was stuck pretty tight down there. Dan helped me pull it out and we carried on. It was a good thing my laces were done up tight or I might have lost a boot down there!
The Canyon
The narrow canyon with high rock walls towering above was amazing to explore. This is such a great hike and would be a great day out, even if there wasn’t any ice to climb.
Up ahead, we saw the first fixed line.
The fixed line made this section pretty easy and allowed us to keep our tools on our packs.
In addition to the fixed line, there were via-ferrata style foot holds. We didn’t need crampons to climb this.
It was a fun start to the canyon hike.
Ahead we saw the first ice step. There was a fixed line up the right side but it looked more straightforward to go up the middle.
We put on crampons and harnesses here and took out our tools.
A quick free solo up the step and…
and the path through the narrow canyon continued.
Such a cool place.
There were occasional obstacles – big boulders or fallen logs.
The well-worn path continued through the canyon.
Here the canyon widened a bit.
Another fixed line helped us up a step.
We came to a fork in the canyon. This ice step was on the left.
We noticed some fixed line above and realized that this is the way to the ice. It was 1.75 km from the road and an elevation gain of 230 meters.
This is the view up the right fork. Although there is a path going up there, we were pretty sure the step on the left was the way to the ice climbs.
There is partly formed ice up the right fork. If you see this, you’ve come too far and you need to turn around and go back to the ice step.
A free solo up the step (the highest so far) brought us up to a path with more fixed line.
The fixed line was invaluable here, helping us get around a pool of open water.
Past the pool, we followed the worn path.
The path went into another narrow section of canyon.
Ahead an interesting rock formation on the cliff wall looks like a giant triangle.
We continued up the narrow canyon.
There were some steep hills in the canyon during the final stretch to the ice.
At last, we caught our first glimpse of ice ahead.
The ice ahead is Lovely Parting Gifts.
It hangs down the side of the canyon wall. The canyon carries on past it to End of the Line.
We had hiked about 2.8 km and come up about 285 meters from the road.
This photo was taken the day we climbed Lovely Parting Gifts.
But on this day, we hiked past Lovely Parting Gifts and on to End of the Line.
The Climb
From the base of the climb, you can see most of the first pitch.
It looked really fun and I couldn’t wait to climb it. Dan offered me the lead and I happily took it.
There is a large flat area at the bottom for belaying. We stowed our backpacks here while we climbed.
The lead felt a lot steeper than it looked. But the climb was very picked out and the ice was well featured by this point in the season. I enjoyed the movement and the flow as I climbed and placed screws. It was my first official WI4 lead.
At the top, the ice narrowed and the ice continued as the canyon turned left. This section was so narrow that I had to shorten my swings so that my tool did not hit the canyon wall behind my head.
I took this photo from the bolts at the top of the first pitch while we were on our way down.
Dan is standing at the top of the ice in the previous photo. It flattens out and there is a short walk to the bolts.
Looking up the climb from the bolts at the top of the first pitch there was a short walk to an ice step.
There is another set of bolts above and to the left of the ice step. An orange line is attached to the bolts.
Dan led up this pitch and soon disappeared around the corner.
At the top of the first ice step, there is a walking section and then the canyon turns left again.
Another pair of bolts is connected with an orange rope on the right side of the photo.
Around the corner was another steep section of ice. It was not as long as the first pitch but just as steep.
At the top was another pair of bolts for an anchor.
We stopped here and started down. We didn’t follow the footsteps heading up out of the canyon. It looked like there was no more ice to climb up there.
We rappelled to the ground and found another party waiting to get on this popular route. It was a great day for us, having successfully completed our first official WI4 multi-pitch. We plan for many more!
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