Ottawa audiences got a front-row seat to the thrill of extreme ice climbing at the Banff Centre Mountain Film Festival World Tour, recently screened at the ByTowne Cinema.
Hosted by Trailhead Paddle Shack, the 50th edition of the festival paired athletic feats with climate-focused documentaries, showing how high-altitude adventure offers a window on our warming world.
“That mix of spectacle and awareness is what draws people,” said Eric Lavigne, ByTowne’s marketing director. “It’s a chance to educate while entertaining.”
That combination was clear in the short documentary Wall of Walls, one of the headline films of the festival.
Shot over three years, the 13-minute film follows Canadian climbers Will Gadd and Kirk Mauthner as they tackle some of the world’s most extreme — and least accessible — ice routes.
Many of these frozen walls are only visible from the air, making them rare and dangerous.
The film highlights the growing challenges of climbing in an era of inconsistent winters. Climbers face thin ice that can no longer support a climber’s weight safely, unstable ice and rock formations prone to collapse and freeze–thaw cycles that weaken ice and rock.
The audience was treated to sweeping aerial shots and suspenseful ascents, but also a reminder that these frozen landscapes may not last.
“Winter safety is about understanding the environment and the hazards it presents. Ice isn’t what it used to be; conditions are changing fast,” said Alan Mortimer, president of the Ottawa-based Urban Winter Trails Alliance.
The changing ice is reshaping mountain landscapes and threatening cultural landmarks.
One of the most visible losses is Abbot Pass Hut, a historic 1922 stone refuge perched between Banff and Yoho national parks on the Alberta-B.C. border.
Mountain refuges like Abbot Pass are small shelters used by climbers and hikers for safety in extreme conditions.
Built by Swiss guides and long maintained by the Alpine Club of Canada, the hut served generations of mountaineers and became an icon of Rocky Mountain culture.
By 2016, warming temperatures had destabilized the high-elevation slopes around the hut as glacier ice retreated and snowpacks thinned.
Winter safety is about understanding the environment and the hazards it presents. Ice isn’t what it used to be; conditions are changing fast.
— Alan Mortimer, president, Community Urban Winter Trails Alliance
Major slope failures forced the hut’s closure in 2018, and limited weather windows and the COVID-19 pandemic delayed repairs.
By 2021, erosion made collapse inevitable. In 2022, Parks Canada dismantled the hut stone by stone to prevent debris and contaminants from entering the fragile alpine environment.
The demolition marked the end of a cultural landmark and fuelled a national conversation about climate-driven loss.
“The disappearance of Abbot Pass Hut is a clear example of climate change’s impact,” said Stephan Gruber, scientific director at Carleton University-based PermafrostNet, a national network of climate research supported by the Gatineau-based Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.
“Thawing permafrost, which is soil or rock that has been frozen for at least two consecutive years, affects slope stability, water flow, ecosystems, and can even release contaminants,” added Gruber, a Carleton professor of physical geography.
High-mountain permafrost is extremely sensitive to warming.
Even small temperature increases can turn once-solid rock into unstable rubble. The Rockies have already warmed about 1.4 C since the mid-20th century, contributing to more landslides and unpredictable terrain.
For climbers, guides and mountain communities, the consequences are wide-reaching.
Tristan MacLean, a Carleton University permafrost researcher, calls ice climbing “a canary in the coal mine” — an early warning sign about the impacts of planetary warming.
“Unsafe ice signals larger climate impacts that affect recreation, infrastructure, and culture,” he explains.
Parks Canada and the Alpine Club of Canada are now working to preserve Abbot Pass Hut’s legacy through oral histories, virtual exhibits, and future recognition initiatives, with early discussions about a possible replacement structure underway.
For Gadd, an Alberta athlete and filmmaker, films like Wall of Walls show that adventure and environmental awareness are inseparable.
“Bigger, wilder, harder, more dangerous … everything an ice climber could ever want,” he said, while acknowledging that the sport is evolving faster than expected.
The festival’s mix of spectacle and education clearly resonated with the audience during the festival, as sold-out screenings demonstrated.
“People come for the adventure,” said Lavigne, “but ideally they leave with a deeper awareness — learning something that can keep them safe and help them appreciate our changing environment.”
