Twin Falls Gorge Territorial Park (Ice) Climbing

This Territorial Park is run and maintained by the Government of the Northwest Territories and contains a steep, rocky valley with two waterfalls. The rock quality is poor, chossy, and largely unusable, but in the winter it becomes kilometres of ice climbing. Established routes are currently limited, but there is potential for significant development. The park contains campgrounds with sites that can be reserved through the territorial park system's website. In winter, the campground is unmaintained, but camping there is free.

Routes are slowly being added in since the area is still being explored and developed.  The canyon and the climbing area runs from Alexandra Falls in the west to Escarpment Creek in the east.  A trail runs from Alexandra Falls to Escarpment Creek along the north side of the canyon and provides easy access to the whole canyon and its climbing.  Someone keeps this trail groomed in the winter, so it makes for easy going.  Getting off the trail becomes a deep slog, however.  Escarpment Creek forms a small, steep canyon with its own waterfalls and drains into the second oxbow towards the east end of the canyon.  In the middle is Louise Falls.  There is a developed campground area by Louise Falls that goes right up to the edge of the canyon.  In the winter, the Alexandra Falls pull off is plowed and open, but it is far from most of the area's climbing.  The entrance to the Louise Falls campground is plowed for most of the winter and it's the easiest way to access the most concentrated ice climbing.  Most day hikers come in through here and keep a well-broken trail from the entrance to the trail along the canyon rim.  Escarpment Creek also has a campground, but its entrance is not plowed in the winter and gets deeply snowed in quickly.  It's the fastest way to get to the first oxbow, however.  Accessing Escarpment Creek for climbing can be done through the campground, but it's easiest from the road side where the highway actually crosses the creek.  It's a short hike down to the upper falls.  Rap down and walk further for the lower falls.  

It's not clear who did the FA of all routes.  Many are marked as unknown/uncertain, but they were probably done by a combination of JF Dufour, Eric Binion, Jeremy Dixon, and Graham Fournier.  If there was an earlier generation of climbers exploring here, please let me know.

Routes here are organized from west to east.  The canyon has a few clear subdivisions where the routes are concentrated:

A. Trail/North Side of Canyon

1.  Alexandra Falls Area - There is a straight segment of the canyon that starts with Alexandra Falls and continues for about a kilometre before turning slightly.  Alexandra Falls is (shockingly) the first route here, and currently Blue Christmas is the last.  There is potential for some long and challenging mixed climbing here - most ice in the area never connects all the way to the canyon floor.

2.  The Bend - A bend in the river between the Alexandra Falls Area and the Main Flows Area.  It starts with the bend from the first area and ends with a bend into the Main Flows Area.  Losing the Forest for the Trees is the only established route here, but there are several immediately around it.

3.  Main Flows Area - Immediately in front of (south) of the Louise Falls campground/playground area.  It's a straight stretch in the river from the Bend that ends at the First Oxbow.  Routes here are currently the Staircase Ice Boulder through the Filthy Chimney.

4.  The First Oxbow - The first of two consecutive oxbows that follow the Main Flows Area.  Routes here are currently Bluey through End of the Line.  The climbing area is a cliff that has two distinct levels.

5.  The Second Oxbow - The second of the two oxbows.  Escarpment Creek drains into this oxbow.

6.  Escarpment Creek - A smaller canyon that drains into the main canyon at its east end.  The creek itself has two waterfalls that freeze in the winter (the upper and lower falls) and some related flows around them.

7.  The Great Beyond - A third oxbow and a long stretch of canyon continue on to the Hamlet of Enterprise, just north of the park.  Not much exploration has happened here yet, but there remains potential for additional climbing down here.  Getting to it is a slog.

B. Left Bank

The opposite side of the canyon also has climbing.  Much of it remains undeveloped, as it can be difficult to get to.  Routes for this side of the canyon are at the end of the list to avoid confusion.

1.  Alexandra Falls Area - There is a very distinct series of closely spaced routes that starts about halfway down this area.  It's easiest to access by walking down to the heavily treed area around Blue Christmas and finding the path of least resistance down the scree field and crossing the river from there.  These routes are the last to go in spring because the area remains permanently in the shade through the winter and spring.  Spring break up of the river happens first, so you could always go for a brisk swim if you want to keep the season going a little bit longer.  Routes here are currently Ramparts through Throwing Shade.

2.  The Bend - A second very distinct and closely spaced series of routes follows those in the Alexandra Falls Area several hundred feet down the canyon.  It remains undeveloped.

3-7.  Routes here have been scouted, but none have been done to date.