Cathedral Park - Wall Creek Camp
Andrew Sylvester and myself recently did a week long trip into the Wall Creek Area in Cathedral Provincial Park. We established what we believe to be four new routes. Information on this area is limited so despite reaching out to other climbers who have been to and are knowledgeable of the area we still cannot be sure some of these routes hadn’t been previously climbed or partially climbed in the past.
Approach: The Wall Creek Trail is currently in need of at least a few days of chainsaw work. The fire that ripped through has left many blown down logs and one especially bad blowdown soon after you leave the Centennial Trail. It took us a little over 6 hours on the way in with 75 lbs packs and about 4 hours and 15 minutes on the way down. Navigating the old trail through the various blowdowns was cumbersome, very tiring, and not for the faint of heart. It certainly is no walk in the park with a heavy pack full of climbing gear.
Camping: The Wall Creek climbers camp is paradise for a rock climber. We didn’t see another person for the entire week there. There is an established camp with a fire ring, a proper bear hang, buckets, shovels, and tarps. From this camp objectives such as the Grimface Traverse, Grimface, or the Deacon are all within striking distance.
Rock Quality: The rock quality in the area ranges from fantastic to very crumbly. The less weathered the rock is the more crumbly it seems to be. The beautiful white granite that we are used to being very solid, here is not so much. The blacker rock, which is more weathered, tends to be of better quality. Obviously there are some exceptions to this.
Is That Your Only Hammer - 5.9 - 1 or 2 pitches and a short scramble
This is a short route we climbed the day after arriving to camp. We were pretty wasted so we decided to stay close to home and check out this small dome. There is more potential here but unfortunately the rock isn’t very good and is quite crumbly. It would probably clean up with a few more ascents and it is a fun active rest day activity given how close it is to camp.
The Squirbalist - 5.11 - 2 pitches to the ledge
We climbed two new pitches to the big ledge where the route joins what we think is an old Fred Beckey route.
Pitch 1 - 5.10+ Right of a large flake that leans against the wall, start climbing handcracks that lead right to a ledge. At the ledge take the right most crack for easier climbing and continue until given the option to head right up a leaning splitter. Surprisingly good crack climbing until the jams begin to flair. Struggle up the flair into a leaning corner and stem your way up until the angle eases.
Pitch 2 - 5.11 Climb the left facing corner through some crumbly rock. A piton or a bolt would protect this section better. Offset cams might help here as well. Once you bust the move in the corner easy climbing takes you to the big ledge.
Pitch 3 - 5.10 Climb the old Beckey route starting up the chimney. After 10-15m follow the hand crack to the right out of the chimney for a fantastic pitch of straight in crack climbing to the top.
The entire route is about 120m long and I’d recommend doing it in three pitches as described here. Follow cairns to the North to descend. Thanks to plenty of hikers in this area, its very easy to follow.
Graze it Up - 5.10- 2 Pitches
From camp you can see this tower which is below Orthodox Peak. Head towards the lake and then walk up the scree until hitting the base.
Pitch 1 - 5.10-
Climb the splitter hand crack starting from the left side of the lowest part of the tower until reaching a roomy belay ledge.
Pitch 2 - 5.8
Head straight up through some ledgy terrain until a slab emerges on your right. Traverse the slab and head up a 4” crack. Head to the summit.
Descent
There is a 2 bolt anchor at the top of the tower thanks to Kris Wild. Bring some new webbing to replace the old stuff as this area isn’t frequented often.
60m rope is adequate for the rappel.
Welcome to Jamcrack - 5.11+ 6 Pitches
Head up towards the SE Notch of Grimface. The offwidth pitch is hard to miss as it’s one of the most distinct features on this part of Grimface.
Pitch 1 - 5.10
Climb the leaning handcrack. Steeper than it looks.
Pitch 2 - 5.11+
Climb the offwidth. Mostly 6”, narrowing after the lip. Neither of us got this pitch clean. We both agreed it was the hardest offwidth either of us had tried so the grade could be harder or easier for someone more proficient with OW.
Pitch 3 - 4 - 5.11
Hand traverse on good jams and then climb the beautiful finger splitter. After the finger splitter continue up the lichen covered left facing corner.
Pitch 5 - Low fifth
Scramble up and left heading towards the beautiful butt crack tower to the top. Stop below a roof with a dyke feature on its right.
Pitch 6 - 5.9
This pitch rocks! Climb through the roof on a dyke that follows the crack to the right. Once able to move left on handjams, do so. Follow the handcrack into the groove and all the way to a perfect belay at the top. Stellar pitch!
Descent: Take the scramble route to the North following cairns.
Gear: A 60m rope and a standard rack with at least singles of 4-6” cams (BD sizes) 2 x 6” cams useful for pitch 2. (We had 1x6”, 2x5” cams)
A note on grades. Climbing ground up, onsight, free, with a big rack of pins and heavy cams, it can be very difficult to honestly say what the grade is. Sometimes you are in the zone, completely focused, feeling weightless, while other times you feel completely weighed down while climbing dirty, lichen and grass filled cracks. Grading is quite challening in these circumstances so if you do climb any of these routes I’m happy to adjust grades given feedback.