On February 9, 2024, we climbed Chantilly Falls, a two-pitch climb rated WI2 in the Evan Thomas valley in Kananaskis.
The beta:
- 2 pitches
- WI2
- Approx 3 km approach on trails. Usually, there is a clear path in the snow. This is a popular area for hiking as well as ice climbing. There are many more ice climbs further up the valley.
- Bolted anchor at the top of pitch one
- Bolted anchor at the top of pitch two
- Descent is to rappel the route
- One 70-meter rope is sufficient if you don’t mind downclimbing the ramp at the bottom. (It’s the bottom part covered in snow in the photo above.)
The Approach
Park at the Evan Thomas Creek trailhead parking on the east side of Highway 40 in Kananaskis. Hike on a wide trail up the valley through the forest. The trail takes a sharp right to drop down steeply towards the creek. It crosses the creek on a bridge and you start the portion of the approach that follows the creek up the valley. After a couple of easy creek crossings on rocks and logs, look for Chantilly Falls on your right.
Micro-spikes are useful for the steep section of the trail. A trekking pole is helpful for the creek crossings.
The Climb
I got to lead the first pitch. It’s longer but easier than the second pitch, mostly a ramble up the creek. It ends at the dark rock wall I am approaching in the photo. There are two bolts to build an anchor at the base of the dark rock wall, just to my left in the photo.
The second pitch climbs up to the right and ends at a two-bolt anchor behind a tree at the top and slightly right of the ice. When we were there, the ice on this pitch was steep and climbed like a WI3, in my opinion. The top part was a lot steeper than it looks in the photo.
This climb is popular on the weekends and there is only room for one party at a time. Plan to arrive early and have a backup climb in mind in case someone beats you to it.
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