Keelhaul Wall is a classic trad multi-pitch climb at Kid Goat near Exshaw, Alberta.
Why We Chose This Route:
We decided to make Keelhaul Wall our first multi-pitch of the season. After spending three weeks in Joshua Tree in April working on our trad gear placement, we wanted to practice those skills and see how they translated to Canadian Rockies limestone. We wanted to start with something more moderate where we could take our time, relax and dial in our skills.
The climbing is moderate, with a rating of 5.6. Also at 5 pitches it’s not a long route but enough to give us a good warm-up to the season.
It’s a route that is done a lot in a popular area so I thought it would be pretty clean and not feel too remote. Finally, we had done the route before so there shouldn’t be any surprises. A good start-of-season climb.
On June 12, 2024, we repeated the route.
Beta:
- 5.6, 5 pitches, 155 meters
- Trad gear is required but there are some bolts on harder-to-protect areas
- Bolted anchors
- We used a single 70-meter rope as we planned to walk-off. See The Climb for information about the length of pitches and the availability of other rappel stations in case an emergency rappel is needed
- Approach: 2 km, 200 meters
- Descent: walk off is recommended
- Gear: beyond the standard multi-pitch gear, consider bringing radios (we like the Rocky Talkies brand). It can get windy up there and hard to hear your partner. Also, there can be lots of parties climbing this popular area, all shouting to each other. I also recommend alpine draws as the route does wander and there is potential for some wicked rope drag.
The Approach
Our route below was recorded on FATMAP. The green dot on the left side of the photo is where we parked, just off Highway 1A, in a parking lot across the road from the turn-off for the Francis Cooke landfill. Our approach route is the bright green line on the Lower Kid Goat trail.
Cross Highway 1A to walk up the road that leads toward the landfill. Turn left to walk along the road. Duck under the gate (far left of the photo) and continue a short distance on the dirt road, down a hill.
Turn right onto a short gravel road that ends at a chain link fence. Walk to the fence and turn left onto a trail that follows the fence until it turns a corner.
Follow the well-defined trail into the woods, going uphill gradually at first.
At the first branch of the trail, do not go left, stay straight. The left turn leads to a beginner area used by guides. I did my first ever rock climbing there!
At the second junction, turn left, toward the cliff. Now the trail goes more steeply uphill eventually switch-backing up almost to the base of the cliff. The trail then turns left to traverse just below the cliff. Follow this trail even though it may feel like you are going back towards the road.
Eventually, the trail pops up to the cliff and the mark KHW is close by. KHW = Keelhaul Wall, you’ve found the start of the climb.
The Climb
We found a low first bolt a few meters right of the white KHW mark.
Our rope is hanging down the first pitch on the right side of the photo. If you zoom in, you will see Dan at the top of the pitch getting ready to bring me up.
I didn’t take any more photos until the end of the fourth pitch. The second and third pitches meandered or traversed and we had some nasty rope drag. We should have used extended alpine draws.
This is the belay anchor at the top of the fourth pitch. The top of the route is in sight above.
In the middle of the day at this time of year, the sun shines directly down from the top of the cliff making it difficult to see. I wished we had gotten an earlier start and beat the sun to the top.
The final pitch was the long one, 40 meters, according to the guidebook, Kid Goat Crag, by Chas Yonge. This was the only one I thought we wouldn’t be able to rappel if for some reason, we couldn’t make the top and needed to rappel. As Dan led up this pitch, he passed a rap anchor that would have made it possible for us to go down with our single rope.
I would hate to have to rappel the route though, with the traversing pitches. It was so much easier to walk off.
The Descent
The obvious descent trail goes to the climber’s right along the top of the cliff. Switchbacks take you down into a gully which will eventually take you back to the trail.
This photo is looking up the gully. The creek is little more than a trickle.
Make your way towards the cairn on the other of side of the gully, on the left in the photo.
Once at the cairn, a short trail leads to a scramble descent down a slab. This section is a few body lengths of down-climbing and not too troublesome if you’re used to scrambling. I read that there is a way to rappel here but I’ve never looked for the rappel anchor.
Once you’re down the slab, take the winding trail back along the creek. Do not make my mistake and take the nice looking trail to the left. Stay near the creek (could be a dry creek bed here) to find the quickest route back to the landfill fence and ultimately, the parking lot.
Challenges
The biggest challenge here was route finding. I was happy with how we took our time and really studied the description of each pitch, finding the route on the rock above us, before we started up. We stayed on route and didn’t get lured away by bolts that weren’t ours.
Another challenge was rope drag. I think that knowing when to extend draws is a real skill and we need practice.
Final piece of advice – if you climb during the middle of the day, 11 am to 2 pm or 3 pm at this time of year, you will have the sun in your eyes. You will be squinting the whole time. (Yes, I did have sunglasses on, it was that bright.) I would start much earlier to have the sun on your back as you climb.
Screw-Ups
I believe I made two screw-ups on this climb.
The first one was at the top of the fourth pitch. I was leading. I was not too far below the tree ledge where I knew I would find the anchor and I missed a prime gear placement out left. Instead I bombed straight up, running out the easy terrain, looking forward to clipping those anchor bolts. Had I placed gear there, I would have come up more in line with the anchor and not on the wrong side of a small bush which made it a bit more difficult to pull up the rope. Also, I want to err on the side of placing more gear than needed, not less.
The second screw up was taking the wrong trail on the way out. Once again I was rushing to be done and I didn’t notice the trail to the right, following the dry creek bed.
Neither screw up was critical but I like to analyze each climb and learn from my mistakes. I also like to share them here with you so perhaps you can avoid making them.
Final Thoughts
I didn’t enjoy this route much. The winding nature and some awkward moves made it less enjoyable. Also there are a lot of bolts on Kid Goat. Sometimes it was hard to tell which bolts were for our climb. The guidebook Kid Goat Crag was published in 2012 and to my knoweldge, has not been updated. The route description on Mountain Projects is significantly different than the description in the book. We stuck with the guidebook and we managed to find the route described there.
I wouldn’t do it a third time but I’m glad we’ve done it. Now on to bigger, more challenging routes.
Life is better
on the rocks
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