Mother’s Day is a moderate-grade trad multi-pitch climb that follows the ridge of a buttress on Cascade Mountain near the town of Banff. We climbed it on August 23, 2024.
Beta Summary:
- 5.6, 8 pitches. Some pitches are long – greater than 30 meters.
- Approach: 0.9 km, 200 meters elevation gain, involves some scrambling.
- Pro: primarily trad gear. There are occassional bolts on hard-to-protect areas.
- Anchors: All bolted. Some older route descriptions mention tree anchors but they have now been replaced by bolted anchors.
- Gear: We found that one set of cams and a set of nuts with a dozen alpine draws worked well and gave us lots of options.
- Ropes: We used two 60-meter ropes in case we needed to rappel although we planned to walk off.
- Descent: We used the recommended descent, a “walk-off” that includes some downclimbing and a short rappel.
There are numerous other sources of information about this route online and I think it’s useful to look at as much as possible to get a full picture, especially if this is one of your first trad multi-pitch climbs as it was for us.
We referred to the photos and pitch descriptions from the TABVAR website while on the route to help with route finding. Some information is out of date but it was close enough to help us find the route.
Why We Chose This Climb
We are fairly new to Trad Climbing and looking for fun routes where we can practice our skills. Mother’s Day climb was our second trad multi-pitch of the year. The first was Keelhaul Wall.
Mother’s Day climb seemed like the best next climb for us because:
- the moderate grade – the hardest pitch is 5.6 so we didn’t have to worry about technical climbing,
- it has bolted anchors so we didn’t have to build our own anchors (although we were prepared to, if needed),
- there is a lot of beta out there, for both the ascent and the descent, which helped us plan and prepare,
- it is a well-travelled route.
A personal reason for choosing Mother’s Day climb is that I was injured on the first pitch a few years ago. I got off route, fell and broke a couple of ribs. That was a humbling experience. I share more details about that below.
We enjoyed the climb a lot. It pushed us a bit but was well within our abilities. We took our time and placed a lot of gear. It went very smoothly despite me dropping my belay device on the first pitch. Yikes, what a rookie mistake! We were able to work around it though. More about that later. First, here are the details about the climb.
This map shows our route, including the approach and descent, recorded on FATMAP.
The green dot at the bottom shows where we parked in a pull-out along the road to Lake Minnewanka. You could also park at the parking lot for the trail to Cascade Falls. It depends on whether you’d rather walk that stretch of road on your way out to the climb or later, on your way back to the car.
The Approach
The Approach is a little less than 1 km of walking and scrambling with about 200 meters of height gain.
There is a good view of the climb from the road.
Mother’s Day climb starts at the bottom of a slab near tree line. Close up photo below.
This close up shows the slab at the start of the climb near the bottom of the photo.
On the approach, you want to end up at the bottom of the slab.
Walk down the road toward the base of the hill below the buttress.
You are looking for a dry, rocky stream outlet that comes out in front of the power pole seen in the distance.
Here you leave the road and head into the trees.
Hike up the creek bed a short distance, looking for the easiest way, assisted by an occasional cairn.
Watch for a cairn marking a trail on the right side of the creek bed. Follow the trail through the trees and up toward the base of the buttress.
This is one of the scrambling sections on the approach. The scrambles are not more than a few moves and not too tough.
The trail continues toward the buttress.
Here is the base of the slab and the start of the climb.
The dark patch of dirt between the trees and the slab is a good place to belay.
To confirm you are in the right spot, you will see a bolt up the slab slightly left of centre. There is a second bolt further up.
Get ready to climb!
The Climb
This photo is looking up the first pitch. There are two bolts to clip on the way up the slab.
You can see a climber at the top near the upper middle of the photo.
Do not go right to the anchor bolts just after the top of the slab. This is off route. We ended up there the first time we tried the climb and I couldn’t figure out where to go from there. I went the wrong way and ended up taking a terrible fall.
MY FALL:
We attempted Mother’s Day a few years ago but had to retreat after I got off route and fell. Unfortunately, I hadn’t had a chance to place any gear and my fall ended on a ledge. I landed on my back and the impact broke a couple of my ribs. My backpack and helmet probably saved me from a life-changing injury.
Dan rappelled down to me and put me on rappel. I could rap down while other climbers at the base gave me a fireman’s belay. I slowly made my way back to the road with a lot of help from Dan but it was excruciating and took us over 2 hours. Longest walk of my life.
I took this photo partway up the first pitch. I am above the slab here.
Dan is at the top of the first pitch, bringing me up.
Good gear placements are just above me here.
Looking out at the second pitch which I got to lead. It is mostly a traverse to the left. Again lots of good gear placements here.
This is looking back down Pitch 2 from the top of the pitch. There are two anchor bolts in the rock behind me. The treed ledge is a nice belay ledge.
TIP: When I was on lead and figuring out where the route goes, I found it helpful to look for polish on the rock. This route has been climbed so many times and so many shoes have contacted the rock, it now has a little bit of polish in a lot of sections. Not so much that it takes away from the climbing, the rock is still pretty prickly and sticky when you need it. But looking for the darker, polished rock helped confirm my route-finding decisions.
This is the belay at the top of the Pitch 2, looking up at part of Pitch 3.
The climbing starts up on the left, out of the photo. It then traverses to the right, crossing above the belay at the little tree. There is a bolt to the right of the tree.
Here is a closer look at the traverse to the right of the little tree. The bolt is just right of the tree.
The route continues up and across to the right.
Here is a section of Pitch 4.
This terrain is typical of the Mother’s Day climb. The rock is pretty solid (by Rockies standards). In most places, it is blocky with lots of holds and ledges. Or it is sticky, featured slab with good holds.
There are usually good spots to place gear and in the rare section where you can’t place gear, there is usually a bolt.
We ran into problems on Pitch 4 which I led. I got to a bolted anchor but it seemed too soon for the pitch to be finished. I wasn’t sure so I brought Dan up.
He then led and it was around this point he realized this was still part of Pitch 4.
This is more typical terrain on the route – lots of gravel and small rocks on the ledges.
This is looking up at Pitch 6.
I didn’t take any photos of Pitch 5 but it was my favourite pitch of the day. I found a fun flow of climbing up solid rock with great holds. The gear placements felt obvious to me.
It was exhilarating to be moving so high up on the outside ridge of the buttress.
My final climbing photo was on pitch 8. Here a number of bolts protect this steep section that would be difficult to protect with gear.
Older route descriptions talk about a roof to climb over but we didn’t find the roof on this pitch. We followed the bolts.
There are two sets of anchor bolts at the top of Pitch 8. Dan stopped at the first set, thinking it was the top. When we moved above them and got up to the actual top anchor bolts, we wished we had kept going and not stopped at the first.
Above the final anchor bolts, there is a nice flat section to sit and rest and pack up ropes and gear. Perhaps enjoy a celebratory toast to your success with your favourite beverage.
There is a well-defined trail leading back away from the cliff which is the start of the descent.
The Descent
On the trail leading away from the top of the climb.
Eventually it starts heading left and drops down steeply.
The trail climbs up again before dropping down to cross the top of the Cascade Waterfall. Yup, that’s the one you see from the highway. So cool to be up at the top of it!
On the other side of the waterfall, the trail climbs the hillside again and traverses toward the next waterway – Rogan’s Gully. Just before Rogan’s Gully, the trail meets another trail that runs up and down the hillside. Go down and left to continue the descent.
Start the steep hike / downclimb.
A big cairn marks the ledge where you look for the rappel anchor. The bolts and chain are on the left side of the ledge (facing down, ie skier’s left).
This is the rappel anchor, easily accessed from the ledge.
This photo was taken from the bottom of the rappel, looking up. The anchor is up by the trees. It’s not too long, maybe 20 meters.
The work is not done yet. There is still some downclimbing and steep hiking down from here.
Eventually the trail takes you across the lower slopes and joins the trail to the base of the waterfall (tourist trail). It’s an easy hike back to the road from there.
Challenges on Mother’s Day Climb
For us, the biggest challenge was probably route-finding. We have done a lot of sport (fully-bolted) multi-pitches where you follow a line of bolts up. But we felt this was our first real trad multi-pitch and we spent a lot of time making sure we were on route.
Dan climbed past the anchor at the top of Pitch 6 and had to downclimb to find it. He saw an old cam buried in a crack and climbed to it. This led him away from the anchor.
It is also important to keep in mind that this climb is very popular and you will probably encounter other parties on it. We got there early on a Friday and two other parties were already heading for the climb. When we got to the bottom of the route, the second party was starting up and we waited for them to move onto the second pitch before we started climbing.
We didn’t mind being last because we wanted to take a lot of time with route-finding and placing a lot gear. We also weren’t too worried about rockfall because the route is climbed a lot and is pretty cleaned up (by Rockies standards). It wasn’t a problem.
Screw Ups
I like to analyze each climb and consider what went well, what could have gone better and what were issues that should have been avoided. We experienced a couple of minor issues and one gigantic one.
First minor issue
We missed the anchor on Pitch 6. This cost some time as Dan had to figure out where on the route he was and how to get back to where he should be.
Second minor issue
The extra bolted anchors confused me. I stopped at a bolted anchor that was partway up Pitch 4. I should have kept going. Again on Pitch 8, Dan stopped at an anchor that was partway up the pitch. These extra stops cost us time as we ended up changing leads each time. We knew better than to stop at the extra bolted anchor on Pitch 1.
Great big screw up
At the top of the first pitch, as I pulled a locking carabiner off my harness to secure myself to the anchor, I felt a piece of gear drop from my harness.
I watched in horror as my belay device, which happened to be on that locking carabiner, bounced off the slab below. It dropped and bounced and ricocheted off the rock before disappearing into the gravel far below the start of the first pitch.
I was so upset. What a rookie mistake! Of all the pieces of gear to drop, the belay device is probably the worst. I still can’t believe I did that. With all the gear on my harness and the backpack strap covering part of my harness, the belay device snagged as I pulled open the carabiner it was on. I should have been more careful. Lesson learned.
We took a few minutes to consider our options. I could rappel down using Dan’s device and try to find my belay device. I could then send his belay device back up to him so he could bring me up. Or we could carry on, using Dan’s belay device for lead belaying and a Munter hitch for bringing up the second. We decided on the Munter hitch.
I was pleased with how smoothly the Munter hitch worked. At the rappel on the way down, Dan went first and then attached his belay device to the end of the rope. I pulled it up and used the device for my rappel. Crisis averted.
Final Thoughts
I enjoyed Mother’s Day climb a lot. It was fun climbing on pretty solid rock. Being on the edge of the buttress was so cool. I’m not surprised it is so popular.
For the first half, I was a bit nervous. I think I was rattled by dropping my belay device. I was a bit intimidated by having to find the route without bolts to show the way. My past experience falling on the first pitch and breaking my ribs was probably in the back of my mind too. Even though I knew we were doing everything right this time, I couldn’t shake the anxiety.
But as I led the fifth pitch, I started to relax a bit and really get into the climb. Instead of just placing a lot of gear, I thought about where to place gear effectively, mindful of protecting ledges and not running it out too much. I enjoyed the climbing and followed the shoe-polished rock to make sure I stayed on route. It was a lot of learning, good practice and overall a super fun day in the mountains.
If you’re looking for a moderate trad route to be one of your first trad leads, I recommend this route. We’re deciding on our next trad route – maybe Escargot Corner on Mount Norquay. To be notified by e-mail when I post my next Trip Report, hit the subscribe button on the bottom right of your screen.
If you’ve climbed Mother’s Day, I would love to hear about your experience. Please write me a comment below. If you have suggestions about other moderate trad climbs in the Rockies, I’d love to hear them. We want to continue practicing and improving.
Life is better
on the rocks
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