We noticed Five Seven Zero from Highway 11 when we were driving back towards the Icefields Parkway after climbing Two O’Clock Falls a few years ago. It’s on a ridge on the north side of the highway.
At first we weren’t sure what the climb was or how difficult it might be. We looked it up in the Rockies Ice and Mixed Climbing app and discovered it was a WI4.
At that time, we weren’t yet leading WI4 but the glittering blue gem high up on the side of the ridge was too tempting to pass up. We decided to check it out.
That first attempt was an eye opener. There is no trail to Five Seven Zero and we ended up wandering around a bit, climbing over deadfall which was particularly dense in a burned section of the forest. I think it took us at over 2 hours to find the climb the first time.
Even after the long approach, we decided to bail partway up the first pitch. The ice was very challenging with a crust over snow sitting on hard-as-cement ice.
On the hike down, we found a much better route to the highway.
When we returned to climb it on April 4, 2026, we followed our descent route which I had recorded on GaiaGPS. It went very well and we made much better time.
Beta:
- Multi-pitch: 3 pitches
- WI4
- the first pitch is WI4 and leads to a wide curtain with a variety of difficulty levels for the next two pitches
- anchors: trees and/or ice screws
- descent: rappel the route from tree anchors
- the first rappel was a real rope stretcher with our two 60 meter ropes, two 70 meter ropes would have been better
Access
The climb is on Whirlpool Ridge about 22 km from the Icefields Parkway.
The bright green line is our track to Five Seven Zero. The purple line is our track to SARS on Ice which we first climbed in March 2026.
We parked along the side of the road about 100 meters east of this open field.
We took a few moments after we parked, to identify the route to the climb from the road, before we entered the trees.
We were looking for a way to get above the cliffs below the climb.
I took the photo below in March 2025 when there was a lot less snow. It shows the approach along the ridge below the climb. It is best to get up on this ridge far to the left.
The Approach
There is no continuous trail to Five Seven Zero but we found some game trails in the forest and a trail on part of the ridge below the climb.
We had to navigate and bushwack to find the base of the climb. The bushwacking is not bad compared to other areas. The forest here is fairly open with not a lot of deadfall. But it is easy to get off track once you’re in the trees.
From the highway, we entered the forest and hiked through a flat area with some fallen logs, heading toward the left end of the approach ridge.
We looked for open areas and tried to avoid climbing up the knolls, like the one on the right side of the photo. It is possible to stay low, weaving between them, and not have to hike up and down too much.
After about half an hour of walking, we found an open rib that angled up toward the ridge. We followed this uphill.
After a few minutes, we could see where the ridge was lower and it would be easier to get up onto it.
Here we found a trail heading toward a break in the ridge.
We hiked up to the fallen tree and around its root end. This got us up onto the approach ridge. We were about 1.15 km from the road with about 175 meters of elevation gain.
Up on the ridge, this is looking toward Five Seven Zero (not visible in the photo).
From here, we stayed high and hiked the clear path, avoiding dropping down into the burned trees on the left.
At times, it was necessary to drop down to the left a bit but we always stayed above the burned trees. This area is choked with deadfall as many of the burned trees have fallen.
Eventually the climb came into view on the rocky cliff ahead.
Five Seven Zero is on the right side of the cliff in the photo.
We only had one tough bushwacking section at a break in the ridge which was filled with burned-forest deadfall and young saplings.
We forced our way through without too much trouble. It is easiest again to keep to the ridge top as much as possible.
It was easy to navigate around a few fallen trees on the ridge.
We stuck to the open ridge as long as possible. Five Seven Zero came into view as we moved along the ridge, toward it.
Eventually, the trees began to crowd in. We kept going until we thought we were below the climb, then turned left and hiked towards it.
We had a short hike through a dense matchstick forest as we headed across to the ice.
Below the ice, we started up the hillside.
We could just make out the blue of the ice above us.
After hiking 2.13 km and ascending 413 meters, we arrived at the base of the climb.
The Climb
The first pitch looked amazing.
Dan led, easily surpassing his previous attempt, a few years ago.
I came up on second and took this photo as I came over the top of the steep section.
Dan had clipped the cordellette on this tree which had a rappel ring or quicklink. We used it later to rappel.
He then headed off to the right to build an ice screw anchor. We had agreed earlier that we wanted to go up the easier right side on this first attempt.
Here Dan finished the first pitch and set up an ice screw anchor.
I took this photo of the steeper left side as I walked by. We talked about taking this option next time.
I think I would do it in two pitches although you could probably do one long 60+ meter pitch. It looks like there would be a good belay ledge before the top steep section.
I led up the mellower right side. I thought this pitch went at WI2+ or WI3-.
It was very slushy the day we climbed and it took some extra effort to dig down for screw placements.
I ended the second pitch at a tree on the right. It had cordellette and a quicklink. I built an anchor here to bring Dan up.
Dan then led the shorter third pitch (WI3) and went across the top to the left where there was a tree with cordellette and a quicklink. This tree was directly above the steeper left side.
He brought me up and we celebrated a successful climb of Five Seven Zero.
The Descent
We considered how high our second and third pitches were and figured they totalled about 60 meters. We thought then that we should be able to rappel the 2nd and 3rd pitches on the left with our two 60 meter ropes and make it down to the tree at the top of the steep part of the 1st pitch.
Almost! Dan was just able to reach the tree and clip in but there wasn’t enough rope for a fireman’s belay. Good thing I had a prusik.
This is a photo of the 3rd pitch that Dan led and the tree anchor at the top of the 2nd pitch, taken as we rappelled. It gives a better sense of the steepness of that pitch.
You can see our footprints heading to and from the tree anchor along the ledge.
This photo, also taken while rappelling, is the steepest part of the left side. It was quite vertical when we were there.
It would be amazing to climb this next year.
The rappel from the tree at the top of the steep part of the 1st pitch was straigthfoward. Once on the ground, we retraced our steps down the ridge, through the forest, and back to the highway.
I hope to return to Five Seven Zero next year. I would like to go earlier in the year when the ice is a bit more solid and climb that steep left side. If I do, I will add to this post.
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