On May 24, 2023, we climbed Wheat Kings, a 225 meter climb on the side of Cascade Mountain. This is a climb that I've wanted to do since it was first put up in 2016.
The hardest pitch was 5.7 with most of the climb going at 5.6 or easier. We found it a bit run out in places but the more difficult sections were well bolted. All anchors are bolted and it is set up for rappels with a 70 meter rope.
We enjoyed this climb a lot. We had a nice relaxed day.
Our route up Wheat Kings is the green line.
The parking for the trail head is at the base of Cascade Mountain. This is the same start as our multi pitch climb the week before - Minihappa and Battle of Seven Oaks.
We hiked about 3.5 km around the base of Cascade Mountain and up a steep slope to the base of the cliff and the start of the climb. There are good descriptions of the approach on other websites. The important points are
- hike to the end of the air strip before heading up hill
- keep hiking to a large broken boulder (looks like three separate chunks of rock) that sits right beside the trail and has some orange lichen on it
- at the big boulder, take the uphill path
- there are cairns marking the beginning of the switchback path
- towards the end the path gets very steep through some loose rocks and scree.
The start of the climb is supposed to be marked with a cairn but when we went, there was no cairn. We walked right past the start and completely missed the two bolts that are visible from the ground. As we walked around the base of the cliff confused, we realized we must be in the right area and looked for a spot where it seemed obvious to belay. We looked up and found the two bolts.
The first part of the hike in is a nice trail through forest.
Dan starts up the steeper approach trail where it leaves the main trail.
Dan sets up our rope and ties in at the start of the climb. We could leave our shoes at the bottom because we planned to rappel back down to this spot. We took our packs up so we would have food and water as well as first aid supplies and the In Reach (SOS signalling device). We used hydration packs for this climb and it worked really well to be able to drink without taking off packs.
The climb starts up nice slab. It is prickly and sticky here, not polished. It's a lot of fun to climb.
Lots of fun climbing. Here on the third pitch, the route goes up a face with lots of great holds near an endangered white bark pine tree.
Great views across the Highway 1 and up the valley towards Canmore.
Dan brings me up. We alternated leads with him starting and finishing. I started Minihappa the week before so it was Dan's turn to start today.
This pitch has more fun face climbing.
After topping out we start our rappel. The weather was turning a bit cold and windy and we decided not to waste anytime heading down.
There was a bit of weirdness on the rappel. At one point, you rappel to an anchor that is off the route. This gives a more direct rappel down. On one of the pitches after that, you must keep your eyes open for a row of bolts on the climber's right. If you continue straight down, you will come down on the wrong side of a tree that will prevent you from getting over right to the anchor.
Another great multi pitch rock climb done!
We're already planning another one. Read about it here