Wasootch

July 27, 2026

For the first climbing day we went cragging at Wasootch to get used to the feel of climbing limestone. I picked a nice looking route and tried to onsite it. Someone told me that they thought it was 5.7. I found the first ten meters rather spicy for 5.7 but pulled it off onto a decent ledge, but faced with a fairly blank wall above me. I tried various manouvers, but kept down climbing back to the comfy ledge as I tried unsuccessfully to raise the courage to pull up this section. Finally bailed off to the ground. Yifeng gave it a try, and after hang dogging for a while managed to pull through to the top! We looked the route up in the guide book and discovered that it was a 5.9. No wonder... I don't climb 5.9! I tried the route on top rope and fell a couple times at the crux, but finally managed to pull through it.

Trying and failing to onsite above my pay grade

After that humbling experience, I climbed many other routes in the 5.5 to 5.7 range successfully, including a three pitch practice multi-pitch route which was fun. I think everyone enjoyed the day with all taking a turn at leading some of the easier (and a few people with the harder) routes. We finished up with a swim in an ice cold reservoir lake on the way back to Canmore.

Katharina topping out after a great lead

As there were members from two other sections (Okanogan and Toronto) also staying up at the clubhouse, the staff organized an intersection BBQ for us. We enjoyed good food and company on the porch with the best view in Canmore.

Schmoozing with other ACC sections

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