Better Late than Never, Climbing Takakkaw Falls

After a long season of climbing in the Rockies, Bugaboos, and Skaha, the weather gods aligned for a weekend in early September and we made the trek out to Yoho National Park to tick off the super classic long moderate climb – the Takakaw Falls Route.

Takakaw Falls route features somewhat crappy rock, and only a small handful of good pitches of rock, however the view, setting, and unbelievable ambiance of the massive Takakaw Falls only a few meters away make this route an absolute must-do for anyone looking for a route to do in this range. There is also an extremely cool tunnel at the top that is over 200m long, barely wide enough to squeeze through, and the booming of the falls at the other end make it feel like your eardrums are going to explode. Quite the experience!

The routefinding was a little tricky at the beginning (which is pretty much normal for every route in the Rockies it seems), but we managed to get on the right route within only a few minutes of wandering along the base, and were off.

Jolene lead all but one pitch on the route, and most pitches had enough bolts to make it climbable without placing gear. I think we ended up placing one 0.75 cam on the 5.6 pitch lower down. Not bad at all.