Saturday, July 27, 2019

Takakkaw Falls, Yoho National Park

Takakkaw Falls with Matt and Chad. A fantastic and challenging adventure! 12 pitches of fun climbing, wet rock from rain and spray, route finding and the 100 metre long cave above the falls - this day had it all. 

Matt had done the climb before and led us through... The route has been retro-bolted and there is a sweet bolted line close to the corner... it was wet so we still plugged gear for about 40 m directly under the big roof in an attempt to avoid wet rock (still had some slippery moves to make). 

The 100 metre cave above the falls was a fun bonus at the top, a surprisingly tight squeeze (Matt and I forgot headlamps, it was quite rough going in the dark following Chad). One more pitch above the cave on the far side and we were above the falls in the upper valley and soon on our way rappelling and retracing our tracks to the trail below. 

Notes to self: 1. Rap with both ropes or bring a 70 metre ropes next time for rapelling! One of the first rappels from the top was a bit short (somehow Matt dealt with it, being the first guy down... Chad and I added a rope at the point to the system and had no issues with two - 60's). 

2. Has been heavily retro-bolted but still need a rack, bolts are sparse on the first pitch (I think we slung a horn). Route finding is still quite interesting, despite all the bolts.


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