Mount Rundle - West (WEOR)

A new, old crag originally developed in the mid ‘90s by Peter Arbic and Joe Buszowski. The original two climbs are quite a bit harder than described in Chris Perry’s Banff Rock book and have likely not been repeated more than a handful times due to their sparse to non-existent fixed protection. Even with an easier additional route put up in the early 2000’s this crag likely never saw a lot of traffic.

With the permission of the first ascentionists the original two, very run-out, routes were retro bolted (except pitch 1 of Top-Flite which is still gear protected). To give kudos to the accomplishment and boldness of the first ascending party the bolt spacing is a bit more “spicy” than normal on most routes in the main sector. More modern bolt spacing can be found on the Lower Golf Course.

The climbing itself is mostly slab climbing with very technical and partly steep crux sections, so make sure the wall is a 100% dry and it is not too hot. Due to its northern aspect, the wall gets sun only in the morning and stays shady for the rest of the day.

Gear: 12 sport draws and a 60 m single rope.

Approach: Park as described in Banff Rock by Chris Perry and walk down towards the fourth hole for about 15 to 20m where you can see some flagging tape around a tree to your left. Follow the flagging for about 40m into the woods where it splits. From here follow right trail mostly traversing up and right until you end up at the base of a big slab (15 to 20 min from the car). This is the Lower Golf Course. From here follow flagging along the base of the slab towards climbers left and after another 10min you will pop out at the scree cone underneath the main sector.