F Slab, 5.6-5.10a

Overview/Approach

 
Take the Kananaskis Highway (Highway 40) exit off of the Trans-Canada Highway between Calgary and Canmore. Travel past Kananaskis Park headquarters and Barrier Lake on your right and Mount Baldy on the left as you are heading southbound. Park at the Wasootch Creek Day Use Area on your left. You will clearly see Wasootch Tower from the highway as you near the parking turnoff. From the parking lot, follow the faint gravel trails up the creek bed to the slabs on your left, starting with “A” slab.

F Slab is separated from the A-D Slabs by a void of any slabs at all. It is the last slab before the Wasootch Creek Valley narrows and bends. It is definitely a good slab to head for if there is a crowd. This is mostly a beginners area and many don’t make it down the creek bed this far. It is a short slab with only 7 routes, but most are 25 meters +/-.
   

Route Description(s)

F1- 5.7- Short top rope deal

F2- 5.6- Gear using a corner.

F3- Moon Unit-5.10a- Was trad, but is now sport. Crux is lower and then easy. These 5.10a’s are soft in my opinion, could easily be 5.9’s. Kind of bulges out during the beginning. Nice balancing move to start. Mostly slab, good textured rock. (photo)

F4- Nasty Habits-5.10a- Same, now a sport route. More entertaining from bottom to top, guess it is the most difficult route on F Slab. Gets thin in the middle. Bolts are tight, makes for an easy 5.10 lead. (photo)

F5- Locomotion-5.10a- Same as Nasty Habits in difficulty. Again a sport route now. Most difficult start, fun in the middle, easy at the top. All three of these 5.10a’s are a little polished on the first move, but after that the rock is very nicely textured by Canadian Rocky standards. Reminds me of the upper Heart Creek crags. (photo)

F6- 5.7- Nothing too interesting.

F7- 5.6- Same.

Essential Gear

A single 60 meter rope ought to do you. Many of these pitches are close to 30 meters which is nice. Sport Climbs in the Canadian Rockies is the book you need, but somewhat outdated on what is trad or sport. You might get by without it if Dr. Topo has everything you need in terms of which routes you want to do. Bring your trad gear, there are still some fun trad routes left.

External Links

The Kananaskis Provincial Park website is a very thorough park website, including trail conditions or closures, wildlife notices, weather conditions, avalanche conditions, camping permits, whitewater conditions, etc. It is an excellent source if you are going to spend any time here and comparable to any National Park website I have used. Canadian Alpine Accident Reports are also extremely useful. There is only one accident report for Wasootch Slabs as of 2006.

Images

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