Issue 11

Tales of Vertical Trails

Whirlpool & Lookout Slabs

Spring of 2022 brought new energy and I was excited to develop. Unfinished Business was definitely on my mind. I convinced Phil Bietz to head west and give it a cleaning pass with me. Unfortunately, the weather was much poorer than forecast at Freyja Wall, so we had to revert to our plan B.

Issue 11

Whirlpool & Lookout Slabs

Spring of 2022 brought new energy and I was excited to develop. Unfinished Business was definitely on my mind. I convinced Phil Bietz to head west and give it a cleaning pass with me. Unfortunately, the weather was much poorer than forecast at Freyja Wall, so we had to revert to our plan B.
Phil and I ended up bolting and cleaning up Billy Goat Slabs on that trip. Billy Goat Slabs had amazing quality rock at friendly grades. We ground up bolted Silly Billy, and then rapp bolted Kili and Fili. These three multi pitch routes are a great addition to the fun climbing zone at Lookout Slabs. Our original plan was thwarted and Unfinished Business would have to wait for another day.

As May arrived I had my eye on Whirlpool Notch, a hidden gem. For the next two months I spent every spare evening running up to the crag and developing routes to add to the original seven, high quality climbs. I was pleased with the atmosphere of the zone. It was fun, the bolting was friendly, and the rock was high quality dolomite. I added seventeen routes to this fun zone and felt like the season was off to a good start. You might notice a lot of the routes at Whirlpool Notch have a bear theme. If you run into me at Whirlpool Notch I will tell you the story of Matt and the bear. Matt and Brad spent a lot of days with me that spring as they were part of our year long Mountain Coaching Program. They helped establish a number of the routes at Whirlpool Point.

In the Fall of 2022 Janet Welch had the itch to get out developing again and I was stoked to make it happen. We spent a few days and added Rammed If I Do, as well as Rammed If I Don’t. During the development of Rammed If I Do, I looked down to see an enormous Bighorn sheep walk right past Janet at the second belay. This completed the development at Lookout Slabs and solidified it as the best entry level multi pitch zone in the Canadian Rockies.

Whirlpool Notch
Liz Taylor on (un)finished Business

More Tales of Vertical Trails:

(Un)finished Business – Finished!

(Un)finished Business – Finished!

Everything other than the weather was lining up. Poor weather can hold you back, or you can just go try and see what happens. As parents who had a rare day in the mountains without our four younglings, it was an easy decision. We woke at 0400 and went climbing. At the...

read more
Happy People Crag

Happy People Crag

In the Nordegg area we almost always have to compromise on one of these qualities, so it's pretty special when a crag boasts all of them. Happy People Crag does just that. We ran into this crag a few years back and noted it. In 2024, Liz Taylor and I had a bit of...

read more
Rockies Ringlock & Filthy With Minerals

Rockies Ringlock & Filthy With Minerals

Route development days almost always fall in between another day or two in the mountains for me.They are a natural outflowing of my passion to share these mountains with other travellers and unlock their secret pathways. On route development days things can have a...

read more

We’d love to answer questions or plan your custom guided mountain adventure! 

Services