GUIDEBOOK HISTORY
Well after some recent controversy and hard feelings, I thought I should take some time to try and give people a feel for what has been happening in the area from the Crowsnest Pass and South, and what work was done in trying to prepare the information that is currently up on the website. If this seems trite, I do apologize, hopefully it will help iron out some hard feelings, and give the local climbing community an idea where all the information comes from. It is meant to clear the air, not justify offenses given and received.
My family has been in the Park since about 1924. My Grandfather has always been active in the mountains, and has written about a half dozen books trying to explain what things were like in the park during the depression years. His memory still baffles me, I mean who can remember the name of an employee they had for one week, 70 years ago. A lot of the historical information in the area has come from him, many others having died or disappeared. Our family has lived in the park since this time. While no one did technical climbing until the late 80's, in such a small community it is relatively easy to get a feel for what is going on. Our front door looks out over the Bear's Hump so it was fairly easy to judge the frequency of people climbing in the area.
In about 1989 I started climbing in Nova Scotia. Since there were no active climbers at that time (the 2 or 3 that had been doing routes having retired from the sport), my friends and I thought ourselves how to climb. Somehow we survived. Our family would come back to Waterton for the summers, and after this experience, I started trying to figure out how to lead so I could do some technical climbing in the area. Things certainly were a bit more imposing than the half pitch routes out east! It took a while before I started to feel comfortable leading on the loose rock in the park. About this time I managed to get a copy of the Bear's Hump topo from the Warden's Station. This was fabulous. It listed all the routes on the Hump. Trying to figure out the approaches and exact location of these routes took a while. I am sure more experienced climbers would have a lot less difficulty than me, but with few local climbers around to meet or learn from, my learning curve was fairly slow.
By about 1991 I figured, while the Bear's Hump topo was nice, other new climbers would probably be happy with some more details on approaches an so on. I knew how much time it had taken me to figure things out, and figured if I wanted some climbing partners I better find a way of getting people out climbing. Around this time I started to meet other new climbers who were having similar difficulties. Of course wandering around the various areas in the Park was great fun - definitely a different experience than following a detailed guidebook. I started recording extra information on the hump, and writing down descriptions for the other areas as best as I could. I was rather excited about meetings for a proposed climbing wall in Lethbridge, and was excited about seeing so many climbers. Still being a relatively new climber, and a social misfit, I didn't make any real contacts. Looking back this was a shame, but I hadn't really made up my mind to try and write a guidebook, so guess it could be expected. Also not too many people take the time to get to know young unconnected youth.
While I was gone to Europe in 1992 to 1994, Kris Jensen, a Mountain View local, took the notes I made, and spent some time working on a short guide to the Park. He contacted Brent Kozachenko and other Park employees looking for information. Outside of the Topo that was already written, not much new information was obtained. When I came back we sat down and filled in the details on what we knew.
Between 1995 and 1996, I spent a lot more time trying to track down information for the area. Edwin Knoxx was able to fill me in with a few more details and contact names. I also started to run into some old routes over on the West Side of Crandell. I got some more details on the climbs around Tick Ridge. I believe the most useable information was "the wardens used to use it a lot for training purposes a number of years ago". Apparently the right side, (Right Corner) was the area most used, but it is certain that more climbs must have been worked on over there. I also met a friend of my brother's down in Utah who grew up in the Pass and had worked at the Bible Camp (opposite Knob Hill). While not a great climber from his admissions, he did get out with the few people who used to climb there. He indicated that the routes at Knob Hill had been there for quite some time, that there was supposedly more climbing by the CPR tracks. (I have never been able to find what he was talking about). He told me that he figured that most of the older climbers in the area must have moved on to better things or, most likely left the area.
Over the next few years I was busy doing a double major in Physics and Math at UBC, and trying to find time to cram in what climbing I could at Squamish. The contacts I got from Edwin, didn't go too far. Looking back on things, I am pretty sure I would have had an easier time if I was 20 years older and in a climbing clique. I can see why people could have been leery taking time to give out information to someone they had not heard of. I spent a while going through the phone book for the towns down here trying to track down phone numbers. I left messages with Jon Veerhagen (sp?), and Brian Cusak, but got no response. It could be that they just couldn't reach me. Although I have not met these guys in person I have heard good things about them, and appreciated what they have added to the area. Research slowed down until I came back to the area full time for school in 1998. Over the last few years I have tried to get the friends I know who work at the ski hill with Brian to see what information they could get from him.
Once I came back to the area, I started climbing with the gang out at Ascent Climbing center; Mike Orr, Mark Iwaasa, Megan Houston, Denny Winkler, etc. While it took a while to fit in, it was nice to have a gang to go out with. Unfortunately most of the climbing they did was on the established sport routes up in Banff. I preferred heading back down to Waterton. Working at the wall was also John Harton, a climber that had been around for quite some time. From John I got the same contact information I had gotten from Edwin and Brent, ie Jon Veerhagen and Brian Cusak were the guys. I also got the names of the Saca board members Tom McLaughlin and Peter Allan. I tried contacting Jon Veerhagen and Brian Cusak again but it was only able to leave a message for Brian (not returned), and I believe Jon indicated that he had done some routes up around the pass but, according to the feel I got, was not to keen on giving out specifics ( I am not sure on this last point, if this happened around this time or before, or if Jon wouldn't return my messages, etc. The notes I kept were lost in a hard drive crash 1 1/2 years ago. However, I am sure that I got information that the climbs up around the pass - presumably Lundbreck, House Rock, Knob Hill- were one of the places Jon V had been active at). I also tried to get the people I knew to see if they could get any information from some of the old climbers that I had previously tried to contact. More accurately I have tried to get the friends I know who work at the ski hill with Brian to see what information they could get from him. The same level of information came back - so and so had climbed in the pass before, and thought that a few other people had been there too. A few possible first names came out, but not much more that what I had already figured out. Thus general ideas as to who had done what were had, but it was impossible to pinpoint who had done what, even on a crag by crag basis.
Mike Orr, Mark, Megan, Denny and the gang had started putting up routes out at Drywood. Better info was circulating about Knob Hill, and House Rock, but nothing about wedge or Blairmore (at least in the Lethbridge circles). Another friend from the wall introduced me to Aaron Hemphill who runs the climbing store along the main highway in Frank, and manages rockshoes.com (a great place to buy good gear at amazing prices). I had stopped by the store a number of times when I was in the pass, but only managed to ever talk to his dad. He filled me in on the info about the pass- or rather the lack of it. He knew some first names of some of the people that had been active 10 or 15 years ago, but told me that he had been trying, but hadn't found out much more. I figured since he had the climbing shop, if he didn't know any information, and none had been reported to him, it was unlikely that much more would be coming out (Blairmore crag is 800m from his business along the main road). He and I both figured that whoever had put up the routes about which we didn't know much must have moved out, or been someone from Calgary that we would have little chance in discovering. He knew that an Erin H something or Erick H something had done some routes in the pass as well, but didn't have any more contact information. I looked through the local phone books hoping to get lucky, but didn't. I called the sporting goods store in Fernie looking for information but just got a "umm.. do you really expect me to know anything about that" type response. I probably just got the wrong teller at the wrong time. At any rate with the information I had I felt like I was looking for a needle in a haystack. I don't think internet resources had become as developed as they are now. I remember the searches I did manage to do at school not going much of anywhere.
About this time I had a large project for an English class where we were supposed to create some original compositions. I decided that it would be better to put together some of the info I had about waterton rock in a small guide book rather than struggle through some piece of artisitc expression. In 4 months I managed to enter the information I had about the routes in Waterton scan some images, and learn how difficult managing large files on slow computers is. I also put up some posters at the UofL, Lethbridge climbing wall, and Post office in Waterton asking for route info I also asked Aaron to keep his eyes open for what he could. The finished product was basically a beefed up version of the old topo to the Hump. It was about 20 pages long, had reasonably detailed approach information for the various climbs on the Hump, had some information on what I knew about Tick Ridge, the info bureau, and the couple of climbs there were on Crandell's West Side. Route names came from the Bear's Hump topo. For routes such as the ones on the info bureau, that had obviously been done by other people (Brent Kozachenko, Tom, Peter, John H. Paul Sloan, and who know who else) but had been around and used for quite some time I put in names. Since I had not been able to get any specifics for such climbs, I gave them arbitrary names. From what I could gather from the people in the community that I talked too, they felt like this would be better than having a number of routes called "unamed" when it appeared unlikely that any new information would be forthcoming. I also believe the Kris Jensen had broached this subject with Brent when he was working on his guide, but can't be certain. I got a rough copy in for my Prof, and then after a few more months of revisions, photocopied 30 copies. My brother took the information I had up to this point and made up a website for the area (the old kingsleymc site that is now down. It also had some info on Halifax ice that we had done back in 94/95).
These went down to the local climbing wall and Tamarack Mall. I hoped that having some information out about Waterton would provide climbers with a known location to send route info. I also hoped that it would be a way to get some more information out of the people who we believed had established routes in the Crowsnest Pass, but were either unaware of the information that was being sought, or unwilling to contribute to a project that they were uncertain about. I hoped it would also be the first step in trying to get some specific history (ie FA history and route names) for the climbs we knew existed in the pass, had general ideas as to who did what, but could not get the specifics to make it useful in printed version.
I think this marked a small turning point in the climbing community down in the Lethbridge area. It did not affect things at the Pass, and probably went unnoticed in Fernie. Down here though, a number of climbers outside the regular gang started to get together. I met Duncan Mackey and Peter Kwan who have helped to esatblish a number of routes in the Gap, Drywood, and elsewhere. Duncan Mackey proved to be a great contact. With his outgoing nature, he helped to try and get information from his different circle of friends. He also contributed lots of time, effort, bolts, and routes to the Drywood area. Not much changed though with route information. The same vague info I had gotten before was all that I had. I had no information on route names, or FA history outside of the old "I think so and so did some climbing in that general area", which then dead ended.
I believe I contacted Tavbar asking for information on the area, but did not get any information what had already been had. I may have gotten some of the same contact names I had had before (again my archived emails were lost in my hard drive crash). I again traveled to MEC to again check the log there, and the one at Mountain Magic, but didn't find any information on the areas. One of Duncan's friends who worked in the climbing department at MEC was asked to try and track down some information, but nothing came of that. While my brother's site always popped up first for searches on the area, he or I never received any route history information. I believe he received the occasional flame as all websites do, some kudos, etc, but nothing that could be used to help establish the history of the area. I think he mainly got flamed for info he wa putting up about Utah ice (the usual destroying our private area and inviting the crowds type stuff)
After numerous attempts over quite a few months, I had finally managed to find the Blairmore Crag. All my appointments with Aaron to show me the exact location had fallen through, and I had decided to spend a number of days hiking up and down the entire ridge looking for it.. Looking back it is funny I couldn't find it - I had always been looking on the big walls way to the east of the small crag (where by the way, the climbing looks good from the road, but isn't up to much). While I am sure lots of other people in the area had climbed there (Aaron used to go there a bit, but wasn't too impressed with it for various reasons), none of the Lethbridge crowd had heard of it. More people started going there. While the crowds that I knew (A couple Letbridge circles and Aaron and his friends), appreciated all the work that went into the area, we were a bit concerned about the bolting. Bolts were 2 feet away from the great fist crack there (I believe that Bruno Engler may have done that route back in the 30's along with a number of others in the area). A number of bolts had been chopped on the first climbs you see, and some of the routes were extremely close together. Some climbers weren't too happy about this (not just me). Others figures that who ever put up the routes could do what they wanted (true enough). With more climbers expected to be moving outside from the wall, and the number of climbers at the cliffs increasing as word of these newly discovered old areas got out, there was some concern at SACA that some effort should be made in establishing some ethics for the area (I part of the board at this time and putting out the quarterly newsletters in the community - awesome adventures, ascent climbing center, elias sports in the pass). With the paucity of decent rock in the area, it was worried that learning to bolt on the few decent cliffs that existed may not be the wisest location for trial and error. We asked for contributions in the news letter, and personallyfrom the new route activists. We got a number of responses. Each one was different, and had a different view on ethics. We decided who's approach was middle of the road, and then decided to use that information for the newsletter and in the upcoming guidebook that I was working on. Unfortunately we didn't get any information from the person that had set the routes up Blairmore - establishing a dialogue with them being one of the things we were hoping for. I had left some notes in laminated covers up on the hand lines asking for info, but these must never have gotten to the right person. They did disappear from the hand line on which they were tied. After the guide came out a duck tape note was found on the crack line with the word "patio latern" on it. Apparently some one was interested in getting the original name of that climb out, but did not supply any contact information, or info on any of the other routes.
I believe it was now 2001 and lots of people were putting pressure on me to get the route info out. I didn't have access to web publishing software, or much of an internet connection, so did not redo my brother's old site (which he could now not maintain, having changed jobs and lost access to the original server). It remained up for a few years after this (I believe up till this spring or summer) I had climbed all the routes up at the pass a number of times and finally decided to include these in the new book (2nd edition). Again I had to decide what to do with the established routes at Lunbreck (3 routes about 5.10), House rock (6 routes 5.8 or so) and Knob Hill (6 routes mainly 5.7) and Blairmore (10 routes). Lundbreck I had guessed had been set by Jon Veerhagen (who didn't seem too interested in contributing specifics) House rock could have been the same, but I figured not since some of the bolts were pretty old - we figured some of them were set by who ever had established some of the bolted aid lines at the quarry. Aaron and I guessed that it must have been some of the people Dave (who had moved from the area a few years back) had said were in the area but had moved. Good luck tracking these people down. We had figured the same was true for Knob Hill (this was incorrect as a number of the routes there were done by Ralph Exckman and the Medicine Hat gang) With no information coming about the Blairmore crag we were unsure what to do. People were quite adamant about wanted information on these areas. We could leave them all unamed (difficult with print logistics, and more difficult in getting feedback for grade verifications, talk at the wall, info updates etc.), or we could give them arbitrary names figuring that if by now no detailed information had come out, it was unlikely to (this turned out to be a bad decision that has hurt a number of feelings - it has however extricated some new information -again who did what but no route names). I took the rest of the year updating images, topos, checking information, trying to find out how others found the grades, etc. While doing this I met some more locals in the pass who added the information about Juris' routes up in the Gap. I also ran into Brent Mosely a bit before this and found out that he had put up some of the slab routes at the Gap, but didn't have any more information either.
I had finished the book and was still snooping around for some of the climbs the Medicine Hat group had reportedly done at the upper slab at Knob Hill, when I finally found the climbs that I had heard rumors about at Wedge. It took a few times before I figured out the climbs were way down in the trees (I don't know how many mountain ridges I wandered around in that area, but it was a few). The routes looked great, the bolting fabulous. With my round of student teaching coming up out in Vauxhall, and winter nearby, I figured I better hurry up get on exploring the area. I spent the few days I could with my soloist climbing the routes, taking pictures and exploring other parts of the cliff looking for more routes.. I figured that whoever had done these routes was not the same as whoever had done the others in the pass (the bolting following natural lines rather than fighting them, bolts spaced at perfect locations, age of hangers and style of hangers different,etc). Since the climbs were rather recent it presented a quandary as to why no information or communication had been made with the local climbing shop and owner in the area. I figured that this fit into the reticence that had been experienced over the years in giving out route names and specifics. Some people just prefer to climb and not worry about reporting who has done what. I knew a couple people in BC who made quite a point of doing this. Fine by me. Not every one wants a crowded cliff, and some people prefer having an area to themselves. I mean this is one of the reasons I prefer climbing in the south rather than on the much better routes in Banff.
Since we had not been able to get any more information about the area up to this point, I decided to include wedge in the guidebook. Friends were quite insistent on this. I had lots of pressure from some people who had been setting routes to include a FA index so they could get credit for what had been done. I did not include one, because I knew lots of the FA information for the pass was unavailable. I did not want include a list of the FA's I could pinpoint that would only have a few different climbers in it (for instance which of the 4 or 5 climbers we knew who were active in the pass had done what). Following with what had been done before, arbitrary names were given to the climbs at wedge, with information in the introduction telling people who we thought may have done what. This was a mistake, as the climber who apparently put these routes up was quite upset about this. I apologize for any offence that was given, but am glad that other people now know about the well set routes that are there.
Here were my hopes for this 2nd edition
Sometime after this came out I did get a flame from the climber who set the routes up at Blairmore. He was not overly happen at the comments directed to the routes there (I can see why). He was also not happy about not being recognized for his routes. I sucked up my pride, ignored the obscene language, and tried to write a moderate response asking to supply the route names and any other information he had. This would then allow me to change the remaining copies I had, and get the information he wanted out for a wider release. No reply was sent. I think he was so offended by things that he decided not to contribute. I had his full name (lost in my hard drive crash), Ian is all I can remember now. Fair enough, I could see why he would get upset, but figure if you want something to change do something about it. With a final contact with the FA of the area made I figured that if he did not want to contribute the names for the climbs he had done, they could either become permanent "unamed", or we could stick with the arbitrary names that were given (hence their original inclusion on this website, before they were removed for being offensive). So I didn't expect things to change there. No information was out about wedge climbs, and things have stayed that way until now.
The last month I have responded to the pressures for getting out a new copy of the guide by trying to get the info from the previous book up on websites (like rockclimbing.com) where people could easily modify and add info. With time constraints I made a small dent on things, but couldn't really do much more (I have to pay long distance for web time down in waterton, and so can really only update info when at work- also I was still hoping to be able to recover my old guidebook after my computer crash. I have the file, but not the program for it). With the limits I was working within, I decided to redo a web page that would give some comprehensive info to the area (my brother's having been down for a year or so, and the server address on the ice climbs in waterton I had done changed). That is this website.
Unable to get personal emails off Gripped where some posts had been done about the Hartley creek climbs, I decided to put a post asking for route information for the 3rd edition of the guide. I included a link to this site, figuring that after the historic difficulties that had been encountered getting specifics, corrections or additions should be easy since most of the images of the areas were up and descriptions provided. It would also mean comments would likely not need deciphering (I am sure any one who has written a guide can understand this point). The comments did come (I am glad that the history can now be improved) and hope that a decent version of the next book can now be made.
All the information on this website and in the guidebook(SA rock) is original. I got the names for the rapids in Cameron Creek from Stuart Smith's excellent guide to the area. Names for Drywood, Siyeh, Reynolds, were given by me and the friends who did the FA's (as far as we and the old timers and local club members and provincial AWA members are aware). The ice climbing information is all original. Route names came from Josephon's first guide, and a R&I update he did in 95. Rock climbing info was as I have mentioned, entirely original, with arbitrary names given to climbs local climbers felt could not be tracked down. With time constraints I am still going through things making sure that the transfer of info from paper to the web is accurate. With the rock climbing section, I have been working off an old rough copy since I gave my last personal copy to a climber who was desperate for info on the area. With the log from the wall back in my hands (no changes except for a miscount of bolts on a route up at wedge, and a few increases in grades to the routes out at Drywood) I am going to be going through it again to re-verify what is up right now. I don't expect any major changes, just more work filling in the extra info about the weather, climbing seasons, first aid contacts, extra maps, etc.
With the recent controversy over the climbs in the pass, I am going to have to spend some time seeing if I can't get things straightened out. I still think establishing a viable climbing community down here is vital. With the wall in Blairmore now open, I think a good link between the climbers in the various cities (Pass, Ferni, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat) is as good as it is ever going to get. Hopefully some shared history (and lots of new routes and climbing partners) can come out of it I hope that any offenses given, and received can be worked out so that the community as a whole benefits. With kayaking and other demands taking up more and more of my time, I would like to get things in a form that can eventually passed on to others so they can continue to build on the info in the area. I imagine that won't happen until I struggle through all the consequences of trying to get information that has been hard to come by out to the public.
There are probably a number of errors in this account, and I don't think the sequencing and the timing of events may always be accurate, but it is the best I can do right now off the top of my head. I hope everyone takes advantage of what ever information they can get to enjoy themselves. Lots of people, recognized and not have spent lots of hours and money in establishing climbing in this area and in others. Hopefully we can thank them for what they have done and worry about establishing a community. I also hope this doesn't inflame anyone, however as with any information that will go out, there will be views on either side. As far as I know, lack of change is the only thing that never ruffles feathers.
Chris Goble
cgoble at allstream.net