Sharknado at Kanga Creek South

Sharknado, Kanga South Creek in Canmore

June 19, 2025

🅿️ Parking

Whiteman's Pond parking lot

🥾 Approach

From the parking lot, head toward the Ha Ling Peak trailhead. Before reaching the 35 km/h sign, turn right onto a scree slope. As the path splits into several branches, keep an eye on the cliff ahead—the route begins slightly to the left of where the trail starts.

🧗‍♀️ Route

This climb is a great option if you're looking for a short multipitch near Canmore. The approach and descent are quick, the route is easy to find, and the climbing itself isn’t too complex. It was actually my friend Rebecca’s first multipitch—she has plenty of experience both indoors and outdoors, but had never done a multipitch in the mountains before.

If you still have energy afterward, you can either check out the other multipitch routes at the same crag or head over to Grassi Lakes for more climbing.

First Pitch (5.8):

There's a cruxy move just after the first quickdraw. We avoided going straight up because it felt too hard for a 5.8, so we moved slightly right before traversing back left to clip the second quickdraw.

Second pitch (5.9-variation):

I led this pitch and took the 5.9 variation, which I really enjoyed. There's a small roof to pull over, followed by a few slabby moves with good footholds. Once again, there’s a move where you have to step slightly left to reach and clip the next bolt. It's a very short pitch but fun and varied.

Third Pitch (5.8):

This pitch begins in a gully, then traverses left onto an easy slab. Nothing too tricky here—just relaxed climbing.

Fourth Pitch (5.7):

A super straightforward pitch with great feet and solid holds. A nice way to finish the climb.

🧗‍♂️ Descent

We rappelled in four short rappels. Watch out on the second rappel—don’t go too far down. You need to traverse the gully back to reach the next anchor. Aside from that, the descent is smooth and straightforward.

💭 Personal Take