First Ski Descent of East Face of Cascade Mountain in Banff
Three local climbers dropped into one of the most often-looked at faces in the Bow Valley
The esthetic east face of Cascade Mountain stares at you in the face as you drive west to Banff from Canmore. The lower third is home to Rogan’s Gully WI2, Cascade Falls WI3, Urs Hole WI2, Mother’s Day Buttress 5.7 and more classic climbs.
The upper face had been climbed, as has both of the ridges that frame the steep wall, but it had never been skied. Today, Andrew Wexler, Justen Bruns and Kevin Rohn made the first descent. The steep line included technical climbing and rappels.
On their way up and down, they pass an ice climb at the base of the face called The Source WI5, which rarely gets climbed due to the surrounding avalanche terrain. You can check it out in the last of Wexler’s photos below.
There have been some epic first descents this winter in Canada’s ranges, we’ll have a full summary after winter in the mountains… in three or four months.
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