| Necromancer Wall, 5.6-5.10c Mountain/Rock |
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| Necromancer Wall, 5.6-5.10c   | 
| Page Type: Mountain/Rock Location: Alberta, Canada, North America Lat/Lon: 51.12361°N / 115.11667°W Activities: Trad Climbing Season: Summer | Page By: Dow Williams Created/Edited: Feb 10, 2009 / Sep 14, 2009 Object ID: 488207 Hits: 441 Loading... Page Score: 88.54% - 13 Votes Loading... Vote: Log in to vote |
Overview/Approach
This part of Yamnuska, just to the east of the West End, is hindered by chossy climbing on the lower reaches. Due to lack of consistent good rock, Necromancer might be the least climbed section of Yamnuska. However, it is worth the effort on a few of its routes to reach mid height as the upper wall gives way to better climbing. Necromancer Wall is defined by the Belfry corner on its left and the old Calgary route chimney on its right.
The 11 published routes on Necromancer Wall range from four to 11 pitches. Belfry is one of the more popular routes (5.8+) and Necromancer route (5.10a) up the middle of fhe wall has quite a following as well. State of Confusion (5.10b) combines some of the better pitches from three different climbs to find the best rock on the wall.
There is a new (2008) flagged trail below Yamnuska that takes off at the base of the scree descent. This is the best approach for the western routes. At the Y in the approach trail, take the left Y versus the normal right option. Continue until at the base of the first patch of loose scree. Look for the flagged faint trail down and to the left. Continue following the flagged trail as it ascends the western treed rib below Yamnuska. This trail will put you right at the base of the obvious corner system that makes up Missionary’s Crack among other routes. Turn right to access the start of the Necromancer Wall routes. You can still retrieve you packs on return at this point on Yamnuska before making the scree plunge descent back to the lower trail. In other words I would not advise climbing with them. Route Description(s)Necromancer Wall, Left to Right as you Face the Wall
Belfry- 4 Pitches- 5.8+/ Andy mentions that it would be a 3 star in his book if it were longer. My partner on this route and I concur with that sentiment. We got our monies worth regarding all four pitches of technical climbing. The fact you had to scramble up half of Yamnuska’s face on low 5th class ground I saw as a plus, not a negative. There are days (in my circumstance I had just climbed Brewer Buttress the day before) where you are actually looking for shorter routes, whether due to weather, conditioning, etc .
Sunny Side of the Alps- 9 Pitches- 5.10c/
Dazed and Confused- 10 Pitches- 5.10b/
Corvus Corax- 9 Pitches- 5.10b/A2/
State of Confusion- 9 Pitches- 5.10b/
Necromancer- 11 Pitches- 5.10a/ Necromancer, like most routes on this section of Yam, starts out following easy ground through six pitches before you reach the first 5.10 portion. These six pitches can be easily combined into four with a 60m rope if you simul climb the first two pitches for a few meters and stretch out the third pitch so you can easily combine the fourth and fifth pitches. The third pitch is the only good one in this lower section, a fun 5.7 corner climb. The first 5.10a pitch (pitch 7) is the crux pitch, climbing steep broken and run out terrain before it eases off on well protected slab. The next 5.10a pitch (pitch 8) is a fun, but short, stem box followed by an airy traverse left over a large roof. The final 5.10a pitch (pitch 11) maybe has 15m of good jam and stem climbing before easing way off. I led the 5.10 pitches and did not find the route sustained as mentioned in the guide book and other on line resources, but rather thought of the route as fairly mellow except for the two airy and run out traverses (pitches 8 and 9).
Peter’s Way- 9 Pitches- 5.10bX/
Mom’s Fears- 8 Pitches- 5.10a/ Mom’s Fears is a relatively new route, put in by Genereux and Marshall in 2003 while they were actually trying to retrofit Mum’s Tears, an old Yamnuska classic put in by Vockeroth and Locke in 1968. Like most routes on this section of Yam, Mom’s Fears starts out following relatively easy ground through four pitches before you reach the solid climbing on the upper wall. It is really a combination of a little new ground with existing pitches on Necromancer and Mum’s Tears. The first pitch can be easily soloed by the competent team. The second and third pitches are quite unremarkable 5.8 ground, but full 60m pitches. The fourth pitch is a loose 5th class scramble to move the belay another full rope length to the large bench above. I ran up the wrong ground on the 5th pitch (also the start of Mum’s Tears), so it can be hard to determine the start based on Andy’s description in the Yam guide book. Once you get on it, the 5th and the 6th pitches of Mom’s Fears make up great climbing at the grade, but are a bit contrived to say the least with considerable fixed pro and traversing involved. Both are a full 60m length and if you are not acquainted with solid double rope management, you will be suffering horrendous rope drag. There are optional belay opportunities on both pitches to split up the climbing more. The final two pitches are in fact the last two pitches of Necromancer, making for a decent 5.9-5.10 finish on all four of the final pitches representing the top half of the climb.
Mum’s Tears- 10 Pitches- 5.9/
Rocket Man- 8 Pitches- 5.9R/
Calgary Route- 8 Pitches- 5.6/External LinksAlpine Club of Canada
DowClimbing.Com
Environment Canada
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