STRANDED, INEXPERIENCE

Alberta, Rocky Mountains, Rock Face near Cascade Waterfield

On August 19, 1984, three scramblers decided to explore and climb the rock face on the right-hand side of the Cascade Waterfall in BanffNational Park. This waterfall is visible from the Trans-Canada Highway, and a short walk brings one to the cliff. One of the three decided to stay at the bottom while the other two (18 and 33) started ascending the face. They soon noticed that parts of their ascent route were difficult to downclimb. As often happens, they tried to escape the difficulty by climbing higher. Finally, the head wall stopped their progess about 100 meters from the bottom. Since they could go nowhere, they called for help. Their colleague at the bottom heard them, and reported the situation to the Warden Service. Rescuers were dropped by helicopter and sling to a site close to the stranded scramblers, climbed to them, tied them in, and assisted them to a point where the entire party could be taken off by helicopter. (Source: Banff Warden Service)

(Editor’s Note: While not a climbing accident, this is another example of scramblers finding themselves in a climbing situation.)