The Finger Alpine Rock Climb

Lat/Lon: 51.22°N, 115.72°W
The Finger is a prominent spire outlined against the sky located on the east side of
the Bow Valley in Banff National Park, one of four connecting national parks located
in the heart of the Canadian Rockies. It is best viewed from the Muleshoe picnic
area on the Bow Valley Parkway (1A) and is a subsidiary spur of an unnamed peak
that is akin to Louis, Cory and Edith, mountains of solid Devonian limestone west of
the Sawback Range.   The Finger was unofficially named by the infamous Canadian
mountaineer Lawrence Grassi in 1935, but was brought to prominence by a poem
written in 1940 by Earle Birney. The poem, about a climbing accident, may be found
in "Tales from the Canadian Rockies” (added to the left). Lawrence Grassi also
made the first ascent of The Finger in 1935.

There is more than one rock alpine route up The Finger, but the only published route
in the “Selected Alpine Climbs of the Canadian Rockies” is the Board Route, thus,
the route I ascended. Not unlike the Eisenhower Tower on Castle or the Gmoser
Route on Louis, this route is graded by an older and tougher Canadian standard. I
offer my own version of what I consider to be a better approach, versus the
published account. The summit gives you a glimpse of Assiniboine to the south as
well as a close up of Mts. Cory, Copper and Pilot.

Getting There
The Trans-Canada Highway dissects Banff National Park east to west as you come
in from Calgary.   Bypass the Banff town exits and take the Bow Valley Parkway exit.
Turn right and follow the scenic parkway (90% of the time there are bull elk visible
from the road) for 13 km.    Park in a small gravel parking area on the left next to a
large drainage originating from the east side of The Finger which is in clear view
from the Muleshoe Picnic area on.   The Bow Valley Parkway is normally closed to
traffic for wildlife purposes from 6:00PM to 9:00AM until June 25th each year.
However, there is no gate and I am not aware of the proper etiquette for climbers
regarding this restriction, but I do know you more than likely cannot complete this
route in 9 hours.

Red Tape
You will be required to purchase a national park pass as you enter the park. This
pass is good for all four national parks. If you plan many visits to Canadian National
Parks within one year, you should purchase an annual pass. There are no permit
requirements to climb in Banff National Park, but all camping is regulated.   There is
also a backcountry permit required if you plan on spending a night in the
backcountry versus the town campsites.   This can be obtained via the parks
website which is included in the camping section below.   Park headquarters are
located in Banff and you will drive through the manned kiosks as you enter the park.

This is active grizzly country, therefore, you should always have bear spray on your
person.   We just had a grizzly fatality in Canmore, June, 2005.   I advise checking
with Parks Canada for any area and/or trail closures.

When To Climb
As with most scrambles in the Canadian Rockies, the driest time is from June
through September. I climbed The Finger in the wettest June in recorded history as
most alpine climbs were still out of shape. Except for the occasional snow patch
and the harrowing rock fall most likely due to excessive rain and snow, the route
was in condition.

Camping
You can go on line at Banff National Park to pick your camp site and obtain your
camping permit. The closest camping is at the Johnston Canyon Resort and
Campground several kilometers north of where you park your car.   Further down the
Parkway is the Castle Mountain Hostel located at Castle junction.   You will also be
required to obtain your backcountry permit, if you are going to use a backcountry site,
which is separate, but can be obtained simultaneously. The only bivy site I saw was
actually on descent.   I assume someone ran out of daylight.

Mountain Conditions
Banff National Park’s website has weather, wildlife reports, trail closures, etc.
Outside of the parks web site, Canadian Avalanche Association is also useful,
particularly for winter travel.

Route
This is a 4000’+/- ascent day and I recorded 4300’ on my altimeter.   Following my
own nose instead of the guidebook resulted in a more ideal approach.   Venture up
the large boulder drainage, following it into a short narrow section of a canyon and
to the first boulder field on your left.   Ascend this boulder field, firmer ground found
to the right.   Eventually it peters out into trees and brush.   When plausible,
scramble over several short ridges on your right to ascend a southeast-northwest
ridge that takes you up to great views of the Bow Valley, with a direct view of Castle
and Stuart Knob to the northwest.   This ridge makes for enjoyable ground of the
sheep grazing variety.   As the ridge starts to bend more north, The Finger will come
into an immediate and clear view.   This is also the spot I observed a kid goat and its
mother scurrying down rock slopes on my left.   It is highly unusual to see goats in
this area.   It was amazing the amount of rock fall they caused, yet appeared to
remain unharmed.   Goats 90% of the time will attempt to stay above you, but once
they lose that edge, they make a beeline below you.   Now make a direct path to the
start of the route on the southwest face (see marked route photo).   By doing this,
you will save some elevation gained and lost.   This approach avoids a major scree
ascent via the guidebook directions.   Just crossing this scree to get to the
southwest face was not a pleasant experience.

The first pitch follows a water worn groove up a full rope length to pro attached to the
left facing wall.   Be careful not do dislodge rocks on your partner below.   Loose
debris does get washed down this section of the route.   Then traverse right (we
went un-roped) over ledges to the base of a narrow chimney.   On our second pitch,
we opted to stay out of the chimney as it was chocked full of snow and climbed a
decent rock route to the right, up and over and stayed on the face versus dumping
into the left flake early.    The good rock and 5.7 climbing led us back onto the flake.
No station was found on this pitch, so we ran the rope out and found a decent one
man ledge and made a station.   One more full pitch tops out over this flake, but do
not run the rope all the way out.   This will only put you on a very loose ledge and
drop rock directly below and onto the belayer.   As soon as you begin to reach the
end of this flake, set up a station immediately to the right, below the rocky ledge
(again using your own pro).   The rock fall had us in such a state, that after this 3rd
pitch, we packed the rope away and went solo the rest of the route.

Traverse right onto a down sloping angled narrow piece of slab and continue to
contour around the right side of the face, picking your spots carefully.   Eventually it
looks to split, one option going higher and the other lower, take the high road and it
will land you on the airy, but scenic ridge.   Enjoy the huge waterfalls coming off of
Cockscomb Mountain to the east and proceed up the ridge into very solid rock.   The
summit east face provides several fun, but exposed problems.   We did climb over
two solid pitons, but chose to leave our rope in the backpack.   Once over these
pitons, on to the summit and views of Assiniboine to the south as well as a close up
of Mts. Cory, Copper and Pilot. Castle and Stuart Knob can be viewed to the
northwest and the Sawback range dominates the east beyond Cockscomb
Mountain.

For descent, downclimb the north ridge for a short distance to an obvious break in
the ridge.   Here you will find three pitons on a slanted smooth ledge serving as your
single rappel off the north side of The Finger.   We reinforced the existing cord with
our own and added rings in June of 2005.   Rappel off of the smoother edge down to
ledges below (60 meter rope).   From here downclimb to the snow filled north col
and fit your gaiters for the glissade into the west drainage that leads back out to the
Bow Valley Parkway approximately 1.1 miles north of your vehicle.   We had recent
heavy snows (even though it was late June) and it was sliding as soon as I jumped
into the first rib down the north col.   Therefore, I traversed at an angle to more
shallow snow to the north and kept well ahead of my partner, dodging the rock fall
on descent.   Make sure the 2nd person is liberal with calling out “rock” on
descent. It flows freely down this slope.   Once down to the running drainage, stay
left at first, but eventually you will criss cross the rapidly flowing creek and waterfalls
several times.   Resist the urge to seek softer ground into the trees.   You will be
forced back into the drainage on every occasion, which is typical of our canyons here
in the Canadian Rockies.   We came out to the road at exactly the same spot where
a large bull elk was grazing, so had a hitch in no time (even though the road was
supposed to be closed to through traffic) back to our truck.

Essential Gear
60 meter rope, full set of nuts and cams, smaller tri-cams for a few pockets,
alpine ax and gaiters for early season conditions needed for descent, long runners,
rappel set up, HELMET, bear spray, climbing shoes are nice, if it is early season
conditions, you will have some access to water on the first pitch and definitely on
descent, but most of the climb is dry.

Trip Report
Had a partner from Australia this day and he did a super job setting pro. We took
longer than we needed no doubt, 12hrs+, but spent plenty of time just enjoying the
view.   Cheers!