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Ballista

5.10c A0, Sport, Aid, 650 ft (197 m), 8 pitches, Grade II,  Avg: 2.9 from 25 votes
FA: Chris, Ian & Jasmine Perry, 2007
International > N America > Canada > Alberta > Banff NP > Tunnel Mountain

Description

This is a great, moderately long, moderately difficult sport route up a relatively unexposed portion of Tunnel Mountain's East Face.

P1: 30m, 5.10a Climb up the corner/crack feature clipping a few bolts along the way until you reach a roof. The roof looks like an obvious feature to climb but upon closer inspection is sort of junky. At the roof, head left through crux moves using interesting blocky sidepulls and gastons. Follow a few more bolts to a semi-hanging stance at 30m. 13 bolts.

P2: 25m 5.8 Head left through some good rock and crux moves. At bolt 3 or 4 head straight up and contour slightly right to an anchor at a dirty ledge. 7 bolts.

P3: 25m, 5.10c The crux pitch in my opinion felt soft for the grade. I'd say this clocks in at honest 5.10a but, none the less, is really, really good. Move left off the dirty ledge to some bolts. Keep going left until a smooth panel of good limestone is encountered. Balance your way up into a small, left-facing corner and continue climbing to a two bolt anchor. 9 bolts.

P4: 25m, 5.10a Climb up the face using awesome finger locks and liebacks to reach a corner. Stem, smear and negotiate a roof full of loose blocks to reach... a dirty ledge and a two bolt anchor. 9 bolts.

P5:25m, 5.10a A relatively good pitch up a good swath of clean rock. Same type of movement as all the other pitches with a slightly perplexing crux move around bolt 4 or 5. 8 bolts.

P6: 30m, 5.9 The best pitch on the whole route! Climb up on awesome incut, chert features to a crux move heading right and bust through a roof to... a dirty ledge and the anchors. 11 bolts.

P7: 15m, 5.8 A0 Climb up through and around a low roof passing two bolts. Gain the "bolt ladder" (when we did our ascent there were weathered aiders in place) and make a long reach to the last bolt of the ladder and head left to the anchor. A cool pitch if you've never climbed a bolt ladder. 7 bolts. The anchor is around a tree that is seeing much wear, tear and erosion. It would probably be best if somebody placed another bolt next to the first bolt of the following pitch for a more sustainable (and less freaky) anchor for future ascents. I would have but didn't have a bolt kit with me.

P8: 20m 5.10a The sting in the tail. Negotiate some weird moves up to a weird crux but finish on some AMAZING chert features in a left-facing shallow corner. The chert looks like lichen but is in fact bullet proof crimping!

Make 8 30m Rappels or (better option) walk off to the west and contour back north towards your car.

Location

To the right of many single pitch sport lines and to the left of a cave which is the home of a fixed rope dangling in space. Easy to find- look for the surprisingly low bolts of the 1st pitch.

Protection

13 Quickdraws. Some longer runners to reduce rope drag.

Photos [Hide ALL Photos]

Pitch 2.
[Hide Photo] Pitch 2.
Tunnel Mountain East Face. Ballista climbs just to the right of the "tree island."
[Hide Photo] Tunnel Mountain East Face. Ballista climbs just to the right of the "tree island."
The start of the route. The first few bolts are found on the the left-hand side of the broken corner system
[Hide Photo] The start of the route. The first few bolts are found on the the left-hand side of the broken corner system
Pitch 5.
[Hide Photo] Pitch 5.

Comments [Hide ALL Comments]

Emile H
Banff, CA
 
[Hide Comment] Today there were no aiders on the bolt ladder, just bolts. Here's a video on how to deal with this exact bolt ladder: youtube.com/watch?v=xowHoQu… Aug 18, 2021
Suzanne Wilson
Placentia, California
[Hide Comment] We did this route yesterday and loved it. Felt way more consistent than Riel Rebellion and the new multi-pitch Dreamland. With the exception of the second pitch, most pitches seemed to have several consistent 10 sections. There were no aider on Pitch 7, just one long sling midway up. Aug 12, 2022
[Hide Comment] There's some conflicting info out there for locating the start of the route. The climb is to the right of Riverrun & not nearby Gooseberry at all. As of this comment, there is also no fixed rope in the cave to the right. The start is in a broken right-facing crack/corner system that trends from left to right. The first bolts are found on the left-hand side of the crack.

What feels like the most obvious approach trail to reach the tunnel climbs will deposit you right at the base of the climb. If you find yourself slogging up a miserably steep hill, you have gone too far right.

The climbing is great fun and consistently engaging, keeps you on your toes the whole way. The 10a pitches felt more 10b/c, with the 10c pitch grade feeling fair. So maybe a bit sandbagged compared to Riverrun. Pitch 4 was quite unique. Not very often you have to bust out the crack moves on limestone in the Bow Valley!

The rock on the climb itself is quite solid, but a few of the larger ledges have plenty of choss. The belay at the top of pitch #6 was memorably bad for that. Take care on the 2nd pitch as the route swings out left, then crosses back right directly over your belayer. Oct 9, 2022