West Face

The West Face is the original summit route pioneered by the young Beckey brothers and Walt Varney, who surmounted the final runout bit to the summit, according to Ian Nicholson’s guidebook. Not sure if he was wearing hiking boots or tennies, but I was glad to have rock shoes.

The western approach provides excellent cardio training. In early season, you can kick steps up one of the approach gullies. After gaining nearly 3000 feet from the Hairpin Curve, the final rock segment provides an entertaining finale on good rock. This is also the optional summit finish for the bigger routes coming up the South Face.

The rock climbing portion breaks into three short pitches:

1. Start in the shallow left-hand gully that leads to a notch north of the summit. After going under the distinctive chock-stone, continue directly up an easy slab (low fifth), with small gear to a sling belay.
2. Head toward the summit block, easily skirting the block on the left. At the summit tower there is a small horizontal foot-ledge heading right over growing exposure. After about 15’, there is a large flake you can get a 1-2”cam under, then step around it (low fifth) to a belay spot. Pro for the belay is sparse, mainly the other side of the flake and a smaller block. If you’re used to belaying off multiple beefy bolts, it will feel (justifiably!) sketchy.
3. The final short pitch is beautiful granite with decent edges and side-pulls (5.6 ish). It's about 20’ to the first pro, a crack that take small cams and a stance. From there, another steep move to the summit, where you will find one rusty ¼” bolt! Yup, that's what you get, until some kind soul upgrades it.   

With insufficient room and anchoring on top to belay and rappel, the best plan is to top-rope the leader off the tiny bolt as they down-climb to the belay. Then, toprope the other climber(s) up and down. You can keep the toprope set up to protect the reverse of the foot-ledge section and pull it from the notch. From the notches, there are two slung block anchors that will get you down with a single rappel.  

Big Kangaroo is directly east and slightly north of the Hairpin Curve on Highway 20. There are several gullies that converge below the route and you can assess your options clearly from your parking spot. See the photo, showing our route, though there are other options. Most options start by walking south from the hairpin on the cairned route leading toward Kangaroo Temple, then cutting east across the creek to intersect the approach gully of choice.