Joy in Kananskis Country

The “Kananskis Obscure” guide is a quirky online catch-all for routes that are considered outside the reach of current guidebooks, either geographically, or because they were new at the time of the guide’s creation. It’s like a proving ground for new climbs; the one that make the big time find their way into print elsewhere.

Unknown climber out on the slab above Upper Kananaskis Lake.

Joy (~2,000 ft, 5.6+) is one of those climbs. When I first heard of it, it was still pretty obscure. Now it’s a three (or however many you feel like awarding) star mainstream classic. We shared it with two other parties, but were fortunate to find our skills complementary, in that one party was from the Alps, and extremely fast, while the other comprised two guys who appeared still to be in the invincible phase of adulthood. They climbed way out on the edge of the slab for much of the route, frequently placing just one or perhaps two runners in an 80 m rope length. The old, slow guys (us) plodded happily up the corner, placing gear every five metres or so, and generally enjoying the situation. I think everyone had a good day.

The route follows the corner slightly right of centre, starting on the far-left of the photo, below the trees.
We had perfect conditions in late October 2015. Blue sky, no wind, and low water. Lou took her new little lightweight boat, and enjoyed trying it out on moving water.

At the start of the lovely cracks.

Looking down the route from the top of about the sixth pitch.

John Moreland high on Joy.
About halfway up, black clouds started to appear from over the summit of Mt. Indefatigable, and a few spots of rain fell. We had a tense twenty minutes or so, before the clouds moved away. Descent would be, at best, problematic.

My favourite pitch.

Typical climbing. There's a lot of it!

As we got higher, the climbing became more varied, and easier. With the clouds moving away for now, we relaxed, and enjoyed the final pitches.

John Moreland in a corner, nay, the corner!

Hello! This little chap was very curious about my belay wires.

Beautiful alpine meadows on the descent.

The descent was steep, but beautiful, passing through high alpine meadows full of flowers. Access in this area is ostensibly restricted due to bear activity, but we saw no scat, no tracks, no digging, and no bears. Weird.

Taking a break in sunshine on the way down. The path descends the high valley to the left, and cuts right across the rock buttress. It's quite devious.

Upper K Lake from the final pitch.

Trip Details

Joy, rock climb. 5.6+
Upper Kananaskis.
Watch for good weather!
Guidebook: Canadian Rock: Select Climbs of the West

Kayaking on Upper Kananaskis Lake

There seems to be a direct correlation between distance traveled from Calgary and the quality of the lake paddling. This trip went a little further than Lower Kananaskis Lake and the reward was more impressive scenery, and a lake that's fairly circular (unusual for the larger lakes in this glaciated area) , so you can spread out a bit, and not always be close to the shore.

It was meant to be a beautiful day in the mountains and worth making a five hour round trip for. The day certainly started out sunny, and I had hopes of paddling about 14 km round the shore.

The lake was pretty popular and there was a massive group of paddlers out, with several bizarre-looking sea kayaks equipped with double outriggers. I suspect they were stabilizers for novice paddlers. The only bad thing about Upper K Lake is the powerboat access, which can make it a bit noisy at times.

After about 45 minutes, the cloud was building and we decided to cut the trip short, taking in a couple of islands on the way back. We got caught in a squall on the way to the middle of the lake, and were glad to beach on the first island, which was a perfect lunch spot. It also appeared to be a perfect camping spot, but sadly after we had cirumnavigated it, Lou spotted a sign saying 'No Camping' - you can see why, as every redneck with an outboard would be partying here all summer long if not. We did spot a campfire and tent on the far side of the lake though, so there is still potential for a paddle and camp in this area.


Once we left the island, the wind and waves built pretty quickly, and were hitting us abeam, which made for a fun paddle home. My boat got swamped leaving the beach, before I could get my deck back on.

We got back to the slip as the rain started, and we got drenched loading the boats. Still, better to be on land than caught out by the thunderstorm, like the guys in this photograph!

Here's the full album link.