Story of a Route: Lakshmi

Bataan is a sport climbing crag high up on Grotto Mountain in Canmore, Alberta. It is named after the Bataan Death March of World War II where prisoners of war were forced to march around 100km in terrible conditions and many died. The grueling 1.5 to 2 hour hike to Bataan features very steep terrain totalling 800m of elevation gain. It is a contender for the most difficult approach in the Bow Valley for sport climbing. While much less severe than the actual Bataan Death March, there are rumors of people suffering altitude sickness on the approach. Those who make the trek are rewarded with spectacular views of the valley and fantastic pocketed stone unlike elsewhere in the area.

Lakshmi, 5.13c, at the Eyes of Bataan sector was originally envisioned by Simon Meis who ended up being distracted by other projects and left Lakshmi as an open project. The Eyes of Bataan are named for 2 large caves visible from the road that resemble a set of eyes. Even though the wall is easily seen from Canmore, like many Bow Valley area crags, it took some time and convincing before climbers decided the hike was worth developing the wall.

I first took interest in the route in spring 2013 when I spent a lot of time climbing at Bataan and ticked off a lot of the existing routes there. I saw an experienced climber who shall remain unnamed trying the open project one day and he seemed to enjoy it quite a lot. I saw him trying hard, taking big whips, and wrongfully assumed the route was good to go.

The following spring in 2014, fresh off sending Bunda de Fora, the hardest established route in the Bow Valley at the time, I was on the prowl for new projects and set my sights on Lakshmi.

I was pretty stoked my first go up the route. I didn't have much experience with open projects at the time and like most hard routes I try, my first attempt involved mostly hanging on bolts and trying to look around for holds. About halfway up, I noticed that the bolt I was currently hanging on was a quarter inch bolt. On further inspection I realized that all the bolts were quarter inch bolts and the route was not really safe to be climbed on just yet! (Standard bolts are 3/8 inch or 1/2 inch. Route developers sometimes place 1/4 inch bolts to clip into while attached to a fixed rope but they are not meant to take falls.) I immediately lowered down without scoping out the rest of the route. These days I'm definitely more careful and do more research before hopping on open projects.

I was still pretty psyched about the route though, and quickly consulted with Simon and decided to put some proper bolts in. Shortly afterwards I made the hike up with all my bolting stuff (hammer drill, rope, draws, hammer, bolts, water, and various lighter items). It was spring and there was still a lot of ice and snow to add to the difficulty of the approach. Overall it was probably one of the most strenuous hikes I've ever done. I got about 2/3 finished bolting the route that day. I was able to access the anchor of Lakshmi from the neighbouring route Vishnu, which made it a little bit easier. The two routes share a start up a pillar and route name also comes from being adjacent to Vishnu.

A few days after that, I went up and finished off the bolting and tried the route for the first time. That was also the day these photos were taken. One of the photos from the set ended up being selected to be the cover shot for the Sport Climbs in the Canadian Rockies guidebook. It took another couple sessions after that for me to finish off the first ascent. Lakshmi turned out to be an amazing route and is definitely worth the trek up to Bataan!

All photos by Christian Semm.