Climbing out of Haines Jct. or Destruction Bay?

[ropegoat]

Hey all,

 

I'm itching to get back to Alaska, and plan to have about 5 weeks in summer of 2009. I'm wondering if there are any popular/easy-mid grade routes approached from the Haines Junction/Destruction Bay area, or recommended guidebooks for the area. I haven't started searching through the Alaska SuperTopo book yet, mostly due to being chained to my desk at the moment.

 

Thoughts?

[Dan_Miller]

FYI, Alaska Mountain Guides operate out of Haines, AK and I would certainly guess they'd be a decent source of climbing info; particularily with respect to that which is 'local' to them, so to speak. Check out their Web site possibly.

[WCC]

Haines Junction and Destruction Bay are in Canada. You might try posting in the Canada section.

[ropegoat]

I definitely agree both those towns are in Canada... whoops. most of my trip will be in Alaska, so I was simply thinking in that mode (and didn't notice the Canada section on the forums list...)

 

maybe the mods could move it there?

Edited August 29, 2008 by ropegoat

[hefeweizen]

I'm living in Skagway this summer, and I've been bummed about the lack of decent climbing anywhere around here. But here is what I've found so far:

 

There is one crag called Black Lakes about 4 miles up the Klondike Hwy from Skagway, probably 10 routes, from 5.7-5.11 trad and sport, single pitch. It's right off the highway at a pullout between two lakes.

 

There is a crag called the AMG crag further up the highway at another pullout, just past mile marker 6. It gets it's name because that's where Alaska Mountain Guides takes their clients for the "extreme rock climbing and rappeling adventure" off the cruise ships. There is one wall with 5.easy-5.8ish routes that are all top ropeable, but you are on property leased by AMG and they don't allow non-paying people to climb there due to liability. There is a wall above the first one called the upper wall (duh) that has a bolted 5.10 and some cracks. Supposedly they are more lenient about that spot. But if you go there when no one is there, they'll never know the difference anyway.

 

Most of the good climbing in the area is near Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, about 2 1/2 hours from Haines Junction. There is a spot called the Ibex Valley boulders, which hold impeccable golden granite bolders, although most of them are short. And has good camping (bring water). There is another spot called Golden Canyon that has pretty good trad climbing. It's not very developed but the quality is good. There is also a spot just outside of town called the Rock Gardens, which has some shorter (30-40') routes that are topropeable and leadable. All of the spots around Whitehorse are granite. Black Lakes and AMG are a kind of schist/granite mixture, I think.

 

Be prepared for MAD mosquitos at all of these spots, and always expect rain. None of these areas are destinations in their own right, but make fun days if you're already in the area. You can find directions to all the spots around Whitehorse by googling "rock climbing in the Yukon" and reading the various links to rockclimbing.com.

 

Good luck, I'm moving back to Washington next summer!

[Fairweather]

Have you been up in the Flower Mountain area above Haines? Talked to anyone who's climbed Mount Harding above Skagway? Both on my wish list.

[ropegoat]

hefe,

 

Thanks for the beta, I was actually thinking more along the lines of favorite mountaineering routes, eg. snow/glacier climbing, alpine climbing, and etc, but rock beta is awesome too.

 

Thanks