On Friday June 6, a climber was injured on Missionary Crack after a large block fell. Kananaskis Parks made an impressive heli-sling rescue to bring the man to safety and to the medical help he needed.

The Kallen 34 route was originally graded 5.9, but was upgraded to 5.10b in the late 90s to better reflect its difficulties. It was first climbed in 1964 by Don Vockeroth and Brian Greenwood.

In Aug. 2009, there was a major rockfall on Missionary Crack. The fourth-pitch pillar collapsed and destroyed everything below it, including a small forest. Andy Genereux noted online that any climber wishing to climb Missionary Crack should proceed with extreme caution.

From Kananaskis Parks:

“Public Safety staff responded to an injured climber Friday on Missionarys Crack on Mt Yamnuska. The climber was struck by a beer-fridge-sized boulder on his lower leg while leading the fifth pitch. Alpine eli helislung two public safety staff to a ledge below the climbers and then built a new anchor, climbed up to the patient, splinted him and lowered him back down to the new anchor and then slung him down to staging and EMS.”


Afterthoughts

Yamnuska is a dangerous mountain, accidents happen every year. A number of people have died on the popular south facing cliff, some from rockfall and others from falling. Check the Mountain Conditions Reports here, the weather here and follow Andy Genereux’s website here for updates and changes to the peak.

At this time, it is safe to say that Missionary’s Crack is unsafe to climb. We wish the injured climber a speedy recovery and a big thank you to Kananaskis Parks for their impressive rescue.