Minihapa is a New
Banff 5.6 Multi-Pitch
In spring, Brandon Pullan and Alyssa
Acchione established Minihapa, a four-
pitch 5. 6 that climbs the lowest tiers of
rock next to Cascade Falls in Banff. The
route is named after the Stoney-Nakoda
First Nation’s name for Cascade Mountain,
which translates to “mountain where the
water falls.” The first two pitches had been
climbed on for decades for top-roping, but
the upper two pitches, which climb next to
the waterfall, had not been climbed. The
first pitch is 5. 4 , the second is 5. 5 , third is
5. 6 and fourth is 5. 3. It starts a few metres to
the right of the lowest waterfall.Slovak Direct
Climbed
Marc Toralles and Bru Busom made the
10 th ascent of the Slovak Direct on Denali,
one of the world’s most-climbed extreme
alpine routes, in June. The 3 , 000 -metre
route is graded VI 5. 9 X M 6 WI 6. It was
first climbed in 1984 by Blažej Adam, Tono
Križo and František Korl. Toralles and
Busom climbed the route in epic condi-
tions and reported some climbing up to
M 8. “The second day was one of the best
days of climbing of our life,” they said in
a trip report. “We found sections of snow,
mixed and ice, and that night found a great
place to bivy.”10-year-old
Climbs El Cap
In mid-June, Selah Schneiter became the
youngest climber ever to climb up El
Capitan via The Nose. She climbed it with
her dad, Mike, and family friend Mark
Regier over five days. She is the young-
est climber on record to have climbed El
Capitan, after Scott Cory in 2001 at age
11 and Tori Allen in 2001 at age 13. There
have been reports of other 11 - to 15 -year
-old climbers going up The Nose with their
parents. Mike owns Glenwood Climbing
Guides and Joy, his wife and Selah’s mother,
is a nurse in Glenwood. Selah led the first
pitch of The Nose and the bolt traverse to
the Boot Flake.
Right: Alyssa Acchione on
the first ascent of Minihapa
on Cascade Mountain
Photo^BrandonPullan08
news