Ammo Slabs Ice Climbing

Ammo Slabs is a quick drive from Vancouver, but it rarely forms. When cold temps do come in and stay at this route, easily spotted from the highway is a solid day of cragging with options for short mult-pitch ice climbing routes.

Park at the Sea to Sky Gondola and follow the trail at the back of the parking lot toward Shannon Falls. The trail heads up through tight alders. Where it leaves the alders into older growth, take a left uphill, over a creek, and upward. There is a cliff face that leads you up to the crag about 150 meters west-southwest of the trail.

The crag has two base pitches. The right-hand side is graded WI3+, mostly 80 degrees in pitch. It's often too thin to protect, so climbing up the gully to the right allows you to drop a top rope down. This is the most pleasant climbing at the crag. Farther to the left is a slightly shorter but steeper WI4 climb that you can also set up a rope for.

Above each crag are longer, less steep routes. Above the WI3 is another 60 metres of class WI2 climbing. The WI4 becomes a stiff WI3+ and provides some excellent climbing to a tree section. The tree isn't especially strong for belaying, so an equalized anchor system is recommended to be left behind.