Ascents in East Sooke Park

Grade is hard to say...13b/c 3rd go, very vicious crimping.

Stoked to get the flash, had the perfect beta. Non stop hard goodness.

Really fun climbing on good rock

Should have flashed but missed the slot, went to top and lowered. Pulled straight back on and sent.

Some technical low climbing leads to a fun crux! I really enjoyed working this route! Felt so good to get the send in the sunshine today with good people.

Finally!! This climb has it all, big moves, small crimps, and an overall good time

Top roped it. Very tough crux bulge. Maybe come back next summer.

This is a great variation! I would highly recommend people get on it, regardless of the grade discrepancy. I have to agree with everyone else that it definitely feels harder than 11+. It felt more like a 5.12a to me.

Finally brought trad gear to give this a proper send A cool route that is worth doing.

Fantastic crack system!

Took a while to clean it. A really cool lay back crack problem that goes up around the bulge.

Moss always adds to the adventure. We tried to scrub it a bit. A decent little lead climb though.

A fun little problem.

A NOTE ON THE APPROACH TO MIRKWOOD FOREST (see attached photos): it will take about 20 minutes to get to Mirkwood from the entrance at the top of the East Sooke Regional Park parking lot. Continue following the signposts towards Beechey Head. You have to climb up and down a large hill to get to the final signpost (see photo); the trail to the base of the bluff will be approximately 50-100 metres from there, on the left side. There is a large tree to mark this wall, as well as stones which have been arranged around the bases of the different climbs.

THE DELIGHTFUL MR BONGLES: Wasn't able to get past the 2nd of 4 bolts on lead. There is a large gap (approximately 3-4 metres in length) between the 2nd and 3rd bolts in a very slabby section of the wall, which happens to be the crux of the climb. It doesn't feel safe for a fall. Owing to this, I actually think the grade should be higher, likely closer to 5.10c than the posted grade of 5.9. The wall has clearly lost some of its original features, so it's possible that the grading has changed owing to this.

Request for the local climbing community: could someone add an additional bolt between bolts 2 and 3? I think this would suffice to allay any safety concerns. It would bring the total number of bolts up to 5.

N.B: we still ended up finishing the climb on TR. A 5-10 minute hike up and around the Mirkwood Forest bluff will allow you to safely approach the anchor from above.