Routes as sport in Outaouais

Probably the most climbed-on route at Down Under, often used as a warm-up. Below and to the right of the small cave at the top is an interesting no-hands rest.

In the lower part of the cliff there is a nearly vertical about 9" wide pink dike that protrudes out from the rest of the cliff by an inch or two, and a bolt line running up it.

Mr Clean climbs the dike, and face above, to anchors.

The middle bolt line up the cliff.

Formerly an X trad route, now a very closely bolted sport route. This is a good lead for a beginning lead climber.

Short route at the far right end of the cliff. Nice warm-up for the fairly stiff 5.8 routes on the rest of the cliff.

The left-most bolt line on Spindrift wall. Opening moves to first bolt are a bit intimidating (consider a stick-clip), but real crux is when the route gets thin between bolts 2 and 3.

Stick clip? 3 bolts for this one. Gym like climb!

The 3rd bolt line on Spindrift Wall. Climb the face just outside the corner that is Arachnophobia.

There is a cluster of 5 (oak) trees at the base of the cliff. This climb starts just up and left of the cluster of trees.

This climb starts up initially over a series of blocky ledges, following generally easy climbing, and eventually passing left of the bulges near the top of the cliff.

Bolt route squeezed in between "Ethics Police" and "Mr Clean". Occasionally borrows holds from each.

Goes at about 5.9 if you wander around a bit. Direct finish, up the smooth slab, probably harder, maybe 5.11ish?

Bolt line left of "Ethics Police".

High first bolt, but could maybe take gear at start?

Beware the top half of this climb gets hard fast and it can be tempting to travel off route to the sides. Beware, if you travel too far this could result in a nasty swing if on lead.

Doesn't use the big edge to the left.

At the base below the left side of the the left tit are a pair of parallel right-leaning grooves. The climb starts up the right-side one, then up passing a gnarled tree to the right and up past the left side of the left tit.

This climb does not easily top-out.

Looking up at the cliff, there are a pair of overhangs/bulges split in the middle such that they look like a pair of breasts. This climb breaks the overhang through the cleavage in the middle. Start at a bolt line directly below this cleavage.

Climb up blocky ledges to the first bulge, pull over this then up the less vertical face above to the notch in the roof. Wiggle your way through the cleavage then up and right in the groove, or on the arete to the right, until the groove ends, then straight up to the anchors.

Note: TnA used to have a bit of a run-out to the anchor, but nowadays, people generally borrow/share the last bolt of "Kate and David's Excellent Adventure" if they're worried.

This is a real rope-stretcher on a 60m rope -- tie a knot and prepare to scramble, or prefer a 70m rope.

Down and right from the ramp that easy street and the other climbs start from, a rib of rock descends an extra few meters into the forest. The climb starts at the base of this rib, and goes mostly directly upwards from there, though it does wander a bit rightwards at a dihedral, then traverse back leftwards at the end of this.

Route is a rope-stretcher on a 70m rope.

Climb/TR/Lower-off anchor is about 2m from actual top-out. Use this one, unless actually topping out, then the higher anchor on the platform works.

After being a TR route, this spent a while as a trad line but, on gear, the route was a bit run-out in places, and gear was often small and/or tricky to place, though generally with decent stances for placing. So, retro-bolted in 2020 with permission of the FA.

When this route was first climbed on TR, there were two large loose stacks of rock near the route, the first (lower down) to the left of the route, and the 2nd farther up to the right of the route. This route was named because it travelled carefully between the two scary monsters.

Climb most Left route on the wall

This wanders up the water streak on the right side of the cliff.

Start at the base of a right-facing corner, with a large roof above the back wall of the corner, about 10m up.

1. 25m (5.8, 11 bolts). Lots of ways to do this section... follow the original trad line staying in the corner until the roof, then pulling out left. Or at the bulge at bolt 2, go right onto the slab. At bolt 4, pull left up and onto that slab. All lead to passing the "Arc en roc" anchor and then following the obvious crack above to the fixed belay.

2. 23m (5.4, 8 bolts). From the anchor, walk right and up, then continue up the steepest part of the cliff above, until the climbing eases off to a stroll to the anchor.

With two bolted anchors, this can be rappelled to get to the base of Upper Left Wing, or the top of Main Cliff.

FA was done on gear, later bolted by FA.

From the top, it descends skiers left from anchors on a small knob at the obvious high point of the wall. (There is now a 2nd line of bolts sharing the top anchor - -it is an in-progress route. Stay right when rappelling off the anchor for Arnor.)

Start below a short right-facing corner.

1. 5.9, 20m. 12 bolts. Climb to the corner and then the corner (far too short) to a small ledge. Up and right across a slab to a small bulge with a tooth of rock hanging down. Pass the bulge right of the tooth, to a 2-bolt belay.

2. 5.8. 25m. 8 bolts. Climb up easier ground to a vertical face, then more easy ground to a thin finish.

Starts at a bright-white section of rock up a bit of a scramble. First bolt can also be used for belayer to clip-in.

Head up over easy blocky ground towards a small roof; pull over it directly at the bolt or a bit right of it. Continue upwards toward the right end of a larger roof. After pulling this, angle back left towards anchors shared with "Tits 'n' Ass".

Can be climbed with a 60m rope if belayer is prepared to scramble up a bit on the lower-off. Knot your rope in this case.

Top access down and to the (skier's) right of Ninnyhammer. Easily accessible anchor. Well bolted for easy ascent at this cliff. Currently the easiest "climb out" route.

(Currently) the left-most bolted route, about 20m left of Ninnyhammer. After starting with a step up right, head mostly straight up along the bolt line. The first few moves are 5.6, after that it is no harder than 5.5.

A rather unsustained climb. You might want a nut in the bottom crack.

Start about 5m right of "Big Finish", climb up a short steep section to easier ground then up a dark-coloured groove to a small bulge. Continue up another inside-corner to the obvious larger roof. Pull this near the left edge, then up and right following the obvious right-facing corner.

As a variant, pulling the roof direct probably goes at 5.10-.

This climb does not easily top-out.

Route development: Kate Hunt: most of the cleaning, David Gibbs: bolting, a bit of cleaning.

Start about 5m right of "Another Brick in the Wall", below and right of a large cedar tree growing low out of the cliff.

Climb the right-facing corner or slab to its right passing below then left of the cedar tree. Continue up the left-facing wall in the gully, clipping bolts high and right, stemming in the corner as needed. (Climbing only the right wall in the gully is probably about 5.7.)

Left-most route on the wall, though the ending is almost on the next wall.

Climb up the slab into the corner, then finish with the crack up and left.

Starts left of the birch, and shares the first 2-3 bolts (depnding on exactly how you choose to climb it) with "Stolen Land". Below the third bolt, rather than continuing upwards, step down and right, and pull onto the face above the low roof. Then continue up and right to the next bolt near a horn. From there, continue up and right to a platform, then back left up a shallow dihedral with a thin & broken crack in the back.

At times, the bolts for this run confusingly close to the bolts for "Stolen Land", but this climb generally runs to the right of the bolts in that section.

This route starts just at the right edge of the low overhang, where it turns upwards to be the start of "Escapism".

Pull onto the face. Climb upwards towards the right side of the overhang above, climb up this stay to the left edge of the dihedral and on the face. Pull up onto a ledge with a notch near the left edge, then up easier ground to anchors, or continue to the top.

Starts up a short steep face, before moving left onto a small platform and up a left-facing corner.

* When pulling the rope, try to pull from the left, as the crack right of bolt two has a tendency to eat ropes. *

Top anchor has a short approach rope for the traverse to or from the climbing anchor. Best option to rappel to the bottom of cliff as it's one pitch and closer to get to than UK-Swiss Confederation.

Start below a smooth overhanging wall that is split by a thin crack, with a right-ascending ramp at the bottom.

Warning: ground-fall potential clipping 2nd bolt -- don't miss the clip.

Climb the clear path excavated from the dirt over a couple sloping ledges to a corner then series of corners and bulges above.

Fun climbing that gets steadily harder until you reach the crux 5.8 (maybe 5.8+) bulge.

Anchor is just short of the top of the cliff. To top out continue up and left a couple meters to the "Tits 'n' Ass" anchors (chains).

Goes on a 70m rope, but tie a knot. If you're short draws, it is pretty easy going for the first couple clips, so they can easily be skipped.

Start below an obvious right-facing short dihedral about 5m up the cliff.

Climb up to the dihedral and through it (crux), to easier ground then another headwall before the anchors.

Ninnyhammer Variant: After the easy stuff the route splits into two variants. Straight up is about 5.7 with smaller pockets, while the right variant (over the block that Felix Felicis skirts) is a bit easier but a bit more run-out and has larger flaky holds.

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About 10 m right of Mixed Precipitation, at the right edge of the slab. Start either along the crack under the lower roof or up just left of that, onto a slab. Follow the crack, past the right edge of the upper roof. Continue to follow flaky cracks to the anchor.

Climbs the blunt arete.

Up easy ledge to a high first bolt, where the grade quickly kicks in. Eases off after bolt 5, but provides a lot of variety in climbing past that point.

A few meters right of "Camalot" is another left-facing corner, about a meter right of a birch tree sticking out from the cliff about 1m off the ledge.

Climb the short slab and/or left-facing corner to start, then bulges directly above the corner to a blunt arete. Continue up the blunt arete to anchors. For full value, don't use the corner/crack of Camalot.

Bolts run close to the bolts for "Shine on You Crazy Diamond", but this line generally climbs left of that bolt line.

Balade verticale sur bonnes prises

Climb up the bolted arete and face just left of "Dave, Dave, Dave of the Jungle". You can access the anchor from the top by slinging one of the cedars for safety to step down to it.

Climb a few harder moves on the face to continue on Your wife. try to avoid big flake out left to start

Voie très bien protégée qui permet l'initiation en tête. Vous trouverez également un relai à la mi-voie pour pratiquer les manipulations multi longueur.

The mid-pitch belay is for multi-pitch practice.

Start below the big roof just right of Sunday Morning Stroll. Climb up slabs and grooves to the roof, pull the roof, then finish more easily.

First ascended on gear. Bolted by suggestion of FA.

Pull up a short steep opening onto a slab. Mantle the shelf on the left and continue straight up (alternatively you can bypass this headwall by going right along it at the bottom to a bolt behind it). Up easier climbing to a short steep section(crux), then easier climbing to anchors. Most of the climb goes around 5.7 to 5.9, while the crux is 5.10b. The crux can be climbed either on the left or the right of the cleaned rock. In each case finding the crucial decent holds is a bit tricky.

Climb up the black streaked rock just right of Mixed Precipitation. Anchor under the roof. This is a slab climb with many small crimpy holds. Climbs very consistently.

Starts about 5m (15') right and slightly down from "Scylla and Charybdis", with a belayer bolt, since the ground is a bit steep.

Follow the many many bolts up then trending left, past a couple bulges and much interesting climbing.

This route is 38m, it is a close rope-stretcher on a 70m rope. To climb from the bottom and lower, lower straight down (basically the "Scylla and Charybdis" line) rather than following the path of the route down. Also, consider using long slings on the anchor.

Using extended draws (alpine quickdraws) and/or long quickdraws around roofs and along traverses helps with rope drag and makes it easier to pull the rope. (Yes, rope management skills aren't just for trad climbers!)

Due to the traversing nature of the route, it does not make for a good rappel from the top nor a good top-rope, unless careful to maintain directionals.

The route is named after the musical "Come From Away", a story about Newfoundlanders hosting stranded passengers during 9/11.

Climb the beautiful lay back feature and finish on tricky top

Left of Lemon Technique. Climb up the slab then angle slightly right into the roof, which is the crux. Over the roof and continue straight up over easier ground to the anchor.

You can easily continue on to the Mixed Precipitation anchor and do the second pitch of that route.

Start on Big jugs of el nino. Move up and right to finish Sausages

Une belle voie de difficulté continue qui vous amènera au relais sommital. Prière de garder la voie propre.

A real classic. Climb the overhanging arete up the right side of the cave, then up onto the face and to the anchors.

From the start of "Welcome to the Machine", which is the right-most route accessible from the safety rope, follow the edge of the wall up and right until you reach a line of bolts proceeding up an angular corner. (If you continue up and right, next line of bolts is "Wish You Were Here", which is significantly harder.)

Climb the corner, pulling out left onto the slab at the top. Then angle back right above the corner and up to an anchor.

Can top-out, but leaves a bit of an exposed scramble at the top - not recommended.

A few metres left of Slab O'Doom 2.0 start up the a small bulge to holds just left of a small platform. Step left from this onto a slab then up beside the roof of Dave, Dave -- keeping the crack to your left. Pull up into the centre dihedral, climb this, then finish at the Dave anchor.

Recleaned and bolted in April 2021.

Start at the bolts on the bottom and follow the technical line to the top. A nice warm up for harder routes.

Petits pieds sur gros orteils.

Just right of "Slab o' Doom" is a small ledge about two meters above the ground. Start from the lower ground with a few tricky moves onto the ledge, then straight up the lighter-coloured stone above the ledge through a line of shallow pockets and small edges, keeping to the left of the obvious dark streak. Follow cleaned rock straight up to the bolted anchor. The anchor is accessible from the top by following a good ledge. Some may want to use a stick clip to protect the first few moves.

(Local colour: the route was named Little Lion Face after Kate Hunt's cat Willy, AKA Little Lion Face, who had been put down a few days before the first ascent.)

Recleaned May 2021.

5.9+

First climb you encounter when you come around the corner to the main face of the cliff.

Climb the arete just to the right of Mr Toady's Dihedral.

Climb the slab right of "Dave Dave Dave of the Jungle". Start near a set of small pockets, and climb up those trending slightly leftwards. Then follow bolts left up the slab beside the dihedral and finish above it to the bolted anchor.

The crux is the first section of the slab.

Originally climbed on top-rope in 2011, but the crag stopped getting visited without an approach that didn't involve a boat. Simon started working on revitalizing Lower Cliff in 2021, and added an extension up and left, while maintaining the original crux start, and also added bolts. Now, it is the new, improved, version 2.0.

Climbs left of P1 of "Arnor" to the mid-cliff anchor where "Rhovanion" and "Ithilien" start.

Do a couple easy moves to a dirt ledge, where the climbing starts. Technical climbing past a small bulge and overlap, to a rest. Then slab towards the roof. Pull the roof, then pockety face to the anchors.

Can be combined with "Ithilien" or "Rhovanion" to make a 2-pitch climb.

Just left of Sausages be ready for crux at 3 bolt

5.8+

Starting a few meters left of Piton highway, there is a low bolt, start up to this, pulling the initial overhang very close to (unnamed 3) then follow the line of bolts that angles leftwards up the cliff.

Topo suggests 5.7... but the start is at as hard as most of the others. A bit better holds, but also steeper.

Just left of Microburst. Head up a few metres to a bulge where you traverse left, then up a dihedral -- tricky near the top, 5.8+.

1-pitch from the mid-cliff anchor (which is also the end anchor for "Pelennor") to the top of the cliff, sharing Arnor's top anchor.

Starts directly up from the anchor.

Climb up from the anchor until approaching a steep bulge; step down and right, then then up to a dihedral that breaks through the bulge on newly exposed rock. Follow the fresh rock up through a series of steps to the cliff-top anchor shared with Arnor.

Voie pleine de pochettes surprises!

Climb obvious Crack to finish on tricky top

Start right of Ninnyhammer along a crack then onto a slab and over the roof. Then continue straight up, to an anchor in Ninnyhammer. 4 bolts.

Grimpez la voie à gauche de la craque. Départ physique pour ensuite terminer en délicatesse.

First bolted line on the right end of the cliff. Head up a slab, then into a steep section and to the anchor. Avoid the rightward trending crack at the start for extra points.

Beaux mouvements de contorsionniste dans une cheminée avec des protections à gauche de celle-ci.

Just to the right of the overhang beside Lemon Technique climb up the steep start. Pulling the overhanging section is the crux. Continue slightly left to a ledge. From there continue straight up slabs. Finish right to the anchor.

First route on the right side of the wall

Both Gs are silent.

Climb the bolt route up the centre of the black-stained wall, trending rightwards on the ramp at the top, to a 2-bolt anchor (with quick links) in the upper head-wall.

Follow the vertical cracks up to the anchor under the tree. There is some potential for some offwidth sections.

Climb the slab left of "Mixed Precipitation" along the shallow crack and top out. Arete is optional (to the left of the crack) but not part of the original/intended route. Continue up on easier ground to the anchor.

Runs parallel to Mr Clean up the blank slab to its right.

Short wide crack/squeeze chimney that actually faces the opposite direction from the main line of the cliff. (You are facing "outwards" when climbing this.)

This can be climbed to access the anchors for the climbs on the front of the Flight Deck.

From the detached block, layback up and across the roof. Pull over the roof and climb featured rock to easier ground above.

Follow the bolts straight up the overhanging wall. After gaining the ledge, continue past two more bolts to reach the anchor. Although easy climbing, it is significantly runout between the last bolt and the anchor. Some gear placements are available.

Climb the obvious arete and face to the right of it. Do not go left onto the slab, that's (un)Comfortably Numb - 5.6.

On Pink Floyd wall, looks out over TnA wall.

Before the final wall on Ninnyhammer follow the right bolt line up and then back to the Ninnyhammer anchor. This variant provides somewhat different climbing than the main route. More reachy jugs rather than textured slab.

The variant, itself, if about 12m (5 bolts), but the route as a whole is the same length. It may be better to finish on the "Felix Felicis" anchors than the Ninnyhammer anchors.

A good option is to climb Bill Bucks, then follow Ninnyhammer for a few bolts and then finish with the variant.

Follow up the black strip, finish under the roof on the face to the right.

Leftmost of the routes, up obvious holds to a ledge under a small roof, pull through the roof on good holds, then balance to clip on bad hands (crux) and finish.

Now, with bolts!

The route starts on the boulder to climber's right of "You Can't Judge a Book by its Cover", in between the poplar and small cedar. Go up the slab, trending right and up towards a large detached flake, then continue up terraces until the final slab and anchor.

A rope-stretcher on a 60m -- tie a knot in the end of your rope.

A bit of 5.4 climbing at the start and end -- easier for the rest, but pleasant and interesting climbing.

Up the face of the left arete of the pillar, between 'The Good Book' and 'Second Chapter'.

Look for the bolt line on the first big open face of rock coming from the left section of main cliff (after about a 100 m walk from Arnor). Follow black streak on slab, over a bulge. Then some easier ground to the top section on the right edge of a prominent overhang to anchor on ledge above. The top section is 5.10a, while below it mostly goes around 5.8.

This route is in remembrance of Loren Baribeau, who introduced Simon McMillan to Joseph Campbell and his call to "Follow your Bliss".

Climb Sausages and keep climbing straight after the third draw on crimps.