Routes as sport in Québec

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.

Immediate left of Sidewinder, up a very chunky looking sector of cliff following a zig-zag bolt line to the anchors.Climb up to stance above first bolt, then finesse your way right through the right leaning ramp/corner. Back left to a good stance above second bolt. Straight up the clean rock on positive holds to anchor. This route is 4 stars if you avoid all the big but ugly hold on left.

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.

Crag classic with medium to long line-ups on weekends.

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.

Crag classic. Up the beautiful white face.

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.

A lovely close-bolted climb that is tough at its grade. From the main ledge, climb the left side of the slab, then angle left-wards, up the face to a ledge on the right, up onto another ledge to its left, then up to the anchors.

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.

An easy classic up the slab with gigantic holes.

Near the center of the wall, left of the dihedral.

While historically graded 5.9, most consider the first third (until just past 3rd bolt) to be considerably harder than this grade.

Crag classic. Up the slab with holes to a tricky move near the top.

Nice climbing up a short face, then groove. After the last bolt go up and left to find the anchors.

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.

The roof with monster jugs and the accessible grade make this one of the most popular routes of the area.

The first route outside gully right, just left of Impatience. Make some steep moves with large holds and tricky feet to a ledge near a large block. Finish left using a finger crack to anchor. Shares anchors with the Impatience.

Nice moves down low and kind of ledgy up high.

Climb most Left route on the wall

Last route before the free-standing boulder. A right-drifting sport route that is very closely bolted (every 2m or so). Has a big pine tree running close to the climb.

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

Almost as good as the one to the left. Very exposed once you step on the slab near the top.

About 30 feet left of the gully there is a clear left-leaning dihedral with 3 bolts along the overhanging upper face and a tree at the bottom. Climb this, to anchors. It can be top-roped, but the tree might be unforgiving for a top-rope fall, so a re-direct on the top bolt can be nice to protect against the swing.

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.

3 pitches with ledges along the way.

Pitch 2 is very short, and the obvious line continues up and left to Krakatoa. For the actual 3rd pitch of Le centenaire, turn right along the ledge just below the final face and traverse past some trees to another bolted anchor.

Bolts: 6, 3, 8.

Look for a distinctive right-sweeping crack part way up the cliff. Start in (or beside) a small dihedral below this crack. Climb up past the crack then angle rightwards following the bolts (and chalk).

Nice and varied, a couple of really nice moves down low. The birch tree in the picture is now gone.

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.

Climb the bolted face right of the blocky corner through some thin slab to the shared anchor. Or continue on to the higher anchor (2 more bolts) for some more lovely friction climbing. 9 bolts / 25m for longer variant.

The bolt line to the left of the obvious block of rock coming out of the wall.

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.

A nice introduction to friction climbing, though sparsely bolted. Follow the right-most set of bolts from the main Controverse ledge.

The 2nd bolt as indicated in the MdA guidebook now exists.

Another classic... very busy on weekends. No crazy hard moves but hard to do the whole thing without resting!

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.

A short crux up top... stay right until you reach the chains.

Runs up the corner near the free-standing rock pillar.

Left-most route on the face, just right of "Dirty Corner" on the "Group Grope Wall".

Up the slab, either staying left or right for easier climbing, and clipping the bolts in the middle.

(Straight up the middle is a few grades harder.)

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.)

Head up on vertical rock for the first bolts, then onto an upward-right slanting ramp. After leaving the ramp the climb finishes on slab.

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.

New route. Long and varied, deserving more traffic

The first sport route to the left or the crag, just right of the corner. A good warm-up.

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.

At the top end of the fou, look for the flake bolted to the wall.

Left of the obvious diagonal crack/ramp ("Le Manoir des Mouches Noires") is a bolted Y-shaped crack (right branch shorter than left). Start below this crack.

1. 5.5 20m. Climb the crack and slab above to a bolted anchor on a ledge.

2. 5.7+ 25m. Step left along the ledge. then climb up and right following the bolt line and crack.

3. Left at 5.8 - the line is mostly hidden left of the dihedral; or right at 5.9, first couple bolts are visible -- but there are more.

At P3, even further left: there are bolts up a thinish/vanishing crack then through a roof above. Somewhat run-out to reach this line of bolts after the first two bolts of the "Left:" variation.

The steep overhanging face with jugs.

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.

Last climb to the right of the sector, starts right behind the tree very close to the wall. Using the tree is permitted. Slightly run out toward the end. Easiest route of the sector.

Starts behind a pair of trees, and ends just below a tree as well. Climb the bolt line over some thin holds for the grade.

Starts just left of the crack "Beaujolais Nouveau" and follows the bolt line to the obvious crack. The second to last bolt is often pretty loose because of people falling on it.

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.

New route squeezed in on the corner between Shish-KeBob and Sponge-Bob. Make a somewhat hard move to the 1st bolt on the green face. Climb straight up to the second bolt. Don't weenie out and go right. The first bolt was raised up a foot in fall 2013 to better protect the climb. No longer a scary second clip.

Wicked roof on jugs, impressive but easy once you get going. One of the nicest 5.10 in Kamouraska.

Climb holds below the big block, just left of the dark streak, finishing up and right of the block, to anchors. Shares anchors with the Former Rock Star.

Superbe voie sur la face blanche au début du secteur de Grenouillage.

The wide crack at the top of the cliff. An alternate finish for "Le centenaire" or "Lollypops".

If you skip the final bolts to belay off a tree, you can go about 7 meters climbers left to another set of rap bolts. You can do a full rap to the ground with 2x60m.

Climbs up the center line of bolts up the slab just off the main ledge -- starting with a small indented dish, and staying on or slight left of the 3rd bolt for full value. After the third bolt, go straight back, clipping the bolt slight right (and ignoring the stray bolt to the left -- it is on no climb). A nice couple of friction moves near the bolt, then an easy walk to the anchors in the head wall..

Up steep face to ledges, then up a small chimney/dihedral.

Originally a mixed route with 2 bolts.

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.

First of a cluster of three 5.10 routes that share an anchor. Look for a white-splotch triangle of rock, follow this straight up following bolts.

Obvious bolted line between the two cracks of Beaujolais Nouveau and Chute LIbre.

About 3m right of the Dihedral, follow the bolt line.

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.

A short pumpy route on the big block detached from the main wall.

Steep arete, move right, then up to ledge, finally steep slab above to anchor on sky line of ridge.

The right-most of a cluster of 5.10 routes sharing an anchor.

Climbs the blunt arete.

Up the black streak.

Suivre les scellements sous le gros pin.

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.

Climb up the overhang then arete/dihedral above it.

La voie sur scellements à droite de Chromosomes Y. Attention le premier scellement est difficile à voir.

Starts at about the same place as Chromosome Y, but follows glue-ins more directly upwards to a small ramp, onto a small ledge. Pull off the ledge in the corner (crux), then continue up the wide corner.

This is the left wall of the gully, with two bolts up to an anchor. First bolt is high, as is the 2nd -- but clipping stance for 2nd bolt is really solid, with a bomber hand hold behind a flake that is nigh invisible from the ground.

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

A very nice route for the grade. Start with a tricky section down low, then avoid the two roofs to the right. Same anchors as Travaux Forcés.

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.

Départ à droite de la dalle, traversez vers la gauche en prenant soin de ne pas chuter. Grimper l’arête et continuer dans la face jusqu’au relais.

Starts just to the right of the corner, going up and left initially then up a corner, then up slab to the anchors.

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.