Flake cliff was developed by the legendary Hugh Lenny as a effort to build more routes for the opening of the new parking lot. The cliff has many sport climbs of varying difficulty and all offer unique cruxes and interesting climbing. The climbing is done on somewhat chossy white gneiss, but because of developing tactics the routes are generally clean if one stays on route.

This area is on private property. Please work with the local climbing community to discuss access and avoid publishing directions to this area online. The cliffs are shaded almost all the time regardless of season or time of day - great in the summer but chilly in the winter. The rock is fairly solid sandstone with mostly vertical routes as well as a few slabs. Moss can be an issue due to the continuous shade, do your part and scrub a section! The primordial feeling amphitheater you enter upon dropping down into the gorge is known as "The Boom Boom Room". Surprisingly, parts of this area remain dry even in rain due to the slight overhang on the main wall and tree cover. Top access on the main wall is good, but the anchors for some of the routes on the detached pillar in the Boom Boom Room are difficult to access.

The Southerly section of SoBoR features some of the ridge's short cliffs and detached chunks.

This is a semi-detached wall located in upper Cypress Falls Park, that rises right out of the creekbed itself. There are five climbs on the wall, the leftmost two which have been decommissioned (2022) due to rock fall hazard (the anchor fell right off the top of the cliff). The two right side routes have been retro bolted (2022).

Lily Pad lane is the area that starts 30m upstream from the main Cougar Crag sport climbing wall - there are two distinct walls with climbs on them. The second wall has a distinct Wolf Head feature that looms over you. We aren't bolting this on purpose as its completely detached, yet solid for now. There are currently 17 climbs in Lily Pad lane. There are 3 closed projects at the moment. The climbs are uniquely burly, often wet for the first two bolts and are all natural. Expect to get your rope wet even though there are dry "lily" rock pads set up under each climb. Almost all the climbs are in the 12 - 15m range with 5 to 6 bolts on each climb.. Due to the constant seepage at the beginning of most of the climbs, stick clipping the first or second bolt is generally recommended.

Route from left to right: 1.) Megalodon (5.11b/c) - mostly nice climbing on good holds with a defined crux protected by small RPs. FA Tom Wright 2.) Mastodon (5.12a) - another vicious right to left leaning crack - lots of small finger size gear for the crux. FA Paul Mcsorley 3.) Sabretooth (5.12a) - fun steep athletic climbing up the centre of the wall - good protection the whole way. FA Tom Wright 4.) Omnivorous (5.11d) - shares same start as Sabretooth but transitions right into the finger sized flake, hand crack and burly layback finish. FA Tony Richardson

#9 in Aidan's guide. This boulder has many other lines on it but many are grown over. Around the right side of this boulder there are clearly some lines as well though they need some cleaning. Looks like a fun climb up a flake and some other vertical face climbs. I will update this section of the guide if and when I get more information about it.

The Rock: Ranging from slab to overhangs, this rock represents more of the Castlegar goodness you know and love. Lots of unique features allow for steep overhanging routes to go at reasonable grades. The climbing sits about 350m higher in elevation than the Castlegar valley bottom, lending to crisp morning temps even on the hottest days. You can expect the sun to come around at about 1:30 PM. Recent Climbing History: We are still gathering info so we can document past work done by the pioneers. Folks like Gord Lindsay, Shawn Tasker, JT Croston, Cam Shute, Ian Macdonald and Mark Senyk (among many others) have been climbing here for decades. Please contact us with all info that you have. There is significant evidence of prior climbing ranging from old webbing & anchors, to bolts of various vintage. It’s safe to assume that any clean cracks have been climbed. Access has always been the limiting factor until recently. Stephen Senecal and I took a renewed interest in the area in the Fall of 2018, and plans were made to request access. Trail Building to the bluffs began in earnest in Spring 2019, with Castlegar locals Andrew Osnach and Greg Mooney joining to explore the area and route the trail up to the Launch wall. The first new modern sport routes (Arms race 11a and Facepalm 11c) were added to the area a few weeks after. The quality and quantity of the area was immediately apparent. Nic Williams, Jarrad Monger Andrew Osnach, Greg Mooney, Liam Barnes and Keith Story joined the action. Always searching for futuristic lines, Nic Williams discovered the loft in the fall of 2019 (and its amazing horizontal roof flake), and dropped everything to establish this ultra-classic hard sport climb. Much to our surprise, the loft gave way to the highest concentration of moderate climbing at the bluffs (so far). 2020 brought the addition of the Picnic Bluff crags (Hawkeye, Craftbrew and Shadetree Crags). Allen Rollin and Jarrad Monger turned their attention to the obvious mixed lines at the Launch wall. Keith Robine and Nicolas P.I. added some great multipitch climbs. Lots of new sport and gear routes are in development, stay tuned!