Northern Faces
New Brunswick’s Dominic Caron
Dominic Caron grew up in New Brunswick and started climbing in 2006 in Welsford. Over a decade, he accumulated a guidebook’s worth of knowledge about the climbing in the Maritime province and decided to put all of his beta into a new book. We touched base with Caron shortly after his highly anticipated A Rock Climber’s Guide to New Brunswick was published.
In the fall 2006, he moved to Sherbrooke, Que., for university and started to visit famous Quebec crags like Orford and Kamouraska. In 2009, he completed his last semester at university by living abroad in the French Alps in Grenoble. “There are nearly 2,000 routes in the city,” he said, which allowed him to climb almost every day of the week. “I came back to New Brunswick in the fall of 2009 and was consistently climbing 5.12 sport and 5.10 trad.”
Do you live near any crags?
I live in Fredericton, which is located 40 minutes from Welsford, the epicentre of rope climbing in the Maritimes. There are approximately 500 routes. I recently bought land there and have been camping there a few nights a week. So, you could say I’m living two minutes from the Maritime’s best cliff.
What’s your favourite 5.9 and 5.11?
A Warm and Sultry Evening 5.9 in Cochrane Lane. The 30-metre, wildly exposed climb has juggy cracks. It’s a trad line and the gear is excellent. For 5.11, I’m torn between Dihelio 5.11d (sport route) located at Sunnyside in Welsford and Inhuman Erazer Direct 5.11a (trad) in Cochrane Lane. Dihelio is a classic boltprotected dihedral, which combines opposition moves with jugs and crimps thrown in that mix. I’ve climbed it between 75 to 100 times. Inhuman Erazer Direct 5.11a is arguably the best trad route out here. It more or less follows a 30-metre crack past three well-protected cruxes separated by juggy crack climbing.
What is the rock like?
There are 14 recorded crags with six different types of rock. However, the vast majority of routes are made up of greatquality granite.
What are the top three most popular crags?
Cochrane Lane is by far the best and most popular. It has more than 350 routes on beautiful pink granite with routes up to three pitches. There are about 50 sport routes in the 5.10 to 5.12 range. When visiting climbers come to Welsford, it’s to visit Cochrane Lane. Sunnyside is the local sport crag. It has a short approach, a high number of routes in a condensed area and every anchor has quick clips. The climbing boasts interesting well-featured routes on bullethard diabase rock. Grades range from 5.5 to 5.12. Mcquirks is now one of the best crags, too. It has moderate grades, beautiful stone, an excellent view, a short approach and a fabulous campsite at the base of the cliff. What’s more, there’s a great swimming spot at a small waterfall on the Bonny River. The majority of routes found here are in the very popular grades of 5.7 to 5.9.
Are there many access issues?
Issues, no. However, there are access requirements in Welsford, as crags are located at the very southern tip of one of Canada’s biggest military bases. Ascent New Brunswick members can access by calling in with the cfb Gagetown. Other climbers need to get a free day pass at the base.
What is the scene like in
New Brunswick?
The scene is small here. In the province, we might have 100 climbers that go out at least once a month. Pair this with our 800 recorded climbs and this means that crags are never busy. You never have to wait in line.
Is there an old guard that is against a boom in climbing?
At one point there was definitely something like that. I was one of two people who developed the constitution for the access organization which we incorporated in 2013. When we presented it to the potential membership, some climbers were opposed to the inclusion of the phrase “promote climbing” in the preamble.
Who are some young crushers on the scene?
For the longest time, Peter Adamson was the young crusher on the scene. He started climbing at the same time as he started walking (literally). I think he told me he started leading trad routes at four or five years old. In other words, he could plug cams before he could write his name. He was probably so light that he likely never had to test them. Young Peter isn’t so young anymore, and he recently got married and bought a house. He still crushes 5.13 first ascents.
Where do you see New Brunswick climbing going?
I definitely see it growing with the addition of new gyms in each of the province’s biggest cities. I would estimate that the number of indoor climbers has gone up 500 per cent in the last five years. However, for some reason, it hasn’t necessarily added that many outdoor climbers.
When did you start writing the guidebook?
I wrote the last edition in 2013, so I still had information on file. New routes and new crags went up, so I had to rewrite it almost completely. I spent many Sundays and weeknights hanging out at coffee shops piecing it together.
How long did it take and how many of the routes did you climb?
It took about two years. I estimate that I have climbed approximately 70 per cent of the 800 recorded routes. I’m slowly working on the harder and more obscure routes, but it’s not always easy to convince partners to follow me up.
How many people helped in the process?
A dozen helped directly with the project and another dozen helped in some capacity. Until recently, I was living with
Anna Schneider, a climber and graphic designer. Without her, the guidebook’s layout would probably look like a 1990s Sears catalogue.
Who published it?
I did, I do it all: writer, publisher, chief marketing officer, lead salesman, proofreader, accountant. Callawind out of Montreal printed the guidebook, however.
If you were to write another one, what would you do differently?
I would respect the deadlines I made public with my advertisers. Wait, that’s not true. I would not set deadlines.
What’s your favourite part of the guidebook?
The fall pictures. Have you seen those colours? There’s nowhere I’d rather be than New Brunswick from mid-september to mid-october.
Do you hope the guidebook attracts climbers from other areas?
Yes. Please come visit us. We want to share our awesome cliffs with everyone. Every single climber who has come here from elsewhere has been surprised at the quality. It’s truly world class.
What do you want the rest of Canada to know about climbing there?
If I was somehow trying to market climbing in New Brunswick, I would say that it should be on every intermediate trad climber’s tick list. There are so many moderate classic trad routes in Welsford and Mcquirks combined. In addition to the climbing, Welsford is also known for its quiet crags, its friendly and helpful local climbers, its free camping, its great afterclimbing swimming spot, its proximity to the ocean and its amazing colours in the fall.—gripped