Area Details

Camping

The Pass Creek Campground is conveniently located between several of the crags and the Lion’s Head Pub (see map). Other local campgrounds are listed online.

Suggestions

Day one: Waterline

Day two: Make this a big day, with short visits to Whirlwind, Polished and Sunshine Crack (trad), or Transgression and Yellow Sling at Kinnaird. Finally, drive over to the Pub Wall for an optional climb or two and some refreshments. You’ll deserve it. Day three: Either head up the Arrow Lake road or head to Slocan for some equally fun routes. There’s good swimming at both places. Or hit Megawatts or Amazons. Decisions, decisions.

Be Considerate

Well-behaved dogs are welcome, but please keep your tunes in the car.

Guidebook and Updates

West Kootenay Rock Guide (2009, $25), is available at MEC, at Powderhound in Rossland and at several stores in Nelson. In Castlegar it’s sold at the Lion’s Head Pub. How serendipitous is that? Free updates to 2014 are available online at wonowmedia.com. Ten or so topos are shown on the left side. For written descriptions scroll down to West Kootenay Rock Guide on the right side. Click on this and then on WKRG updates. More current updates can be found on the Cube website, listed below. These updates are mostly PDF files for some of the newer climbs at Nelson, but other areas and some bouldering are included as well.

Climbing Gyms

Castlegar has a bouldering gym/cave in the Selkirk College (Castlegar) gymnasium complex. Call 250-365-1292. Nelson’s new gym, the Cube is a compact facility located in the Selkirk College (Nelson) gymnasium. It’s owned and operated by the Kootenay Climbing Association, anindependent non-profit organization. Call 250-352-2808 or cubeclimbing.com. Both facilities are subject to Selkirk College dates and hours, and are closed during the summer months.