Sullivan Lake
Sullivan Lake is a beautiful area located about a half hour drive south west of the main Calabogie boulder area. In addition to the great climbing, it has amazing camping right on the lake, with great swimming access and a communal canoe and rowboat. It is well worth it to hike in a tent and supplies to spend a weekend camping.
It has around 70 established problems and features some of the largest boulders you will ever see. Large enough that there are also a handful of sport and trad routes.
Guide
You can download the mini PDF guide from the link below. It has been designed to be viewed on your phone.
Sullivan Lake Bouldering Mini Guide
Note
All credit to the aforementioned guide for this data.
Routes
| Name | Grade ↑ | Star rating | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cross Bow Draw | V4 | ⭐ | Start with right hand on arête and left in the low side pull pinch, go up to the hold in the seam, and top out to the right of the seam. |
| Easy Come, Easy Go | V4 | - | Sit/squat start hanging from the sloping lip. Move up to the good shelf, then through a shallow crimp on the slab. |
| Edge of Reason | V4 | ⭐⭐ | Start with both hands in the horizontal seam and climb the face right of the arête. Sharp. |
| Jug Life | V4 | ⭐ | Sit start on the sloping rail. Figure out how to get to the enormous jug and top out above. |
| Looney 2'ns | V4 | ⭐ | Stand start hanging to the left side of the arête, matched or left hand on some non‐existent crimps. Pull on (crux). Pop up to the
ledge and top out. |
| Misty Mountains | V4 | ⭐⭐ | Climb the arête left of chimney and topout as Siege of Helm's Deep |
| Oldicks | V4 | ⭐ | Start as Goldilocks and climb directly up the pinchy feature, eliminating the holds on the right arête. |
| Prow Main | V4 | - | Start on the left arête, big move right to climb the prow. A lower start has also been climbed. |
| The Black Plague | V4 | ⭐ | Start in the low cave in front of Perpetual Motion on obvious holds. A bit awkward to pull on with the block to the right. Move
out to the lip and roll over it. |
| The Dangers of Highballing | V4 | - | Squat start left hand on the sloping rail, right hand on the right lip. Move left up to the sloping dish then press it out. |
| The Scoop | V4 | - | Climb straight up the slabby scoop. Holds to the left on the arête are off. |
| Canoes for Canadians | V5 | ⭐⭐⭐ | Sit start under the prow with right on pinch and left on a low edge. Climb up. The stand start is also nice and goes at V1ish. Start left hand on arête, right hand on crimp in the face. Top out straight over prow. |
| Helm's Deep | V5 | ⭐⭐⭐ | Sit start on blocky quartz crystals. Climb straight up through crimps to top out above the notch on the arête. |
| Icarus | V5 | ⭐⭐⭐ | Start on the large jug in the corridor, 7 ft up. Figure out how to get to the top of the sloping lip above. Can be done statically or
dynamically and feels like two completely different problems depending on which you choose. A sit start has also been done at
the same grade, but might only be accessible for tall folk. |
| Overpass | V5 | ⭐⭐ | Start right hand on high side pull, left hand on low side pull with thumb catch. Climb the face up to and over the first bolt of Windego. A sit start has also been done
starting on the same left hand side pull and a low right hand crimp. Both the sit and the stand start feel about V5 if you're short. The stand start will feel easier if you're tall, but the sit start feels about V5. |