Downing Mountain (Eagle Cliff) 

Ryan, where do you park for this area? Years ago Ward said he checked around to see if there really was an 'Eagle Cliff', but didn't find anything note worthy. Have you found any rock that is quality and big enough for routes or good summertime bouldering potential?

I think Eagle Cliff might be the name of the lower flank of the mountain. There is a series small broken crags along the ridge one of which has a few 25 foot sections. That area has a few really nice short ice climbs which I haven't gotten a chance to post yet. Sport climbing might be a possibility, but not with anything of significant height. There could be some bouldering potential; a lot of it is dirty and mossy rock which is why I was using it for dry-tool practice.

There used to be a boys summer camp in the earlier part of the 1900's just bordering this area, and I think they used to camp on top of the hill as a getaway with a nice view of the lake. I assume this is where the name Eagle Cliff came from.

I have the advantage of working at a school (the grounds of the old summer camp) which borders the western side of the flank where the property boarders the National Forest (The school is represented by one of those white blobs on the map with little black dots for buildings). All the craggy sections of the mountain are on National Forest property, but you would have to park on Doetown road and make your way up one of the snowmobile trails, then cut left and head towards the steeper section of the topo. I have drawn a small map if this is helpful.

Find a small outcropping on Dowtown road, and make your way up this snowmobile/logging road Submitted By: Ryan Barber on Feb 25, 2013

Thanks. Maybe worth a walkabout during rock season to see if there is any good bouldering then.

I found another craglet on this hill which has some great bouldering potential for both rock and ice. The weather is a little warm, so most of the good ice is not stable and will have to wait until next year. The rock is schist and basalt (as is most rock in the baker river valley area), I had to back off of a few of the mixed problems as they were driving into the M6 range and I was not comfortable committing to the moves onsight without roped rehearsal, so a few controlled disengagements were in order. This seems to work ok as long as there is a nice snow blanket to land on.