This is an area where you are almost guaranteed solitude and privacy. While it's very close to Murrin Park, it's rarely visited due to the stout approach: the distance isn't great, but it's pretty rugged. The payoff is a beautiful valley, isolated from road noise, cool temperatures on a hot day, and some very nice routes.
This valley has never been logged and has a Lost World feel. My partner commented that he half expected pygmies with bones through their noses to shoot poison darts at us while we were there.
Of the crags in this area, some may be overgrown and lost, but Donny's Roof and The Pillar of Payan, at least, look good.
Getting There
Park as for Murrin Park, cross the road (carefully!) and walk south past Leviticus and past Browning Bluff (the cliff just south of Leviticus and opposite the lake). Less than 50 feet south of Browning Bluff a rough trail heads up into the woods.
Follow this steep trail until you see a scraggly crag ("Above-the-Lake"). Head right and then up steeply for ten minutes. You will pass through a narrowing referred to as the Quail's Gate in McLane's book. One of the areas, Entrance Exam, is left of the gate. After passing through the Quail's Gate, you will reach the top of a North-South ridge. You can head north to access two crags (Closing Number and Fan the Flame), south to The Needle or the Mountianeers Cliff, or continue east into the Valley itself.
The descent into the Valley is steep. While there are many hand-lines on Squamish trails, climbers tend to ignore them, but this is one that you'll use and get some rope burn from.
At the bottom of the gully you'll see the Donny's Roof crag on the left and Gym Dandy on the right. Further south is Alex's Room, The Pillar of Payan, Emmies Landing and the Wonder Wall.
Great to see pics of people still enjoying the valley. Good to see that this place hasn't totally succumbed to the moss, and that our work there was not in vain.
Hint: Have a look at the huge unclimbed left facing corner just south of "Em". As well there's some great looking cracks on the wall to the right of the corner. (likely best viewed from the west side ridge. Surprised no one has nabbed them
By Peter Spindloe Administrator From: North Vancouver, BC Sep 4, 2008
Hi Glenn. I thought it was a great place to visit and although we only got on one route, it was great fun.
I was thumbing a magazine two days ago and saw your name. There was a photograph of one of your paintings and a little write-up.
For the benefit of anyone else, check out Glenn's website at http://www.glennpayan.com his paintings are stunning, and often feature areas and peaks familiar to climbers.
Yeah it's really nice in the Valley, especially when it's sunny/warm and the light is filtering in there. It was pretty dim and dank down there in the deep autumn and early spring when I was scrubbing things up. But it's so quiet... no highway sound... it made the solitude all the more pronounced: a great place to "get away from it all".... literally.
Now, I've heard of people climbing "Just Blessed", "Cliptomaniac", "Zap Crack" as well as the "Avalon Connection" and the sport routes at Donny's roof but I'd love to get peoples take on a few of my favs that, for whatever reason, haven't got the traffic.
"Em" which starts on a great 8' wide exposed ledge. It goes up a really steep/clean right facing corner to a overhang, passes on the left and then up a stellar finger crack. The photos looking down on a climber, from above, would be stunning. To get to it, when you are heading to Wonderwall and the forest below WonderWall is reached, traverse south-southwest, staying low. I'd also like to know about "Biological Knead", on Wonderwall. I've heard of only one second ascent of which it was said..."the best 10d in Squamish." I figgur they were blowing wind up my skirt so I'd love a second opinion. Finally the totally exposed but shorter "Fan the Flame". If you like fingercracks...which I did at the time...this one's a keeper.
The Valley of Shaddai
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