This crag is on a fire road on which local homeowners pay the city a lease or use fee of some sort. The homeowners are of the opinion that this grants them exclusive use of the road. While that may or may or not be true, they act on that belief and have cars towed and confront users.
The crag itself is on public land, so there's no problem with the climbing itself. Work is underway to clarify the road situation. In the mean time, best ways to approach the crag are (more details in the "Getting There" section: 1. park on Indian River Drive before the fire roads begin and bike in and out (and haul your bikes up the trail a bit). 2. Drive in and drop everyone off except the driver, then the driver can drive back out and bike back in.
This information is a public crowdsourcing effort between the Access Fund,
and Mountain Project. You should confirm closures, restrictions, and/or related dates.
If you miss the turnoff on the trail and you conti...
Description
This crag has some very high quality sport climbing and is right in North Vancouver (near Deep Cove). Unfortunately the access situation is a bit awkward (please follow the advice listed here!). The rock is a very weathered granite with excellent texture. The bolting is generally "modern" (i.e. you won't get too scared) although there are a few spots where you might gulp and there's at least one mid-route ankle-breaker. Stick clips are pretty much unnecessary.
There are about fifteen routes in the 5.10 to 5.12 range. A 5.13 project is in the works and there's potential for a few more routes. The name comes from the fact that the first ascentionists were all over 45.
This crag was only developed a few years ago and hasn't appeared in any guidebooks as of yet. Some information has been available on the web for a while now. A topo has been published here: www.squamishclimbing.com/topos/Senior-Van-0607.pdf
Getting There
The best place for a group to meet and coordinate a trip into the Senior Centre is the plaza at the intersection of the Mt. Seymour Parkway and Mt. Seymour Road (the Lazy Bay Bakery is excellent).
1. From there, leave the parking lot going north on Mt. Seymour Road. 2. Go right on Indian River Dr. 3. Go left on Indian River Crescent. 4. Stay on the Crescent and it becomes Indian River Road (oddly). 5. At the start of a long straightaway there is a pullout that used to be suitable for parking, but it has now been blocked. Other pullouts before and after it can be found, but watch for no-parking signs. If you get to a super-tight switchback, you've gone too far. 6. From here (by bike, on foot), go around the tight switchback and then turn left on Fire Lane 7. Dropping a group off by car and then returning to park outside of the "private" area is possible too, but better to avoid as the residents have the exclusive use of the road for vehicular traffic. 7. Follow Fire Lane 7 until you can turn left on Fire Lane 8. 8. Count the blue barrels along the right side of the road. At the fifth barrel look for a faint trail on the left. Do not park here! 9. Head up the trail and look for a trail branching off to the right after about 100 feet/30m. Follow this trail until your are at the base of the crag.
Time (from pullout before switchback): -walking: 30 min. -bike: <10min -driving: 5 min.
Be very accommodating and reasonable with the locals. Work is being done to improve the access situation.
The Classics
Mountain Project's determination of some of the classic, most popular, highest rated routes for Senior Centre:
It's hard to imagine a more fun sport climb in the 5.10 grade, hence it's a classic. The first few moves are the crux, but the rest of the route is long, steep and involves physical pulls between good, sometimes excellent, holds. ...[more]Browse More Classics in International
By Peter Spindloe Administrator From: North Vancouver, BC Apr 1, 2008
Despite the moss visible in the pictures, many of the routes are very clean. Everything left of Slice of Life is due for a scrubbing, but the rest is in good shape.
As the note says, the owners DEFINATELY think they have exclusive right to the road. However, we only ran into one person that gave us the "what-for" about what we were doing. Now that I know that the access is still up in the air it makes me more comfortable for sure. The setting for this place is beautiful as well.
I will be arriving in Vancouver in early August via sailboat. I was wondering if there was any convenient access to this crag from the water. Any info will help... Thanks!
3 more...
RSS Feed
Slideshow