San Juan Islands

I'm about to move to the San Juans in May for an OE job. I'm stoked to get into Sea Kayaking, but also don't want to abandon climbing. I bought my first rope and draws end of last season and they yearn to be put to use as I spent the winter snowboarding. I was a 5.10 climber, not sure what I'm at rn.

Any tips on trying to climb whilst living broke on a somewhat isolated island? It's $14 for a round trip walk-on ferry, but then I'm stuck in Anacortes without a car...

Also, in Seattle for April and would love a training partner.

TL;DR anyone climb out of Anacortes and want to give me a ride from the ferry some time? Or know a place to climb on the isles?

I recently went to the islands and was also  wondering if there were any climbing areas around. Interested to see if others have any beta 

There's climbing at Mt. Erie in Anacortes ( mountainproject.com/area/10…).  You could bike, but it's a pretty stiff hill.  Or bike to the lower trail and hike up.  Or find an Anacortes area partner with a car.

Walk-on fare is $20 from Friday Harbor to Sydney B.C. With a car it's $45. (Same price to get a car onto the San Juans.)

Theres some climbing at the old roche harbor quarry. Don't get your hopes too high though.

There’s a mt. Erie climbing fb group you could join Kat. Not a lot of traffic on it, mostly just updates from those replacing hardware, but you could likely link up with them. 

From what I remember there was a lot of bouldering on every island and some potential trad lines on Stuart Island. Granted this was a few years ago and I'm not sure if I'm remembering correctly. A lot of the bouldering was on coastlines resulting in huge pockets on everything -- made for a lot of mantles and pinches.

Briggs Lazalde wrote: Good news is buses on Whidbey island and anacortes are free. The community out there doesn't believe that people who need a bus should pay which is so great. I used to walk from Bellingham to the peninsula all the time via different ferry routes. Most ferries cost to go west so from the mainland but are free going east. Plan ur trips right and between free ferries and free buses you can get around and its a fun experience. Mt Erie has climbing as others have said. Blanchard mt in the chuckanuts has the batcaves but I believe theyve been shut down for the bats recovery. I'm sure u can find bouldering on a lot of the cliff bands and bluffs and some rock formations down at harbors. Peninusla has some stuff but I haven't checked it out but there are guide books.

Dude. Thank you so much! I didn't know any of this. You're rad! Are you from the area?

I've spent many months living up on Saltspring Island (just north of San Juan), and found the unique "cobblestone" cliffs of Mt. Maxwell to have very fun, steep, climbing on them (with beautiful views). I've wondered if any of the other islands to the south had similar rock.

Anybody find any?  

I spent most my summers on Lopez Island until I was about 14 years old. I wasn't a climber back then, but I remember some cliffs along Watmough Bay that looked climbable (from my memory and a Google search just now). There's even a prominent dihedral that looks pretty awesome in pictures found on Google.

Watmough Bay is a spectacular place to just hang out anyway, which is worth the trip by itself. You can do a short hike up Chadwick Hill, the south side of which has the potential climbing. I also remember some boulders in the water, so going at low tide might increase your chances of doing some bouldering... maybe. Ever since I started climbing 10 years ago I've wanted to go back to Lopez to see if the area is good for climbing, but haven't had the chance. Lopez island is unfortunately a long way from Southern California.

If you do go please let me know how the climbing is!

As others have said, Mt. Erie is going to be good for you.  Also if you can,  take up diving (heresy on a climbing forum, I know, but the San Juans has the most spectacular diving in the state).

If you don't take up sailing while you're there then you'll miss a huge opportunity.  It's amazing and challenging sailing.

Mt Erie is going to be your closest developed cragging and you'll probably be able to find rides into the north Cascades if you try.  There's a strong climbing community in Anacortes but they are a little reclusive. :D

Just found this thread. I'm currently living on Lopez Island near Watmough and I'm trying to find partners to climb there. I have a single bouldering pad for now and I found a few worthwhile boulders. It's not destination worthy, but if you live in the area and want to climb please let me know!

As for the cliff, I believe it has a few trad routes but its super chossy and the loose rock has kept me away so far. I may try to top-rope on it at some point and see if it cleans up. There are some cool features but lots of junk rock. It's also very sharp.

Orcas Island:

There are cliffs on the northwest side of Cascade Lake that people jump from in the summer. I can't wait to try my odds at bouldering over the water, but I didn't get close enough to assess the feasibility of it.

 I imagine there are plenty of spots to boulder along the beaches and found some interesting walls in Fishing Bay off Crescent Beach Dr. Directly off the boardwalk would be some fine walls if it weren't for the fact the ground is covered in tidepools. I didn't have time to investigate the ridge at the west end of the boardwalk but it looked promising. Also to be considered are the tides. They must have been low when I was there.

Get a bike . Sacramento bike clubs have traveled to the San Juans for week-long road-cycling trips several times. It is a wonderful way to explore them .

I'm resurrecting this thread because I'll be working on the islands all summer long and staying on Orcas and Lopez mostly. I won't be able to afford ferrying to and from the mainland every day to rock climb, but if someone has a hang board or a spray wall or willing to show me some boulders I'd be very keen to meet up with you come June. If you're also keen on hosting a spray wall I have spare plywood and holds....

I spent one of the best summer’s of my life sea kayak guiding on San Juan Islands.  There is indeed a pitch of climbing replete with anchors on the West Side of the island.  It is pretty unremarkable climbing on quarried limestone but there were two distinct lines off the bolt anchor.  It wouldn’t take too much exploring to find it, and I’m sure some fellow boat people could point it out during a West Side paddle.  Some of those evenings rope soloing at sunset while the whales put on a show were quite dreamy. Feel free to reach out for the best directions I can remember.  Im not entirely sure what the access policies are, but I remember trying to be stealthy.  The Salish Sea is an amazing place.  

Spencer Moore wrote:

I'm resurrecting this thread because I'll be working on the islands all summer long and staying on Orcas and Lopez mostly. I won't be able to afford ferrying to and from the mainland every day to rock climb, but if someone has a hang board or a spray wall or willing to show me some boulders I'd be very keen to meet up with you come June. If you're also keen on hosting a spray wall I have spare plywood and holds....

Hey there, I'm the owner of the newer climbing gym on San Juan Island. You should come check us out and join our little crew as we like to organize island climbing trips