THE NARROWS
This cliff is located on the Jones Road, 20 km past the Jones Road cliff.
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Location
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​Located 50km north of the Trans-Canada on HWY 671, the cliff is on the west (left) side of the paved road.
There are large boulders close to the road. Park in the relatively flat ditch, well off the road.​
There’s not much in the way of camping spots nearby, though one can camp across the road from the cliff, down a trail that leads to the lake. A better choice is Keys Lake, 5km south of the Narrows on the west side of the road. There is a beautiful sandy beach and a great swimming area. It is often crowded on weekends.
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Access​​
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You can get to the top via two main trails on the south and north ends of the cliff. The south end trail wanders up through the Castles in the Sand boulders. The north end trail branches off the main center trail that goes up from the roadside boulders. It runs along the cliff and is marked with flagging tape.
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Classic Routes
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The routes here are trad or top-roped, and only 1 sport route so far. There are at least seven sets of bolted anchors on the top of routes. Many use Ghoul Chimney as a mid-cliff exit route, with a few unprotected chimney moves.
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The Flying Rat’s Ass 5.10b, 12m **
Mike Baxter, Sue Baker – 1992
Climb the prominent left facing overhanging inside corner at the left end of the cliff (good pro).
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Creation Theory 5.13a, 11m ***
Chris Tarry - July 19, 2023
Climb through the consistently overhanging three boulder problems past six bolts to reach the top.
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High as the Moon 5.11a, 14m ***
Mike Baxter, Doug Orr – 1992
An exceptional “must-try” climb, up the slightly overhanging hand crack several meters left of the two black water streaks (great pro).
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Queasier Than It Looks 5.10a/b, 11m *
Mike Baxter – 1993
If you like off-widths, look no further! If the name doesn’t scare you off, scramble up onto a large block to start.
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Project -
Two top anchors mark the top of this project trhough the overhangs.
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Pinched Nerve 5.10a, 17m **
Rob Hester, Peter Aitchison – July 1994
Start about 14m left of Tabasco Crack in a square-cut notch about 3m wide. Ascend the middle of the notch via crack and face moves to the top, capped by a small blocky roof.
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Tabasco Crack 5.9+, 12m **
Mike Baxter, Dave Harrison – 1992
A wide left-trending crack located 6m left of Raspberry Ledge. Either start on Raspberry ledge on the right and traverse to the left end or try the direct start (5.10+ moves) from the ground. The direct start is very flakey making it dangerous and hard to protect. Sometime in the mid 2000's two top anchors were added.
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Red’s Rickard 5.9+, 11m
Kenton Frith – 1992
This right-arcing finger crack starts on Raspberry Ledge, located in the middle of the main wall. The route traverses right beside a very large block. The tricky start then leads up a shallow crack and ends on a flat ledge with a tree.
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Ghoul Chimney 5.6, R 11m
Mike Baxter, Kenton Frith, Dave Harrison, Sue Baker et al – 1991
Ease yourself into the chimney on the right end of Raspberry Ledge, behind a large flake. Off width and chimney your way up. Please note that protection is near non-existent.
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Baked Not Fried 5.8, 12m **
Dave Harrison – 1991
An excellent route starting about 3-4m left of 'Get Crack'n'. Double parallel cracks on the top half of the climb are easy to spot from the ground. A tricky lie back starts on a left-facing ramp leading up to some nice crack climbing above. The route ends on a flat ledge with a tree. There are two rap anchors at the top.
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Get Crystal Grabbin 5.6 *
Rob Hester - 1995
This route starts 1.5 to 2m left of Get Crack'n. It follows small edges up the slab almost in parallel to the large Get Crackin crack. The route ends on a ledge about 8m up that runs between Baked Not Fried and Get Crackin. Top rope only (no pro on the slab).
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Get Crack'n 5.6, 12m **
Doug Orr – 1991
This great route starts where the trail meets the cliff. Ascend a left-facing inside corner and ledge, then gain a troublesome overhang (crux) which leads to a fat fist crack to the top. This route ends in a large gully/chimney. There are two rap anchors at the top.
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Get Crack'n Hard 5.10b, 4m
Rob Hester, Peter Aitchison – 1994 July
A short but hard crack. Climb past the anchors for Get Crack'n to the top. starting from the gully/chimney at the top of Get Crack'n.
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No Pins No Sins C2, 14m
Mike Baxter, Dave Harrison – 1994 Winter
A clean aid route up the inside corner about 4m right of Get Crack'n, with a large fist and hand crack (slightly overhanging) to finish.
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Venom in Your Veins 5.11a. 9m ***
Mike Baxter – 1993
Start about 2m left of the inside corner at Goof Proof and about 10 m right of Get Crack'n. The crux is the first 5m with very thin and strenuous protection.
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Goof Proof 5.4, 8m *
Mike Baxter, Sue Baker – 1993
A short, wide inside corner crack at the right end of the cliff. Short but fun. There are two rap anchors at the top.
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Project -
This thin crack line has two top anchors to mark the top of this project at the north end of the cliff.
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