Yesterday I woke up around 8am and got an early start to the day as i watched the sunrise over the sleeping giant on Lake Superior out my apartment window. I sat down at my computer and started to get organized for the day as i continually glanced out at the rising sun. I thought ‘Damn it’s really going to be a nice day!’ I should do something outside. Shortly after I noticed a post on facebook from some of my friends who were going out climbing at Pass Lake, 40mins east of Thunder Bay. I decided that I simply had to go and got in touch with them ASAP and made it out. They were not leaving until 11am and it was 8am so this motivated me to hammer out a few solid hours of work in on the guidebook before enjoying the glorious +16 weather.

The beautiful south facing sandstone bluffs on the Sibley Penninsula are quite a popular climbing destination for people in the northwestern ontario region. The cliffs at Pass Lake are part of a formation of sedimentary rocks known as the Sibley Group that was deposited 1.5 to 1.3 billion years ago. This group extends from Lake Superior to Lake Nipigon and is is a red bed sequence preserved in a fault-bounded basin. The sandstone at this particular formation at Pass Lake is primarly composed of quartz sand grains with some feldspar and rock fragments. It is a unique rock to climb as most of northwestern ontario is composed of diabase cliffs of volcanic origin.

There is such a vast variety of climbing routes at Pass Lake, Lots of bolts for variety of sport leads, good places to top rope, and some challenging trad routes.

It was my first time climbing here and second time out this season. I found the rock quite challenging, some tough overhanging moves and tricky holds makes this place a favorite for experiences climbers. I attempted to lead an easier climb but chickened out since i still need to climb a few times to get myself in climbing shape and conditioned to confidently climb above the rope again. All in all it was a fantastic day and i can’t wait to get out more!