Area 69 Boulders
Area 69 Boulders | N46 24' 46" W80 52' 12" 📍DROP A PIN
Area 69 is Sudbury's newest climbing area, and hosts a variety of sport, trad, and bouldering routes. Located on a rare grid of crown land close to the city, the landscape is composed of a large valley (for Sudbury standards) with rolling overhanging bluff ranging from 3m to over 10m tall.
Like shockwaves from an ancient meteor, these bluffs offer pristine bouldering sheltered from the sun into early evening. The world has carried on under these glacial-carved bluffs, which often provide good landings on a forest floor. Two to three pads is ideal, but a lone pad is enough for many problems in the area.
As of now, the bouldering is broken into three areas, two of which are lone walls located on the east side of the valley. The other, called The Rift, is located on the west side and is composed of three walls, looming over each other like ripples through space and time. Classics of the area are WAP V5 (#5), The Offering V7 (#6), Lifeline V6 (#36), Lava Java V1 (#46), and Square Root V2 (#47).
Development is still going strong, with the potential for hundreds of climbs in the area. It is important to clean new problems properly with a pry bar and steel wire brush to make the climb as safe as possible. To publish new climbs and first ascents you can do so through Climb Sudbury. If you established a project and/or made a first ascent, please message us via the contact box on this website or by emailing climbsudbury (at) outlook (dot) com. All new problems will be reviewed for safety prior to publication.
Many thanks to Noah Lagadin for his extensive development and documentation of this climbing area.
First Wall
1 Uppies | V1 | ★
FA David Gagnon
Crouch start on a good rail. Awkwardly make your way up and around the corner.
2 David 2 | V2 | ★★
FA David Gagnon
Crouch/sit start on a good jug. Make a few moves up and climb into Entrance.
3 House of Cards | V3 | ★★
FA Noah Lagadin
Sit start both hands matched on the sharp crack. Follow the hollow blocks to the top.
4 Voidspace | V2 | ★★
FA Noah Lagadin
Sit start hands matched on the pinnacle of the large rail. Beautiful holds lead to an easy top out
5 WAP Right | V6 | ★★
FA Max Jacques
Same start holds as WAP but climb right.
6 WAP | V5 | ★★★★★
FA Noah Lagadin
Crouch start with a double undercling start, traverse the rail and explode up to the V. Once firmly gripped deep in the V, top out directly up with another explosive move.
7 The Offering | V7 | ★★★★★
FA Noah Lagadin
Start and climb WAP and exit the V left. Traverse the obvious rail and commit to delicate moves to reach some top out jugs.
8 The Offering Left Exit | Open Project
FA TBD
Sit start both hands matched on the sharp crack. Follow the hollow blocks to the top.
DID YOU KNOW? The Sudbury Basin was created when a massive meteorite struck the earth 1.85 billion years ago, creating a massive crater, approximately 200 kilometers in diameter and 6 kilometers deep. The impact caused the surrounding crust to melt, forming a vast layer of molten rock and metal-rich liquid. This liquid filled the crater, and as it cooled, it formed the Sudbury Igneous Complex and deposited the nickel, copper, and other valuable ores that define the region. Later continental collisions deformed the original circular crater into the oval-shaped ring of rocks visible today. Over billions of years, much of the crater has been eroded away, exposing the ancient rocks and mineral deposits that form the bedrock of the Greater Sudbury region.
Asteroid Boulders
9 Forskins | V3 | ★★★
FA Ethan Daynes
Start inverted with double toe hooks and meat hooky hand holds holds 1 foot off the ground. Crunch and match feet with hands and top out.
10 Forshins | Open project | ★★★★
FA TBD
Potentially V5. Start same as Forskins but instead of being lame and spinning around off the hop, go foot-first climber's left around the face and spin around once the final ledge is gained. Contrived but fun.
Second Wall
11 Booty Pics | V1 | ★★
FA Bev, Heli, Briar, Roxy
Sit start low and make your way up the arete. The first climb sent in the area.
12 Contrived | V1 | ★
FA David Gagnon
Sit start, explode up to the lip.
13 Space Moose | V3 | ★★★
FA Noah Lagadin
Stand start on as far right as possible on the obvious rail and climb into Zero G.
14 Zero G | V4 | ★★
FA Noah Lagadin
Sit start using a crimp on the top of the block and a slightly lower right hand side pull. Climb into Space Moose.
15 Allswell with Roswell | V4 | ★★★★★
FA Noah Lagadin
Establish on the wall and delicately move higher. Trend right to top out.
16 Tall Burly Man | V3 | ★★★
FA Blaise Quenneville
Stand start with a left hand on a good slot and your right pinching the arete. Top out up the dihedral.
17 Burly Man | V5 | ★★★
FA Max Jacques
Crouch start with hands matched on the good crimper rail. Climb straight up and top out the apex of the dihedral.
18 Too Burly | V8 | ★★★★
FA Max Jacques
Start on slopers one move lower than Burly Man. The swing adds a lot of difficulty. Top out via Burly Man.
19 Three Burly Men | Open project
FA TBD
Potentially V10. Start on slopers one move lower than Burly Man. The swing adds a lot of difficulty. Top out via Burly Man.
20 Bulk Being | Open project
FA TBD
Potentially V7. Start the same as 5th Dimension but climb direct up the mini dihedral.
21 Fifth Dimension | Open project | ★★★★
FA TBD
Potentially V8. Sit start at the base of the crack. trend up and left using interesting holds and footwork. Heartbreak top out.
22 Vert Crack | V1 | ★★
FA David Gagnon
Climb the Vertical crack. Try not to eat dirt.
The Rift
23 Trailhead | V0 | ★
FA David Gagnon
Sit start matched on a good notch, climb straight up.
24 Pacific Rim | V4 | ★★★★
FA Caleb Seguin
Sit start compressed with a left pinch thing and a right hand side-pull crimp. Follow the rails to a tricky cramped top out.
25 (Unnamed) | Open project
FA TBD
Cleaned. Open project.
26 (Unnamed) | Open project
FA TBD
Cleaned. Open project.
27 The V | Open project
FA TBD
V Hard. Sit start on two small blocks that may be a little loose. Make your way into the V by any means necessary. Crazy ideas have been pitched.
28 The Old Guard | V6 | ★★★
FA Noah Lagadin
Start low on the jug right of the sloping dish. Big or small moves, make your way to the sloping rail and top out direct.
29 Sauna Suit | V1 | ★★
FA David Gagnon
Sit start matched on the obvious rail.
30 Ridgeline | V2 | ★★★
FA David Gagnon
Start on the furthest right point of the lip. Traverse the lip and top out at the furthest left point.
31 Exit Plan | V1 | ★
FA David Gagnon
Crouch start using a pinch. Delicate moves to the lip.
32 Invincible | Open project | ★★★★
FA TBD
Potentially V8. Sit start in the pit, both hands on the curved rail. Climb into Silver Bullet.
33 Silver Direct | Open project | ★★
FA TBD
Potentially V4. Same start as Silver Bullet but top out direct after making a few moves. If you don't end up in the V, you're off course.
34 Silver Bullet | V3 | ★★★
FA David Gagnon
Crouch start matched on the lowest rail. Utilize high quality holds to top out in the dihedral.
35 Left Arete | Open project
FA TBD
Same start holds as Lifeline. Make a move up to the arete and make your way out right until you can reach the lip. Unclimbed due to the large block being loose. Climb at your own risk.
36 Lifeline | V6 | ★★★★★
FA Noah Lagadin
Start both hands and a heel on the sloper rail. Climb the middle of the steep face exiting left to the false arete before topping out the highest point of the boulder.
37 ZugZwang | Open project
FA TBD
Hard. Same start as Lifeline but climb directly out the face without using the arete features out left.
38 Lifeblood | Open project
FA TBD
Potentially V6. Sit start using the bent plate. Climb left into Lifeline.
39 Double-Clutch | Open project
FA TBD
Potentially V6. Same start as Lifeblood but move right off the start holds and climb into Clutch.
40 Clutch | V2 | ★★★
FA Noah Lagadin
Start seated on the massive block and follow the arete.
Don't forget to be bear aware in northern Ontario's climbing areas! Black bears are occasionally encountered in many of Sudbury's forested areas. If you come upon a bear, above all, stay calm. If the bear is unaware of you, move away quietly without getting its attention. If the bear IS aware of you, continue with calm behaviour. Speak to the bear calmly and firmly. Back away slowly and NEVER run. Make yourself appear bigger, if possible, and don't drop your pack - it may provide valuable protection if things go sideways.
41 Slab Next Door | V0 | ★
FA David Gagnon
Sit start? Climbing the right side of the arete.
42 Cardiac Attack | V2 | ★★★
FA David Gagnon
Double undercling start climbing into the middle of the slab.
43 Caleb's Line | V0 | ★
FA Caleb Seguin
Climb the lowest quality slab arete right of Cardiac Attack.
44 Ethan's Line | V1 | ★
FA Ethan Daynes
A challenging sit start on side pulls leads to easier climbing once extended.
45 Straddle Me Magnus | V4 | ★★
FA Noah Lagadin
Straddle start on a large block, manage a way to pull off the ground using what's available and compress your way to the top. High low quality problem.
46 Lava Java | V1 | ★★★★
FA Ethan Daynes
Sit start right hand on the side pull and left hand pressing into the friction dish.
47 Square Root | Open project | ★★★★
FA TBD
Potentially V2. Follow the ski track cracks until you can top out.
48 (Unnamed) | Open project
FA TBD
Stand start matched on the giant sidepull. Follow the sloping lip until you can mantle it and top out either following the slab or using the crack above.
49 (Unnamed) | Open project | ★★★★★
FA TBD
Hard. Start matches on the rail chest height. Hard, technical moves await.
50 Caleb's Crack | V0
FA Caleb Seguin
A tall but easy crack with lots of good hands and feet.
51 Highway Splitter | Open project | ★★★★★
FA TBD
Potentially V2. A perfect 15' splitter awaits on the highway side of the rift. Stand start both hands in the crack.
