Quebec
Quebecers have a tremendous number of options. Sport-climbing, trad routes, big walls, mixed climbing and ice routes abound, and though the bigger routes are concentrated in the eastern part of the province, Quebeckers elsewhere are almost never devoid of climbing options of one kind or another.
North Western Quebec/ Noranda
Excellent single pitch climbing and some top-roping is available on the
cliffs around Ville Madeleine. Close to Noranda there is limited sport-climbing.
Devil Rock on Lake Temiskaming, only an hour and a half from Noranda, offers
multi-pitch climbing at a high standard.
Montreal
Montrealers have a wide variety of attractive climbing options. In addition
to the traditional areas of Val David, and St. Agathe, about an hour north
of the city off of Rte 15, there is Weir, which is a little farther, there
are the less famous crags of Mont Nixon, Mont St. Hilaire, Mont Baldy, and
hosts of other granite crags up to 4 pitches in length. The style varies
from sport to traditional, and includes a fair amount of mixed bolt and
gear routes. Within a few hours’ drive are Orford in the eastern townships,
which has superb hard sport climbing and trad climbing, and most of the
best hard granite climbing in the eastern USA in the Adirondacks and New
Hampshire.
Montreal: Ice Climbing
There is a wide variety of ice climbing available in the area, with good
bets being Shawbridge, and the Mt. Tremblant area. Smugglers’ Notch
and Lake Willoughby in Vermont offer superb long ice routes, many of which
were developed by climbers from Quebec.
Chicoutimi
The region around Quebec has extensive and excellent opportunities for a
wide range of climbing. Within the city itself there is excellent bouldering
and top-roping at Le Pylone and Le Champlain. An afternoon spent top-roping
at Le Champlain goes a long way towards explaining why there are so many
hard climbers from the city of Quebec. Cragging at Les pallisades, Vieux
Stoneham, and a plethora of other sites tends towards crack climbing, although
there is also some good sport-climbing at these crags. Sport climbing areas
have also been developed near Kamouraska, and further afield at numerous
sites on the Gaspé , such as St. Fabien sur Mer at Bic Provincial
Park. Quebeckers are also only a few hours drive from outstanding, but fairly
remote big wall opportunities at cliffs like Cap Trinité on the Saguenay
River. Climbers in Chicoutimi and region are even closer to the cliffs of
the Saguenay and have a number of interesting smaller crags, such the Dome
at Jonquiere, close at hand.
Ice-Climbing: Quebec
Quebec is second only to the Rockies for its number, variety and quality
of ice-climbing routes. From Montmorency Falls, just outside the city limits,
to the numerous routes of the Charlevoix area, to the mixed climbing testpieces
of the Gaspé, to the long and remote routes of the Malbaie such as
the famous Pomme D’Or, there is enough climbing here to hold the attention
of the most avid climbers for many seasons.<<
