Hard Sends Go Down at Horne Lake

Horne Lake is on Vancouver Island and boasts some of the steepest limestone climbing in B.C. Over the past few weeks, strong climbers have sent hard routes there. First was Amanda Berezowski’s send of Subdivisions Direct 5.12d, which is harder than the original Subdivisions. Next was Marcel Aarden’s tick of Chertless 5.13c, “Kind of a obscure hard line,” he said. “Powerful, thin, and techy. Different style from the typical Horne Lake climbs.” And Nathan Hall put down the Globetrotters 5.13c.

Horne Lake is about halfway up the east coast of Vancouver Island and has nearly 100 routes up to 5.14c. There are short and burly routes and multi-pitch climbs up to four pitches. The rock is compact limestone with tufas and flowstone streaked in orange,
white and black. Routes feel hard for the grade due to the complexity of the rock. There are great stem routes like Llama Lover 5.11c, steep lines like Crispy Critter 5.12c and jug hauls like Globe Trotters 5.13c. Watch Simon Wyvill send Globe Trotters on his second try below.