Horne Lake is Now Officially Closed Due to High Fire Risk

Horne Lake has been a popular rock climbing area for the past few decades. The Vancouver Island limestone crag has some of the province’s hardest sport climbs, but access has always been touch and go.

The land is owned by the Horne Lake Community, a strata corporation of residents who own their individual strata lots and together own the common property and common assets.

B.C. climber Alex Charron reached out to inform us that “the strata that owns Horne Lake has closed the crag due to high fire risk and that people should not try to visit or climb there.” Charron said that Horne Lake remains officially closed, yet the owners seem to have been tolerating climbing in recent years.

There are currently over 300 wildfires burning in B.C. with hot and dry conditions in the forecast. Charron said, “This closure is something that occurs some years, and we expect that it will last into the fall. Respecting this closure is essential to maintaining whatever tenuous access climbers have to this crag.”

In the late 1990s, Squamish crusher Andrew Boyd wrote an article about Horne Lake called Road Worthy, which you can read here. The Horne Lake closure was also posted on Sendage, and reads “Important. Summer 2021. Property Owners have closed Horne Lake due to fire risk until further notice. Please respect this closure, failure to do so jeopardizes access.”

Charron added, “I have spoken to the strata representative to confirm that this is an official closure coming from the strata itself, as there seemed to have been some questions about this.”