Boreal Climbing

This digital Boreal climbing guidebook gives you GPS navigation, verified topos, and beta for hundreds of climbs. Explore classics and hidden gems with offline access to maps, directions, and beta videos. Whether it's your first visit or fiftieth, KAYA makes your Boreal days smoother, safer, and more dialed.

The Boreal circuit is part of a vast complex of granite making up the Castle Peak/Donner Summit area. All the boulders are located right next to the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) or in the forest nearby, which makes access easy. A casual walk down the scenic PCT gets you to the boulders and the trail is pretty flat. Some of the boulders in the forest are a little tricky to find and a GPS is helpful. The rock is high quality granite with a variety of free standing boulders mixed in with some terraced walls. This area isn’t big, but there are plenty of problems for a few days of fun bould... Show more

This digital Boreal climbing guidebook gives you GPS navigation, verified topos, and beta for hundreds of climbs. Explore classics and hidden gems with offline access to maps, directions, and beta videos. Whether it's your first visit or fiftieth, KAYA makes your Boreal days smoother, safer, and more dialed. The Boreal circuit is part of a vast complex of granite making up the Castle Peak/Donner Summit area. All the boulders are located right next to the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) or in the forest nearby, which makes access easy. A casual walk down the scenic PCT gets you to the boulders and the trail is pretty flat. Some of the boulders in the forest are a little tricky to find and a GPS is helpful. The rock is high quality granite with a variety of free standing boulders mixed in with some terraced walls. This area isn’t big, but there are plenty of problems for a few days of fun bouldering. Pesky green moss tends to grow back on some of the problems and this area could use some more traffic to keep things clean. Bring a brush just in case. The Chiller Face, The Flying Saucer, The Party Bus and Separation Anxiety are just a few of the classics that are well worth checking out. This area also holds Jimmy Webb’s masterpiece, “The Outer Limits.” This climb is one of the most spectacular V15’s in the country. DRIVING: Exit I-80 at the Boreal exit and turn towards the ski area. Instead of turning right into the ski resort turn left and drive for 0.4 miles. Park at the trailhead for The Pacific Crest Trail. APPROACH: Walk on The PCT for a few minutes and at the first fork stay right on The PCT. Continue for 10 minutes passing a small pond on the right. 5 minutes past the pond look right and you will see The Warm Up Wall 100 yds off the trail up on some slabs. Continue 1 minute past The Warm Up Wall cutoff and you will just catch a glimpse of The Ejector off the trail, on the right, obscured by trees. For the boulders by Lake Azalea walk about 3 minutes past The Ejector cutoff and go right on The Old PCT. The Old PCT is just past a small murky pond and is faint at first where it cuts off from the PCT, but it’s crucial you don’t miss it. It’s also just past a broken granite dome. The trail is hard to see at first because of all the granite, but then it gets easy to follow after that. Continue on The Old PCT for a few minutes and you will arrive at Lake Azalea. Before you arrive at the lake you will see an obvious huge boulder on the right, this is The Flying Saucer. Just as you get to the lake you cant miss Boreal #1 sitting right on the trail. This boulder is a fun, easy warm up and a crucial land mark for finding the trail to The Party Bus and surrounding boulders. To find it look for a hidden trail that cuts through some thick brush 25 yds west of Boreal #1 then goes on slabs around the right side of the lake to the boulders. To find Separation Anxiety walk on The Old PCT past Lake Boreal #1 for 5 minutes and you will see it on your left, just off the trail barley past the end of Lake Azalea. Special Note: On the way in The PCT and signs are very easy to follow. However, on the way back the signs are harder to see. It’s easy to miss the PCT and end up on the wrong trail. Double check at every intersection on the way back and be sure to stay on the PCT!!