Comox Lake Climbing

This digital Comox Lake 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 Comox Lake days smoother, safer, and more dialed.

It is crucial to acknowledge that Comox Lake, and the entire Comox Valley, is the Unceded Traditional Territory of the K’ómoks First Nation, the traditional keepers of the land. The indigenous people have occupied the shoreline of eastern Vancouver Island for thousands of years. Traditionally know as “the land of plenty”.  We are lucky to live, play, and visit their traditional lands.  

OVERVIEW

Comox Lake is located just outside the town of Cumberland, British Columbia in the beautiful Comox Valley. Located approximately 215 km north of the provincial capital city, Victor... Show more

This digital Comox Lake 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 Comox Lake days smoother, safer, and more dialed. It is crucial to acknowledge that Comox Lake, and the entire Comox Valley, is the Unceded Traditional Territory of the K’ómoks First Nation, the traditional keepers of the land. The indigenous people have occupied the shoreline of eastern Vancouver Island for thousands of years. Traditionally know as “the land of plenty”. We are lucky to live, play, and visit their traditional lands. OVERVIEW Comox Lake is located just outside the town of Cumberland, British Columbia in the beautiful Comox Valley. Located approximately 215 km north of the provincial capital city, Victoria, located on Vancouver Island. The Comox Valley has a population of approximately 72,000 people. The Valley consists of three distinct communities: Comox, Courtenay, and Cumberland. The bouldering at Comox Lake takes place over a large collection of basalt boulders located in the lush temperate rainforest bordering a large damn controlled lake. The rock is slick, offering little in the way of friction. The climbing varies from gymnastic movement on large smooth blocky holds to heinous small sharp crimps. Comox Lake offers ideal bouldering during the spring, summer and fall months. The majority of the boulders are located in the forest and are shaded for most of the day. Their location within the Cumberland Lake Park Campground facilitates opportunities for camping mere minutes from the climbs. The campground offers concession stand snack options, including ice cream. The lake is the perfect place to take a post-climb dip to wash off the sweat, chalk, and to facilitate some muscle recovery. ETHICS/CLEANING The boulders lay in a shaded and heavily forested temperate rain forest. Moss growth is a constant concern. Some quality problems are in need of a retro-scrub. Often “new problems” are uncovered only to discover they were previously climbed many years before. It is worth having a wire brush in your bag. Please feel free to give existing climbs a quick maintenance clean. However, care must be taken to not alter the climbs in any way. There are ample opportunities to put up new boulder problems. If you have never developed boulder problems before please check out the following pages for tips/techniques: https://www.flashed.com/explore/article/advice-and-tips-on-developing-climbs/ The following rules must be adhered to: NO CHIPPING/ALTERING HOLDS ON EXISTING CLIMBS BRUSH OFF YOUR TICK MARKS PACK IN/PACK OUT, PICK UP YOURS AND OTHERS TRASH USE THE CAMPGROUND OUTHOUSES ACCESS The majority of the bouldering at Comox Lake is accessed through the Cumberland Lake Park Campground. The park is open from April through October. During these months it is possible to park within the main parking area. Beware that during the height of the summer months the parking lot can be very full as it is a popular area for swimming and boating. If full, it is possible to park along Comox Lake Road before the campground. Do not block the boat ramp parking. The gate is locked later in the evening, so if you were planning to have a night session, it would be wise to park outside the yellow gate and walk the additional 1-minute to avoid being locked in. If climbing between November and April you will have to park outside the main campground parking lot but all the climbs remain accessible year-round. The Sherman Boulders and Upper Deck both lie on private forestry land, while many people use the existing trails and roads on this land, please be respectful of signage ad don’t block any gates when parking. The community of Cumberland has a good working relationship with the logging companies and landowners. As climbers we don’t want to jeopardize that relationship.