Victor Lake Wall
For all routes not shown on this page, refer to the guide book “Revelstoke Rocks”.
"the grand wall of Revelstoke"
The Victor Lake Wall, is the steep 365 vertical meter south facing wall, directly above Victor Lake, 15 km west of Revelstoke B.C. Whenever I call the Victor Lake Wall “The Grand Wall of Revelstoke”, this is not because I wish I would be climbing in Squamish. Starting out in the deep forest, starting out climbing some slabs and easier corners and soon after finding my self in the steep main part of the wall, vertical to overhanging, exposed and sporty, climbing the most amazing rock high above the Trans Canada highway …. this is it, reminding me of the Grand Wall. Of course every wall has its own characteristics and great charm and should never be compared with any other wall. With a total of 11 different routes, the Victor Lake Wall dose get every year increasingly more attention amongst climbers from across Canada.
The Victor Lake Wall has a long history, for many years several local climbers have talked about establishing climbing routes on this superb and steep wall that dominates the highway corridor west of Revelstoke. Unfortunately personal time and commitment was missing and it was not until Dean Flick from Revelstoke started to build the first route on the wall “The Mission”. It took him nearly 10 years to finish this route. During that time period Dean had endless other plans on the go, establishing many other new routes in the Revelstoke area and climbing with friends. Whenever he was working on his route at the Victor Lake Wall he was keen and driven to succeed with this project. In 2007 this grand route reached its completion. In the meantime Graham Baldwin put up a three-pitch variation to the start of “The Mission”. Considering that Graham was all hand-bolting these three pitches, in super hard quartzite rock, he definitely had his own mission on the go.
During the long mission of establishing “The Mission”, Dean once told me that the Victor Lake Wall is the real thing and will some day become the signature of Revelstoke rock climbing. He was right, only a few years later, with a total of 9 different routes leading up this superb wall, the Victor Lake Wall is rapidly gaining great interest amongst climbers from across Canada. With the completion of the route “Mystery”, likely among the hardest multi pitch sport routes in BC, this wall reached a class of its own.
It is possible to climb already in early May at the Victor Lake Wall; mostly Grande Finale, Last Spike, Ninth Symphony and Mystery. The lower slabs at Return of the Osprey, Trans Canada and Pan-America are usually still wet from the melting water until mid June. In the fall it is regularly possible to climb until late October and during some years even into early November. This wall faces south and is high enough to warm up during sunny days well into fall. Often when the temperatureas are +5 to +8 degree Celcius in Revelstoke and it is too cold to climb at Begbie and other cragging areas in the valley, the Victor Lake Wall truly comes alive. With direct radiation, warm rising temperatures this high wall creates its own micro-climate (as does the south facing Columbia Buttress). Early spring and late fall are special climbing times at Victor Lake Wall, knowing that everybody else in Revelstoke is sitting in the thick fall fog and wearing warm clothing to keep from getting cold.
