Spokane Area Climbing

Spokane climbing: hardly world class, but hard to beat! What other metro area has nine climbing areas within a twenty minute drive? Here is a list of the crags with distance from town and other pertinent details.

Minnehaha: Decent trad and poorly protected sport climbs, on granite, right in town / 70+ routes, 100+ boulder / most are within 50 yards of parking lot / kid friendly / Popular toprope area. If you climb here long enough you may see someone LEAD A ROUTE!!. Props to the hardmen that put them up- some really bold 11's and 12's were put up back in the day!

Dishman: Mostly 5.11 and 5.12 sport climbing on slightly overhanging granite right in town / 38 routes / 2 minute approach/ The terrain is kid friendly and Dishman has cleaned up quite a bit in the last 5 years. The water tower leak was fixed, which got rid of the standing water and the mosquito problem.

Mirabeau: Small sport area with some excellent 5.7 to 5.12c climbing right next to the Valley YMCA (join the Y, put the crumb-snatchers in free daycare and go climbing, you're pretty much close enough to get away with it for years- or so I hear). The crag is really kid-friendly too. Well bolted for safe leads, most can also top-roped.

Cliff Drive : Very short but pumpy, well-bolted routes, on basalt, right in the heart of town. / 20 routes / 1 minute approach. It's like a free climbing gym.

Liberty Park: 4 or 5 steep boulder problems in a basalt cave in the 'hood / 1 minute approach / it's a nice park, just not the best part of town.

Rocks of Sharon: 60 + routes and amazing views across the Palouse on Tower Mountain. Only 5 miles down the Palouse Highway from the south end of town. A 20 minute approach, good for kids if they can handle the steep approach hike.

Deep Creek: 60+ great sport routes on steep basalt 4 miles from the Northwest edge of town/ 10 minute approach / kid friendly / You can climb main wall on a rainy day. No top rope routes, but safely bolted for leading.

McLellan: 80+ trad, sport, and boulder problems on granite with lots of new route development / 16 mi. from the Northwest edge of town.

Tumtum: 23 mi. Northwest / 130+ routes- / 0-20 min. approach. Lots of sport routes, classic trad lines, and world class bouldering. There are three separate areas at Tumtum: Craiglandia (private property, access granted); The Tumtum Tombstone, private property leased by Inland Northwest Climbing Outfitters (access permitted with signed liability waiver and you must call or email before you visit); Department of Natural Resources (DNR) public property with world class bouldering, sport, and trad climbs.

 Post Falls (Q'Emiln Park): 80+ sport routes and a few trad climbs on granite /17 miles from the East end of town / Very kid-friendly/ best 5.10 and below sport climbing. Death Fall Wall has rainy day climbs. Beware the Pernicious Grade Creep! With grades as soft as a baby's bum, you're sure to climb harder in no time!

The book 'Inland Northwest Rock Climbs' by Marty Bland describes the good hard sport climbing just a little further north in Marcus, Metaline Falls, and China Bend. Vantage (Frenchman Coulee) is only a 2-2.5 hour drive on I-90 and offers something like seven hundred routes.

For bouldering, 'Spokane Bouldering: A Comprehensive Guide to the Spokane River Valley' includes over 700 boulder problems in the Spokane area covering Mclellan, Tum Tum, Minnehaha, Rocks of Sharon, Post Falls and Banks Lake.