Throne of Kings (5.10b) is an eight-pitch climb near Lions Bay, between North Vancouver and Squamish. It has stunning views, fun climbing, and a long, steep approach that will keep the crowds away — for now.
The climbing started mellow with two short, easy pitches. Wonderful warmup.
Pitch three is where the fun begins with a very athletic 5.9. There are big jugs, but you’re hauling yourself up over an overhang. I am a pretty solid 5.9 leader and found it right on the edge of my abilities to onsite. It got my adrenaline going and was super fun.
Pitch four was short, only four bolts.
Then it was my turn on pitch five, a 5.8. It was one of the more enjoyable pitches of rock climbing I’ve experienced in a while. The bolts were a bit spaced out, so you had to think about what you were doing. But I felt like I was climbing a fun, wandering jungle gym.
Then came the crux pitch, a 5.10b. Most of it was pretty easy, similar to the 5.8 or 5.9 that came before it. But there was one very crimpy move that was quite hard.
Lee got it on lead, so good for her. I, for the life of me, could not haul myself up there after several tries. I was weighed down with our shared backpack containing our shoes, water and snacks, so that did not help.
The obvious line straight up has OK crimps but no feet. I considered exploring to the left like Lee had, but I was feeling a bit shy about my struggles as another party was coming in hot behind me. We figured out how to give me a little boost to get me the two inches I needed to move on. And move on we did!
I would caution that a leader cannot pull their way through the crux by hauling on a quick draw. Someone in your party has to actually lead the thing. I am not normally shut down by a 10b on top rope, so I do wonder if this one move was pretty stiff for the grade. Maybe the overall grade was rounded down to make up for the easier climbing around it.
The group behind us couldn’t get one of their climbers through the crux, so they ended up rappelling down from there. Knowing some rope rescue or aid climbing tricks might help if one of your party suspects they will struggle at the crux.
The other interesting thing to note is that the last bolt on the crux pitch is at the same height as the anchor. This can create some safety problems with your top belay if you don’t manage it properly. If you’re using an ATC, clipping this last bolt with a standard quick draw may rotate your belay device enough to stop it from auto-locking.
You can likely fix this by using an extended alpine draw. If you skip the bolt entirely, there is a chance that your second could have a big fall as they traverse over to the anchor … perhaps making it hard for them to get back on the climb under their own power. But these are just my thoughts. Climbing is dangerous. Hire guides to learn new things.
The last two pitches were a great cool down. Pitch seven was a bit slabby, which is not my favourite but ok, fine. Pitch eight was almost a walk with one bouldery move on it.
There is an amazing spot to have lunch at the top. We were joined by some giant mountain ravens who were eyeing up our gummy bears and chips.
Getting back down
And then the “scramble” down! What to make of this? As a mountaineer who has lately taken up climbing, this scramble does not rise to the level of fourth class for me. It’s a hike, steep for sure, but a hike. It reminded me of the Climb (Evac Route) under the Sea to Sky Gondola.
However, I think if you’re a climber who is used to walking from car to crag on a nice gravel path, this scramble down might be harder for you than the climb. Bring real shoes. And you can always rappel if you don’t like how the scramble is going…
Parking
The parking is along the side of the highway right after the Logger’s Creek bridge. (Before the bridge area has no parking signs, and you will get towed there!) Maybe three cars fit in total. AWD or four-wheel drive may help, as you’re in a ditch.
Time
It took us about an hour to hike to the base of the climb, as it was pretty much straight up. And an hour to scramble down to the base of the climb from the top. Then it took another hour to do the reverse hike down. We spent four hours climbing, with about 45 minutes of that waiting for the party ahead of us. And we had a nice lunch break.
So we were car-to-car in about seven and a half hours. This was by no means a speed run, but the party ahead of us and behind us were more or less going at a similar speed. So, the data suggest this is an all-day outing for the average climber.
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