A stunning, full-colour climbing guide that focuses on 65 of Canada’s best rock climbs.

With over 50 years of combined climbing experience between them, authors Brandon Pullan and David Chaundy-Smart have spent countless hours debating and reviewing Canadian climbs to settle on the routes chosen for this book. In order to make the list, the route:

• is popular enough to be well-travelled, have fixed protection and established descents
• is climbable by the average weekend warrior (no harder than 5.11a)
• must be climbable in a day from your campsite or car
• has played a role in the history of Canadian climbing
• does not require crampons or ice axes

Divided into two sections — Western Canada (British Columbia, Alberta and Yukon) and Eastern Canada (Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Newfoundland–Labrador) — Northern Stone profiles an equal number of routes in both western and eastern Canada (something no climbing guide has ever done).

Along with maps and a healthy selection of photos showing the route, each climb includes:

• information on local accommodation, food, climbing gyms and alternative climbs
• access notes, approach info, grade, length and pitch-by-pitch descriptions

Brandon Pullan was born and raised in Ontario, and graduated from Lakehead University. He started writing for publications in the late ’90s and is now editor-in-chief of Gripped, Canada’s climbing magazine. He has over 100 published articles in print, and countless contributions by him can also be found online. His alpine pursuits have introduced him to dozens of legendary climbers and mentors, motivating him to compile and archive collections of stories from this older generation of mountaineering greats. Brandon is the author of The Bold and Cold: A History of 25 Classic Climbs in the Canadian Rockies (RMB, 2016) and co-author of Northern Stone: Canada’s Best Rock Climbs (RMB, 2018). He lives in Canmore, Alberta.

Brandon Pullan's profile page

David Smart has been climbing since 1975 throughout North America and Europe. He has completed hundreds of new routes in eastern Canada and is the founder of Gripped, Canada’s Climbing Magazine, Canadian Running magazine, Canadian Cycling Magazine and Triathlon Magazine Canada. He is also the author of five climbing guidebooks; a memoir entitled A Youth Wasted Climbing, short-listed by the Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival in 2015; Paul Preuss: Life and Death at the Birth of Free-Climbing, short-listed for awards by both the Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival and The Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature (UK); Emilio Comici: Angel of the Dolomites; and he is the co-author with Brandon Pullan of Northern Stone: Canada’s Best Rock Climbs. He is the editorial director of Gripped Publishing and is still an active new-router in northern Ontario. He lives in Toronto, Ontario.

David Smart's profile page