How to get there

Just outside of Vernon this crag is easily accessed by car. The aberdeen columns trail head is about 18km up the Goat Creek FSR. You can park on the left hand side of the road and enter the trail on the right. It is marked by a sign.

Rock Type

One of the most striking features of this area is the rock type. It is arranged in 25m tall polygonal pillars that seem to rise out of the surrounding landscape. The rock found here is basalt rock. It is formed by the rapid cooling of balsaltic lava that comes from interior of the earth’s crust. The thick flowing lava is cooled quicky most likely cooled by a lake that covered the area. The water cools the outside but the inside stays hot much longer. Eventually the bottom and top cool and begin to create tension. As the center cools the rock splits to relieve the tension built up by uneven cooling. Though once under a lake that has long since dried up, a geological collapes has brought these columns to the surface. Although the basalt coumns are dark in colour they are unique in that they are almost bright yellow, green, and orange due to the lichen that grows on them.

The toxic yellow/green lichen that grows here is a species of Acarospora chlorophana. Close by you can find orange Caloplaca lichen. These desert lichen live in a symbiotic relationship between microscopic algal cells and fungal filaments. As one provides stability in exchange for absorbtion of morning dew.

What gear to bring

To climb you will need to bring trad gear. Most of the routes have had anchors bolted but if your planning on top roping you will need to bring webbing or extra cord to build an extended anchor. For your trad rack it is good to bring at least 1 1/2 racks with cams #.4 to 3. Cams work wonderfully in the mostly parallel vertical cracks. The routes are not very long but my require doubles of the more common sizes. Also it is good to note that there are some great offwidth here and climbs that take more of the larger sizes so bring some doubles. You shouldn’t need any larger than a #4 cam.

This crag recieves sun for most of the day so don’t forget sunscreen. It can also get quite buggy with black flies and mosquitos around June so pack bug repellent as well.

The Crag

The aberdeen columns features over 140 routes that range from 5.9 to 12b. The wall stands at about 12m to 25m. For a breakdown of the walls and grades of each climb check them out.

Camping

While there isn’t an official camp site here. There is usually plenty of space in the parking lot across from the climbing area to set up for the night and have a fire (if there are no fire bans).