East Coast Road Trip

I don't know if many of you are Gripped readers. If you are, you may have come across an article in the most recent edition. The section was entiled "East Coast Road Trip". I thought it may touch on our climbing scene, but it did not. I have noticed that this is not uncommon for Newfoundland to be left out of article pertaining to the "East Coast". I felt I should reply so I sent the following letter.

Letter to Gripped.

Gripped does a great job of highlighting the climbing scene in Canada and I have always found your articles well done and interesting. I was looking forward to reading “East Coast Road Trip” because, being a climber from Newfoundland, that article must have something about our climbing scene.
I almost instantly had my doubts when the first article about the East Coast was bouldering on the shores of Georgian Bay, Ontario, over 2000 kilometers west of St. John’s. That didn’t give me an “East Coast” feel at all.

“Go East Young Man” gave a nice vignette of climbing in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. It discussed their colorful climbing community and classic climbing areas. Unfortunately there was no mention of our climbing community, which is truly unique.

Several of our crags are perched on the edge of the North Atlantic. The sound of crashing ocean waves is always at your back, punctuated by the occasional whale surfacing for a breath of air. We have a great range of climbs from the moderates to stiff sport climbs. Over 200 routes spread over 7 crags all within 30 minutes of St. John’s. We have big wall climbing at Devils Bay with granite unfolding for over a 1000 feet. And that is just one of hundreds of cliffs that plunge into the ocean on our shores. They don’t call us the rock for nothing.

We have an ever growing climbing community with some of the friendliest people you could have the pleasure to meet. An interesting mix of Irish, English and French heritage developed into a wonderful culture that is different from anywhere else in Canada.

So, come on out on your next ‘road trip’ and find out what Newfoundland has to offer, you just might be surprised.

I have no idea if it will get any attention or not but I thought I would share it with all of you. At least someone might read it.