Gripped – August 2019

with only a few cars, surrounded by trees,

and seeing little evidence that boulders

are anywhere nearby. Then, you walk for

about one minute and all of a sudden, in

front of your feet, a massive spread of boul-

ders reveals itself. The shear immensity of

the scene causes your jaw to drop. As you

walk down the trail, passing boulders at

every turn, you look closer and realize that

the rock and lines are incredible. After a

10 -minute walk, you’ve seen enough lines

to keep you busy for years, and yet have

only seen a tiny fraction of the bouldering

in The Fields. After a full day of pulling

down on classic after classic, you return to

the parking/camping area, and take a look

around at the lack of people, free camping,

and relaxed vibe and think, “Damn, that

Andy guy was right.” Alright, maybe that’s

not the exact wording, but many people

can’t believe that such a huge, world-class

bouldering destination can have free camp-

ing, be so quiet, and still be so unknown.

Time after time, we see people coming

to The Fields to escape what places like

Squamish and Leavenworth have become,

and rarely are they disappointed. Slowly

but surely, The Boulderfields is gaining the

notoriety it deserves, and that is the result

of a lot of work over the last decade.

Since the last area profile in Gripped in

2012 , and the release of my small boulder-

ing guide for The Fields in that same year,

much has changed. In 2013 , local develop-

ers decided to showcase The Boulderfields

and its little-known gems of problems with

the inaugural Rock the Blocs Boulderfest.

Little did we know, but it would become

an annual gathering that would draw top

SPOTLIGHT ON

The Boulderfields

Location: roughly 15 to 20 km

(30 minutes) south of Kelowna

Season: April to November

Rock: Monashee gneiss

Style: Steep, and powerful

with highly featured rock.

Think gym style climbing.

Number of Problems:

roughly 1,600 developed lines

with much more potential

Grades: established lines

range V0 to V13/14 with hard

projects remaining

Logistics: camping, parking,

and climbing are free in

The Fields. There is a pit

toilet, but no running water.

Kelowna is a large city with

all necessary amenities.

Guidebook: Okanagan

Bouldering by Andy White

Right: Jay Duris

on Nerf Roof V12

Opposite: Loic Markley

on that hard

Stinger Left V8

feature

Pho

to^

Jes

s^ Z

ott

o