Banks Lake / Northrup Canyon  Photos:  Recent | Best | Popular Page Views:  6,942. Good page?    Administrators:  Peter Franzen, Kristine Hoffman, Tom Erickson Submitted By:  Lacey LaDuke on Oct 4, 2008 Make this area a Favorite What's New  Printer View Add Area  Add Photo  Add Comment  Add Event

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Description 

Hot in the summer, great in the spring and fall. It can be a bit windy at times. Generally the rocks are not crowded.
The rock is granite and a bit crumbly. Watch for loose holds and bring your tape as it can be hard on the hands!

Also for those of you with bee allergies bring your Epi-Pen the bees can be pretty thick and sometimes nest in the flakes on some of the routes. We especially noticed this at Roadside Rock and a bit in the sunny parts of Northrup Canyon.

Bring your bouldering pad there are countless problems for any level of climber. The problems are only limited by your own imagination.

There are numerous trad routes and several well protected sport routes. There aren't many opportunities to set up top ropes.

Camp at Jones Bay to be right by the boulders, or Steamboat Rock state park. Other nearby camping options include Sunbanks Resort and Osborn Bay. Free camping (in an area that does NOT allow campfires) can be found by going down the road ACROSS from the road into Osborn Bay.

There are also several seedy looking hotels/motels in and around Electric City (3 Miles away) and Grand Coulee (5 Miles)

Getting There 

From Spokane - Take highway 2 to Electric City (Just past the Grand Coulee Dam) and go about 3 miles further until you see the granite all over the place.

The Classics

Featured Route For Banks Lake / Northrup Canyon

Seam-iotics 5.9  WA : Banks Lake / Northrup Canyo... : Post Modern Wall

This two pitch route is a hidden gem of Banks lake with a little of everything including a long sustained finger crack, and an akwardly sized chimney. Pitch 1 5.8+ Climb the broken cracks and features up to the off body sized chimney then up through the chimney to the opening at the top. Belay bolts on the left side of the chimney. ~35-40MPitch 2 5.9 Climb the striking 60 foot long finger crack straight up past the bulge to the chains. Sustained 5.9 pitch with a short section of flaring offwidth...[more]   Browse More Classics in WA

Photos of Banks Lake / Northrup Canyon Slideshow

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Prime Cut (5.10a) on an island	Bassomatic (5.9) on a peninsula	Half Bassed (5.8pg) on a peninsula
Tent& Awning rock. After the Gold Rush (5.10b)	Roadside Rock viewed from the lake