Pere Marquette State Park Climbing

Protect Pere Marquette Climbing Area

This climbing area is a unique resource in Illinois—help keep it that way. Your actions directly impact the quality, safety, and longevity of the routes.

Outdoor climbing is constantly changing. Expect natural conditions, including occasional dirt on holds. Climb with care and use good judgment.

Area Ethics

• Use designated trails to minimize erosion and protect the surrounding landscape.
• Do not use wire brushes on limestone. They damage the rock and accelerate polishing. Clean holds only with nylon or natural bristle brushes.
• Practice Leave No Trace—pack out all trash and minimize your impact.
• Never top rope from trees. This is unsafe and can dislodge rock onto others below.

Maintained by the Illinois Climbers Association—please respect the area and help preserve access for the future.

Founded in 2002. The Illinois Climbers Association is a charitable organization representing the climbers of Illinois. We are dedicated to preserving climbing and bouldering access in Illinois through education, conservation, and cooperation.

Mission

The Illinois Climbers Association is a 501(c)3 charitable organization created to:

1. Promote and support conservation and preservation of both rock climbing and bouldering areas, and their respective natural resources in Illinois
2. Encourage optimal recreational use of Illinois outdoor climbing resources through land stewardship education and by facilitating cooperation between climbers, private land owners, and public land managers
3. Encourage and promote the development of policies and practices that will preserve climbing and bouldering areas in Illinois

 
The ICA was instrumental in acquiring access to the climbing at PERE MARQUETTE. If you have any questions, comments or concerns feel free to contact them.

**PLEASE DONATE**
Click HERE to donate towards the Illinois Climber Association's bolting cause.

This is the first time the Illinois Department of Natural Resources has reached out to the Illinois Climbers Association to develop a climbing area in one of it's state parks. Pere Marquette State Park is also the first Midwestern crag to be solely equipped with titanium fixed safety anchors. British-based Titan Climbing company's titanium "Eterna" bolts have been chosen for this project for longevity and high quality.

Come celebrate the ICA's huge achievement with the IDNR and enjoy a day of great limestone climbing!

Pere Marquette State Park has a nice campground located about 4 miles down the road right next to the visitors center. The park has some nice RV camping spots with electricity and a nice shower house, in addition, there is a primitive tent area located adjacent and separated from the RV area to help create separation. For more information and to reserve, Click Here The park also has a 1930's style CCC built lodge with nice accomodations as well. For more information Click Here

A huge Kudos needs to be made to the volunteers who have donated so much to this project.

-The Friends of Pere Marquette! They graciously donated $5,000 for the purchase of high quality Titanium bolts. Without them, this project would have never happened.

Pere Marquette climbing development is an important project for the state of Illinois. Due to its importance, the Illinois Climbers Association decided to use the best quality materials to bolt with. Since Titan Climbing is the only certified Titanium manufacturer, they were the clear choice. The lasting effect of Titanium will only been seen over time, and the hope is for the bolts to last generations.

A quick excerpt from Titan Climbing about the power of Titanium:

(Angele Sjong, PhD was commissioned to carry out an accelerated corrosion test using one of our titanium bolts and a 316 stainless steel hanger (the test was an ASTM G36 boiling magnesium chloride test). The stainless steel hanger cracked in less than 4 ½ hours, whilst the titanium bolt was still going strong after the full 28 days of the test’s duration. In fact Sjong concluded that the titanium bolt had remained completely unaffected. Sjong added “There is an enormous difference between these two materials. You cannot even compare the corrosion resistance of titanium and steel”)