Southern Ontario Ice

Please feel free to reach out with any questions or observations from the field. (AKolos AT hotmail dot com). I’m happy to share them in the interests of growing the community and encouraging folks to make the effort to enjoy winter in Ontario! The following personal and friends’ notes, accounts and observations are from across Southern Ontario, or from their travels further abroad. Please remember, however: climbing is dangerous; ice/mixed climbing is more complex than summer rock climbing; conditions can deteriorate quickly; don’t blindly follow/trust others; make your own assessments! You, and you alone, are responsible for your decisions.

Happy and Safe Climbing - Andriy

OAC Membership

The Ontario Alliance of Climbers is focused on building a community of mutual respect between climbers, landowners, conservation authorities, and other property managers. They’re committed to fostering strategic relationships to educate, mediate, and negotiate the various needs of all parties. They’ve launched an annual membership that costs less than a cup of coffee a month. Consider supporting them here as a show of support, so they continue working with all landowners in addressing concerns, and maintaining/expanding the number of climbing possibilities we have access to in Southern Ontario. Thanks!

Updates from Bancroft re: Eagle’s Nest Access

I am assured by the OAC, that progress is being made in exploring a novel approach to securing access to the ice climbs. It does require collaborating with local landowners, so it’s important the newly erected No Trespassing Signs be respected for now.

Guidebooks still available

Climb On Equipment and Verticall Store both have stock. But for how long???

AAC’s Freeze-Thaw is Worth a Look

Which routes in Southern Ontario are at greatest risk?

Feb 02 - Diamond Lake (Pavlina)

We climbed a lot of ice this weekend. Conditions at DL were good. Lots of folks out on Saturday, but we were the only ones there on Sunday. I’ve attached a few shots for your site.

Feb 01 - McCauley Lake (Derek)

Hope you've had a chance to get out lots so far this winter. I was up at McCauley for the first time on Saturday, Feb 1, and figured I'd pass along some photos and a condition report. 

The ski across the lake was easy along snowmobile tracks. There was deep snow in the woods but an ACC event the previous weekend helped get a trail started. It's good and packed in now, until the next dumping of snow! The beaver pond crossings were fine, until the final pond where we found very wet deep slush! 

We started the day with Blue Esther. We ran a couple TR laps on it until the cold and shade pushed us back down to the lake. Such a beautiful spot! Not much else was in. The upper flow of what I assume was The Wailing looked good, but it wasn't clear from the lake how easy it'd be to get to - it looked thin! 

Blue Max had a body and arms length yet to go before touching down. 

Adopt-a-Drip looked excellent, but the 20*C drop in temperature from the previous day had us humming and hawing. Just as our stoke was starting to get the better of our senses, the icicle above gave a resounding POP. The climbing gods had spoken. We listened! 

Too cold to return to the shade, we finished the day on some fun low angle slabs in the fading sun on the East side of the pond. Overall a great, frosty day out!

Feb 01 - Mill Lake (annon)

Conditions at Mill Lake are ok, but keep an eye out for the winds - there’s nowhere to hide from westerly winds.

Ice-Olation - ice appears to lead all the way to the top. A stick clip was handy to protect the delicate start.

Ice-Oteryx (aka The Fang) as can be seen in the photo, is not touching down.

Our trip was not without surprise however. While we walked in from hwy 69, another party walked in via the private property, which offers a convenient driveway. Owners monitor cameras; OPP was called to investigate, and shortened everyone’s day.

Jan 27-28 - Algoma (Danylo)

Also stopped in Algoma for a couple of days of wandering about. I wanted to drive up Highway 129 for some exploring, but Highway 129 had been closed down because of high winds and blowing snow.

I did get a look at the ice climbs at Intersection Rock though. The ice climbs are in OK shape, although not as fat as they usually are. Sorry, no photos (forgot to charge the camera).

Intersection Rock

Right to left:

Cunning Stunt – not in well – the upper, steep section was thin. The easier line to its right was rotten (not in)

70s Bush, WI2, 35m – in, good ice

The Sunday After-Church Crocheting and Knitting Club, WI3, 30 m – in

One Good Screw WI3-4, 36 m – the steeper right side was in; the easier left – not quite

Sometimes She Cries WI4, 20 m – thin

Mixed Emotion, WI4+, 20 m – no

I’m Afraid of Americans, M7, 20 m – less ice than normal

Gimme Three Steps – not in

Short, but Good – not in

Big Boy Panties WI3-, 12 m – in, fat

Over the Bulge and into the Crack, WI3, M4+, 12 m – thin 

Highway 546 (Little White River Road)

The Little White River is only frozen in some places. The ice climbs looked thin at first, but got better as you drove further along north-east.

Bomsicle 16 – not in

Constance Lake – top half of Constance Setbacks (aka Waiting for Godot) looked in, although not fat; couldn’t see the bottom from the road. No hanging icicles/daggers.

Revelation Crag – Ukrainian Tears didn’t look to be in

Trapper’s Cliff – nothing

Endikai Riverside – only the ramp of Secret Lasagna appeared in, but not fat

Pastry Crag – looked fat from the road

Icing on the Cake, WI 2 to WI4-, 22 m - fat, lots of ice

Jan 26 - Marble Canyon, Lillooet BC (Brent)

Our office in Port Coquitlam is growing and some folks needed some training, so I ended up out that way for 5 days of beta spraying hydrographic stuff.

But more importantly, a friend I work with out there, and his partner, were looking to spend a day swinging some tools. So we packed our stuff and headed north to Lillooet. (It always pays off bringing your ice climbing kit!) Canada’s Best Value Inn, which you can’t miss in town, was good enough to crash in. It’s dog friendly too. We planned on a chill day and wanted to start the day off right, so we opted for Abundance Artisan Bakery, which opened at 0800. It’s highly recommended. With some caffeine and a few excellent baked goods procured, we headed to Marble Canyon.

Marble is basically roadside (10 min approach, faster if you’re anti-social). I expected it to be rammed, but there was only 1 other party there setting up ropes on Deeping wall. I got a rope up to the 25m mark of Icy BC, which was fun and a bit more engaging than it looked. After we all got a few laps, I finished the pitch, and we dropped a rope on the lovely Deeping wall. Condition photos speak for themselves.

On another note, I got to test out Howey picks specially drilled to a Grivel pattern - it’s much different than my stock picks. I can’t wait to climb on them some more!

Jan 26 - Munising, Michigan (Danylo)

Stopped in Munising on the drive back home for half a day. It was my first time there. I didn’t make the longer walk down to the bigger climbs rising straight out of Lake Superior; just walked into the closer, shorter climbs above the road where I figured it would be easier to find friendly climbers willing to let a stranger run a lap on their rope. Surprisingly few people there though. Got to climb Dryer Hose and at the Curtains (thanks Brandon and Mark from Chicago). While these climbs may be shorter than the big climbs down the coast, they were all vertical enough and tall enough to provide a good pump.

Sorry – no photos.

Jan 24 - Technique Practice on the Irvine and Grand River

Ice is in good shape. Perhaps a bit fresh and lean, bit coming along nicely. It was a good reminder to practice technique in a safe setting, and to practice maintaining said technique while getting increasingly worked.

Jan 20-23 - Hyalite Canyon, Montana (Danylo)

Drove out to Bozeman to join Marv and Laurie from Michigan (thanks again for the invite). Car odometer of my Toyota Matrix hit 500,000 km on the drive (second engine though; it's held together by duck tape, zip ties and rust). Very cold temperatures (-25C) and very high winds (75 mph) somewhat limited climbing, but all the ice we climbed was in good shape, albeit a stepped out and hooked out pegboard. Lots of climbers from all over (NZ, Australia, Vancouver, Alaska, Michigan, Seattle) in addition to locals.

Climbs are: Genesis 1, Fat Chance, Thin Chance, Lower Greensleeves, Genesis 2.

Jan 18 - Timbertrail

A week of cold temperatures improved the quantity and quality of ice. Thanks for the end-of-day-made-it-back-to-the-car group photo Monika!

Big Time - was fine, offering interesting options on the left, right and up the centre. The far right side would benefit from a pruning of the quickly growing dogwood bush.

Someday - bone dry.

Broken Arrow - has formed with a medium-sized dagger up top, which makes for a tricky exit through.

Unknown Legend - pretty dry.

Loose Change - lean, but quicky growing. The top out to the trees looks spicy.

Slip Away / Natural Beauty - thin thin thin.

Hangin on a Limb - features a thin curtain down low and wet forgiving ice the rest of the way. Fun.

Left of Hangin on a Limb - two new mixed routes, previously unreported:

Left (Matt’s project still a work in progress)

Right (The Best) - after stick clipping a high first bolt, follow the bolts to the top. The ice usually spills over the lip and leads to the trees. The ice is currently still forming…

Changing Highways - fat and mellow.

Also unreported from last year: Fire and Ice a drytool route 250 m south (climbers right of the main area), left of the big roof.

Will Tam had his camera on hand to capture some great memories from the day - THANKS!

Jan 17 - Ham Ice (Brent)

Jan 11/12 - Diamond Lake

Multiple parties at Diamond Lake today looking for good early season conditions. Guardian Angel was climbable - parties brought long anchor materials to set up top ropes. Ice appeared dried out a bit, but lots of early season ice left and right… Top out looked tricky.

A good reminder that Smith Family Robinson is trickier than it looks when snow-covered. And the bolted mixed route left of it, Too Gorilla, pumpier than it looks. Both are worthy!

Malachite Brochade et al looked to have about 3 distinct climbable lines.

Where Egos Dare - Has a good bump on the right to start, but an awkward traverse guards the thin/wet ice that flows beautifully up to the top. Chris Ferguson (who came from out west for a quick trip) did great to dig out placements for gear, and reach the ice. Be mindful of whether water is flowing on top, or underneath the ice.

Between Egos and Whimps (BEW) looks to have a thin patch up high before reaching the security of the bolt.

Kermit’s Finger is coming along, but loos to have a thin and scrappy exit to the trees.

Tammy Baker’s Face was thin but enjoyable with 3 independent lines.

The mixed wall to the right was enjoyable with Tooth Floss and Ski Bums and Energizer Bunnies (SBEM) getting some action.

I’m re-sharing Peter’s topo photos he created for the SOIceFest 2.

Jan 12 - Tiffany Falls (Danylo)

Well-attended ACC-Toronto Trip to Tiffany Falls today. Soft, heoric ice. Solid in the middle and right side; heavy water flow behind the ice on the left side with a couple of big, open holes that grew bigger as the day progressed. Over 30 ACC participants got their first swings of the season today. Great atmosphere!

Jan 11 - Timber Trail (Mark)

Big Time was a beautiful mass of mushroom and cauliflower, however it was very fragile, with an inch-thick crust of hard ice on powder, and a second thin layer on slush. We backed off after digging a few metres of trench. 

Changing Highways had the same two layers, which made it a much more challenging lead than usual. 

Broken Arrow would have needed more ice on the dagger for any of us to attempt a lead.

Jan 11 - Upper Middle Falls (Danylo)

Thin and a bit rotten, but climbable with care and patience.

Jan 7 - Ham Ice (Brent)

Dec 27 to Jan 5 - Quebec Glace Trip Report (Brent)

After checking forecasts up to Christmas day to decide between Tennessee, Wyoming, ADKs, Thunder Bay, Quebec, we opted for the least worst forecast: Quebec. There was a big warm up forecast, we hadn't been and it's been on the list for a while. Packed up boxing day, quick stop chez Kolos to borrow a guide (thanks Andriy!) and we ended the day in Trois Riviere after a really good meal at an African restaurant called La Calebasse! En route, we discovered that Danylo, Alec, Laura, Mark, and Cynthia were all eastbound to tour around la Belle Province. 

Good resources:

Verticall has the c. 2004 ice guide for the area by Lapiere. The guide is a bit tough to navigate, especially as an anglophone, and the organization leaves something to be desired, but it has SO MANY ROUTES! It also has some coordinates of routes. I've added coordinates below as well for routes without.

Online updates for the guide are available with new routes - there's lots!  here: https://www.escaladequebec.com/topos-du-quebec/

The Facebook group called "Escalade de glace au Québec (conditions)" is active and very valuable for info on conditions! 

Mountainproj has some good info, as well. We used all 4 sources to make decisions. 

FQME. The federation is strong in QC and makes strides with access over there. I joined.

Day 1 (Dec 27)

Debated looking at Topaz but needed a river crossing which likely wouldn't be frozen enough to be safe to cross. Grand Piles was on the way so we scoped it out. Looked 'in' enough. We parked off the road below the climbs which we read had led others to get ticketed but we didn't get one. Climbed Jaunas and Amalgam. It was more efficient to solo the first 100' or so of rolling ice to the steeper end of Jaunas. A fine plan, until Laura's crampon fell off. We each got a screw in and got the crampon back on. Check your bails! 

Jaunas was in good shape, and Amalgam had a nice body length or two of narrow, interesting ice. The rest of the crew joined and we climbed beside Mark and Cyntia on Amalgam and came down together. 

We ended up driving to St Raymond and found a room in the St Alexis hotel, which was pretty nice and was having a jolly evening of karaoke! 

Grand Piles: 46°42'10.4"N 72°44'12.4"W

Topaz: 47°08'52.6"N 72°53'57.3"W

Day 2 (Dec 28)

Wanted to try Small is Beautiful, but access issues here and to Mer du Glace hadn't been resolved (both here: 47°04'01.7"N 71°51'39.3"W). 

Checked out Le Mur du Bras du Nord, which is on pg 238, parking here: 47°00'27.9"N 71°50'35.9"W. Again, a river crossing that wasn't sane. 

Did a quick loop through Jacque Cartier Park. Climbs in here require some effort, strong legs, a sled, and likely an overnight unless you're drinking mutant juice daily. Though the area looks amazing for ice, we moved on. 

We ended up at Chute Jean Larose, just south of Mont St Anne. Parking here: 47°04'35.6"N 70°53'56.4"W. 

Access is easy (stairs) and the route is pretty neat! We did about 3 pitches with some walking between the steeper bits. Gear up at the car and walk down the stairs with your kit so you don't have to recover your bags at the bottom, and reclimb the stairs, like I did. Ended the day in Auberge des Peupliers in La Malbaie. fairly cheap, if a bit rustic. Room 40 is larger!

Day 3 (Dec 29)

Haute Gorge de La Riviere Malbaie was on the cards! Gone are the days of the brutal 20km slog in! Park at the Draveur Visitors Centre, here: 47°53'30.1"N 70°28'34.3"W. Buy a park pass before you go, here: https://www.sepaq.com/fr/reservation/achat/acces-quotidien Go to the Visitor Centre basement, sign a registration/waiver and put your intended route on the white board with the date! 

Temps were due to warm up and rain starting at 6pm so we got an early start. Up at 0450h, and slowly got some food in us, filled flasks full of soup and hot chocolate, etc. We were aiming for Gandalf, which has 2 x 40m pitches separated by a snow slog, grade 4 beside the trail. It's a 5.4km walk in on the road, which is mostly flat, groomed, and has the most amazing views. I stared at La Pomme and its neighbors on the way in. What a beautiful place!!! Gandalf is here: 47°56'09.6"N 70°27'18.3"W

As we racked up, Cynthia and Mark showed up. I led up the straightforward P1. Laura started up P2 after the streambed, and made a belay on the right as the ice was making weird noises (we figured it was settling due to huge temperature swing). I finished this up. We only had a 70m rope, so made a thread midway on the second pitch to get down, which gave a good view of Mark chugging up the lovely ice. 

We met the crew at Belles and Bums in Malbaie for food and bevvies! By the time we got to dinner, it was raining. The forecast for the next day was for Ark building, so we figured it would be a lazy driving day.

Day 4 (Dec 30)

It rained a lot overnight. We drove along the coast and took the ferry to Tadoussac, then drove along the Saint Marguerite on rte 172 to Chicoutimi, where we had an Airbnb (Hotel Condo Berndt Chicoutimi) which was really nice, and sleeps up to 4. 

Notes here in order of my pins, starting from Tadoussac, route name, grade, page in book, and coords:

Iris 4-4+, pg 443: 48°18'59.0"N 69°59'06.2"W 

La Whittom 5, pg 438: 48°21'13.0"N 70°07'17.0"W - 200m long!!!

Le Petit Prince 4, pg 438: 48°22'44.0"N 70°11'34.0"W

Mirage d'Hiver 4-4+, pg 437: 48°23'13.2"N 70°13'54.0"W

Sweet Madame Blues 4, pg 436: 48°23'27.0"N 70°15'00.0"W

Adventures du piolet perdu 3, pg 434: 48°25'33.0"N 70°26'06.0"W

Fevriere en racquets 3, pg 434: parking is here. 48°25'51.1"N 70°29'31.3"W

Saint Rose du Nord is also along this stretch south of the road, with a few cliffs in the neighborhood and on the sea!

Day 5 (Dec 31)

We weren't enthusiastic about conditions given the rain and warm temps (4-7C). We drove to Val-Jalbert, which may not be open to climbing? We didn't see it, as the gate was closed Dec 31 & Jan 1, but it's here: 48°25'58.0"N 72°10'06.2"W

We stopped in Saint Gedeon at the Fromagerie Médard. Recommended. They were so kind, had amazing food, cheese, and a great bakery. 

We looked at the ice in Chicoutimi. Cap Saint Francois, pg 419 is located here: 48°26'10.0"N 71°03'06.0"W. Walk down the path at the gate and you come to a FQME sign and the descent. We looked at it through binoculars from across the river at the Marina, it wasn't in good enough condition for us to be enticed. So we continued on to the vallée de la riverière St Marguerite. 

We spotted ...Piolet Perdu from the road, which looked ok and not far, so we walked up to that. When we got up there we saw that it was running with water so bad that we didn't want to go up. 

Then we walked into Sweet Madame Blues. This was also running with some water, which I convinced myself would be "fine" and climbed anyway. I chose the easier, stupider line on the right, got drenched by the dripping daggers, put in a v thread, and bailed 15m below the top. Fun, tho. Like, type 2 fun. It's an easy approach, though! and a beautiful spot.

We celebrated the outgoing year at an Irish pub down the street. Nice spot, nice people, beer was refreshing and plentiful.

Day 6 (Jan 1)

Another foggy, warm morning with a casual start. We again drove around a bit, stopping at Mirage d'Hiver, where Cynthia and Mark were parked along with several other cars. Not wanting to crash the party, we continued further along the 172 to Iris. The walk up is easy on a logging road, then a quick shot through the woods (walk up further and don't go up the gully early) then up some talus. Iris was another water torture route. Strong wind was blowing the drips from the right hanging ice over the left dry ice. It's a stupendous looking pitch, though! 

I walked right around the corner, past a line that I missed the bolts on (which wasn't in anyway - left of what we climbed in the pic) to a 15m dry chunk of ice. We did a couple laps on this (not in the book, seems unlikely that it hasn't been climbed but could continue up the corner on some moderate mixed terrain). 

Day 7 (Jan 2)

Drove out of Chicoutimi, past Petite Saugenay and Sangsuse, which looked to be in, towards Mont Edouard where we skied for the day-pretty fun! 

Back to the Auberge in La Malbaie - same as previous! Back to Belles and Bums, but this time we were entertained by one of Danylo’s classic stories: about a certain “individual” who borrows other people's cars to go for a day of soloing ice, while in another province, only to lose the car keys! ...a good French phrase to learn: “Mes clés sont tombées dans la neige”.

Day 8 (Jan 3)

Despite a significant temperature drop after the warm and a new layer of snow producing funky conditions and forecasted high winds, we headed back to the Haute Gorge to give Triolet a shot. Last chance to dance! 

Up at 0450 again, we left the car to walk towards Triolet at 0725 (after some tool sharpening and almost calling it at the car due to the ferocious freezing wind that was nuking down the valley at around 40km/h). We banked on the aspect of the route sheltering us a bit and figured we should at least walk in before making a decision to bail. We turned off the main trail at 0805h and got the base of the route high up the hillside at 0922h. Book time is 2h, but the previous party was 80 mins. Either snow conditions were better for them (likely) and/or they were much fitter (also likely). The calm aspect we banked on panned out, which was good! But it was cold and cloudy, my thermometer read -12C at the base. Cold for us, anyway!

Laura started up the casual looking P1 of Triolet at 1011h. She found snow and onion skin on rock with water running beneath. Not great. She got in a screw and came down letting me take a shot. After 65m of thoughtful climbing, I got to the alcove where the P2 pillar started. It was slow going! The near vertical pillar on P2 was straightforward, but led to more crap snow/ice/shell over rock. I put in a belay at the base of the next pillar at around 65m or so. Laura got to the P2 belay just after 1400h and wearing all of her spare warm clothing (puffy pants and jacket), and we decided the smart course of action was to bail. The next pitch, I think, is the real money of the route, with a very long, sustained section of beautiful looking ice. So it goes. A couple of threads later we were back at the packs and heading downhill just after 1600h. We were back at the visitors centre at 1710h  (looked like no other groups were out climbing in the gorge that day according to the board) and drove back to Malbaie grabbing some pizza and Poutine (yes, the curds were squeaky). 

I have a few thoughts on the day. We didn't get to the top but got some important reminders.

• Don't bail at the car. It's always worth getting eyes on the route before making a decision, no matter how cold/miserable it feels.

• Give yourself more time than you think! Conditions were unknown as no one had been up since the big melt. We didn't know we'd run into crap snow and somewhat spooky climbing. We're also pretty cautious climbers. A bigger time buffer would have helped us a lot. It's a long route. Given the conditions, we figured 3 extra hours may have given us a better shot.

• Respect the conditions. The ice/snow combo was unpleasant and slow going. We heard later that another climber in the area fell and hurt themselves that day. We don't know if it was due to the funky ice conditions but it could have been.

  Anyhow, it was a fun adventure in a stunning setting. Next time we'll hopefully get past the salad to the main dish!

Day 9 (Jan 4)

We left La Malbaie and drove along the coast to Baie St Paul. We'd heard good things about Magic Spot so were aiming to stop there for a pitch or two before driving on to Montreal. We passed MontMorency Falls on the way, we saw some other parties up there, so changed our plans and rambled up a couple easy pitches of thin ice. The melt obviously chewed away at the ice here, too, and we were climbing some fresh stuff between patches of water and well bonded bulges. We headed home the next day! Overall, what a great area to explore, and there’s much more to see! There are pockets of incredible ice climbing areas although there’s a bit of driving in between. There is a pile we didn't get close to and even more if river crossings had been safe and conditions fatter. We'll be back there!

Jan 5 - Elora

The river is open. Temps are finally dropping in the gorge and the rock is freezing, greatly increasing its hardness.

Dec 22, 2024 - Bancroft et al (Danylo)

The trees behind the strip mall in front of the Eagle's Nest cliff were festooned with lots of "No sitting or climbing on rocks" signs, in addition to the older No Trespassing signs behind the chiropractor's building.

To avoid private property, we actually hike up the Eagle’s Nest Lookout road and dropped into the Curtain from the top. We shortcutted part of the road by striking off along a goat path on the slopes below the lookout, but that involved some sketchy side-hilling on steep slopes. Better to hike all the way up to the lookout, then drop down towards the cliff.

On the way out, we descended down a long, gradual gully/ramp system that come down to the road south of the Eagle’s Nest cliff (south of the Laundromat). There’s a bit of a path there. It’s an interesting feature with rock slabs above the gully/ramp. I think it's the shorter way to go.

As you can imagine based on the thermometer reading that day, it was brutally cold in that cold nook. Absolutely no sun. The ice was thin, chandeliery, hard and brittle. We top-roped a couple of laps, then hightailed it out of there to do some exploring from the warmth of our car. A lot of effort for not much climbing.

The smaller lakes have frozen over, but the big ones likely need more time. Remember that a big dump of snow overlaying thin ice can slow down the freezing process, so keep an eye on the forecast!

Dec 19, 2024 - Papineau Roadside (Goran)

Enjoyed a day out with Doug at Papineau Roadside. Consolation Prize provided good season fun. It was thin, with no ice on the top outs.

Dec 15, 2024 - Watt Lake (Brent)

Season is underway - for the first time in recent memory, Danylo was NOT the first to check out conditions. Multiple parties chose to check out Watt Lake. Leads and TR action was aplenty. Conditions in general, however, are fairly dry. Upcoming variable temperatures and precipitation may change that in a hurry.

Quick reference, for viewing at one’s leisure

Nice photos Pete!!!

Worry not - ice is just around the corner!

Shoulder/transition season is welcomed by different people differently. No surprise there I guess. For some it’s an opportunity to address accumulated to-do’s that have been put off during send-tember. For others, it’s time to focus more on prehab, or a growing pain in an elbow or shoulder. For others, all is well, but they’re grumpy at having to wait for first swings and sticks of the season.

Sharing with you good food for thought from one of the most honest and objective climbers, sharing his struggles and doubts about re-gaining form. Yes, past form was hard won. And the greater the form, the more work it was to achieve. And that in and of itself is a reason to celebrate. But accepting where you are now, is paramount, to accepting the challenge that lies ahead. But you will!

We’re all capable of the hard work that’s required. And let that be the motivation!

Wishing you all a happy, restful and wholesome holidays - don’t be afraid to live in the present, to indulge, to love and be merry.

There’s nothing we can do about the weather today. Tomorrow, we get after it!

Ice Climbing Tips Video Series

I came across this timely series of informational videos, so we can now all climb like Will.

Start with your feet

Swinging them tools

Steep Ice

Drytooling - First steps

Advanced drytoolery

Placing Pro - when you’re most likely to fall

Bulges - where you’re most likely to fall

V-Threads

Sharpening your points