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Vertical Ice Climbing in Ontario Canada, eh?


By Debbie Fowler
When the cold weather hits, there are some who hide indoors, shivering until spring arrives. But then there are the intrepid few who are busy sharpening their tools, pulling on their ice climbing boots and attaching their crampons, overjoyed at the thought of the challenging ice-filled adventures soon to be had. So let’s be honest – when it comes to a challenge, I’m always up for new thrills, and ice climbing can’t be beat!  

When I think of climbing a frozen waterfall on a cold crag, it’s just me, my harness, my crampons, and my ice tools gazing upwards at a mountain – or rather a river – of frozen water (and of course my heated gloves, heated socks and heated insoles – LOL!)  Yikes, my heart is beating!  I think to myself, can I do this? Because for me, it’s truly a solo adventure, where the challenge is me-against-myself. I hesitate, and then from below – as if he’s reading my mind – I hear Pete shout, “Shut up and climb!”
​

Ice climbing has to be the best winter sport ever in Ontario, and it’s close to home at that. Imagine me standing at the base of a wall of ice looming upwards, as high as two hundred feet! I take the first swing with my tool, and feel it settle solidly into the ice with a “thank goodness” THUNK! Now it’s time climb – I kick in my crampons hard, keeping my toes pointed upwards, and I feel the adrenaline hit me, pushing my body to the limit. I put all my heart into my climbs, and when I reach the top, I’m tired but satisfied – I did it!
Picture
Debbie Fowler at Tiffany Falls, Hamilton, Ontario. Photo Credit: Peter Zabrok
Bancroft, Ontario is the focal point of ice climbing, and where I first started at the Southern Ontario Ice Festival. Here in town, you’ll find famous climbs at Eagle’s Nest like Rollercoaster and, for us, the yet-to-be-conquered Dirty Harry. Bancroft offers consistently good ice conditions because it’s far enough north – you blokes in Tasmania will need to think about this – with beautiful hikes to some of the best natural groundwater icefalls like Bow Lake and Papineau Roadside. Bow Lake is home to some steep WI4-5 vertical ice – demanding, though I persevered. Papineau is short but steep, and a great place to learn and practise your technique. Sometimes our “alpine starts” at the crack of noon result in an extended nighttime ice session – a cold and crisp Canadian evening, with thousands of twinkling stars filling the sky, and bright moonlight to guide us back through the darkness.

​Diamond Lake, though, is the centrepiece - the hub of Bancroft ice climbing - and my favourite location due to the variety of climbs. Here we hike across the flat frozen lake with spectacular scenery to set up our ropes on a crag rising straight above, resplendent in the sunshine and sometimes almost even warm. This year I climbed Guardian Angel – a fun steep WI4 climb that had me well pumped by the top – the Guardian Angel herself must have been watching over me that day. And it was quite the surprise to run into Matt Westlake here, a fellow Common Climber – it’s a small world, eh? 
Picture
When you go climbing with Dr. Piton (Debbie's partner in climb), you should always bring your headlamp!
ABOVE: click on each photo to read caption and see each photo enlarged
This January we visited the North Bay area – farther north still – and climbed at Idol Verte near Powassan. A 2.5-km hike through the frozen forest brings you to a challenging crag with enough WI4 and WI5 climbs to easily destroy your hands and forearms. We climbed in temperatures of -20C (-4F), and even my heated socks and gloves weren’t keeping me warm enough that day! My hands were screaming, and it seemed like I was on the climb forever, wasting energy while trying to swing my tools and get them to stick into the cold hard ice. We spent two exciting days here, thanks to our local rope-gun Artur.

Right here at home in Hamilton, Ontario, we have a huge collection of waterfalls which tumble over the Niagara Escarpment. They rarely freeze this far south, but this past month, we were blessed by a polar vortex hovering overhead that kept temperatures well below seasonal. All sorts of urban ice came into nick for the first time in years.

At Bronte Creek in Oakville, we climbed a hundred-foot (30m) icefall cascading down crumbling chossy red shale. We also joined a nearby group of Hosers who had come into the woods to build a campfire and drink some beers – a Canadian wintertime tradition.

At Tiffany Falls in Ancaster, we climbed fifty feet (15m) of vertical urban ice for the gawking tourons, who would occasionally approach us too closely, and have to be warned off due to the falling ice dislodged by our tool placements. 

We’ve also climbed locally this winter at Felker’s Falls and at Ball’s Falls where Petie (partner Peter Zabrok aka. Dr. Piton) climbed a sinister and steep, seemingly-detached pillar.
Picture
Artur powering up the WI5 icicle at Powassan. Photo Credit: Debbie Fowler
ABOVE: click on each photo to read caption and see each photo enlarged
But the best local climbing was probably our day at the Highway 403 icefall, directly above a busy urban freeway but tucked away in a mostly out-of-sight gully. This north-facing icefall is the steepest and most consistent icefall in the Hamilton area. Evidently someone spotted us and called the cops, so Petie climbed up to schmooze with them. Since we weren’t doing anything illegal, the local constabulary left us to our own devices and we continued climbing! Good ol’ Petie…

​The polar vortex disappeared, along with all the local ice, and is about to be replaced by the March anomaly – double-digit Celsius temperatures for the next two weeks. So we made our final kick at the cat in mid-March back up north with Artur. We climbed the two Ontario ultra-classics – the 
Snake at Restoule, and Ice-olation at Mill Lake near Parry Sound. These routes aren’t the steepest we climbed this season, by they are the longest and probably our favourites! The season will continue even longer up in Algoma to the east of Lake Superior, where our final day of ice climbing last season was May 8th. 
ABOVE: click on each photo to read caption and see each photo enlarged
Ice climbing is a great sport for the young and old [ahem], and we’ve been fortunate to meet up with lots of new partners this winter. So cheers to an early spring, and hopefully we’ll be rock climbing next week!
Picture
Author Debbie Fowler and partner-in-climb Peter Zabrok.

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  • Writing
    • All Writings (List)
    • Editions >
      • Themed Editions >
        • Adaptive Climbing Edition >
          • Adaptive Climbing Photo Feature: Paradox Sports
          • Advocating for Deaf Climbers: Sonya Wilson
          • Amputations: Leg Prosthesis for Climbing
          • Blind Ambition Builds a World Class Climber: The Story of Jesse Dufton
          • Climbing with Type 1 Diabetes
          • First Paralyzed Ascents: Rand Abbott
          • Mixed Climbing: My Answer to KT Syndrome
          • Paraclimbing Competitions: Althlete Interviews
          • Rock!
          • The Unreasonable Man
        • Belaytionships Edition >
          • Featured Photographer: Charlie OlGrady-Kessner
          • Belaytionships: Drew-and-Sarah
          • Belaytionships: Jeantique and Natalie
          • Belaytionships: Maggie and Charlie Odette
          • I Am My Father's Son: Layton Bridwell
          • Book Review: Uncoiling the Ropes
          • Zac the Interloper
        • Big Wall Edition >
          • Book Review: Paul Preuss: Lord of the Abyss
          • Featured Photographer: Matt Spohn
          • Grading Commitment
          • Hanging with the Monkeys, and Getting the Monkey Off My Back
          • It Was His Time: Brad Gobright Interview May 2019
          • John Middendorf : A Big Man for a Big Stone
          • Sébastien Berthe Free Climbs the Nose From the Ground Up
          • Shit Happens – Or, Why You Need a Walkie Talkie
        • Developers and Guidebook Authors >
          • Developer - Mitch Lehman
          • Andrew Penny - A Blue Mountaineer
          • Kevin Powell
          • Rock Star Groupie
          • Tony Calderone
        • Exploring Our World >
          • AUSTRALIA - Photographer - Diego Perez
          • AUSTRALIA - Profile - Julie Anderson
          • Book Review - Climbing Rock
          • CHINA - From Yangshuo, to Getu, to Liming
          • FRANCE - Verdon in Winter
          • GREECE - Meteora
          • ITALY - Dolomites
          • MEXICO - La Huasteca
          • SPAIN - Artist - Karmelo Onate
          • UTAH - Maple Canyon: This One Makes You Taller
        • Honoring Diversity >
          • ARTIST: Shawn Lee
          • A Shift on Moonlight Buttress
          • Claiming a Space on the Mountain
          • Colorblind
          • Feature Photographer: Bryan Sillorequez
          • Is Diversity in America Diverse?
          • MOVIE: People of Climbing:
          • Profile - Favia Dubyk
          • The Lineage
        • Joshua Tree >
          • Bouldering: JTree Made Me Do It
          • Improv at JTree: Bad Bolts
          • JTree: Bolting Pressure Cooker
          • Joshua Tree: Heinous Approaches
        • Overcoming Boundaries >
          • Photographer - Brook Anderson
          • Profile - Louise Shepherd
          • Profile - Megan Banker
          • Profile - Shawn Axelrod
          • Rock Type 1
          • The Tape Job
        • Women's Edition >
          • Editorial - Women's Edition
          • Climbing is My Art
          • Mt. Logan Solo
          • Photographer - Michelle Ranee Johnson
          • Profile - Caitlin Schokker
      • Non-Themed Editions >
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        • January 2021
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        • April 2021
    • Topics >
      • Adaptive Climbing >
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        • Quinn Brett Interview
        • My Journey to Adaptive Rock Climbing
        • Planning for Mt. Rainier: Adaptive Climbing
        • Resources - Adaptive Climbing
      • Alpine & Ice >
        • California Still Has Untouched Climbing Wilderness
        • Ice Solo
        • Mt. Ogden Spanking
        • Mt. Whitney Whipping
        • My Common Alpine Epic
        • Vertical Ice Climbing in Ontario, Canada, eh?
      • CC Profile >
        • Profile - Shawn Axelrod
        • Profile - Megan Banker
        • Profile: Wendy Bruere - More Than It Hurts
        • Profile - Favia Dubyk
        • Profile - Debbie Fowler
        • Profile - Lindsey Hamm
        • Profile - Sabine Pratt Hunziker
        • PROFILE - Marisa Michael - Nutrition for Climbers
        • Profile - Caitlin Schokker
        • Profile - Louise Shepherd
      • CoVID and Climbing >
        • COVID Climbing Memes
        • CoVID-19 Remakes Our Lives
        • Dear Memory
        • From Couch to Lifting Couches
        • How to Climb and Avoid the Corona Virus
        • Train the Mind: Mental Toughness Tips for Quaratraining
        • The 5.10 Commandments
        • Trying to Send this Route
      • Equipment (writings) >
        • Aliens!
        • A Rack Retrospective
        • Cam Ranges (+ Big Bros)
        • Carabiner Strength Ratings
        • Climbing Shoes Fit
        • Guide Book Follies
        • Rope Buying 101
        • Shit Happens – Or, Why You Need a Walkie Talkie
        • The One Item to Stockpile
        • Which Way Should I Carry My Trad Rack?
        • Why GriGris Suck
        • 8 Reasons I Carry a Full Rack on Every Trad Climb
      • Facebook Feature >
        • FF: Big Walls
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        • FF: Exploring Our World
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        • FF: Welcome New Climbers
      • Grades, Styles, & Types >
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        • Bouldering Grade Advancements
        • Grading Climbs at the Gym
        • It's a F-ing Chimney
        • Onsight vs Flash vs Etc...
        • Top 10: Increase the Climbing Grade When...
        • Trad Climbing is for Chicken Sh*#s
        • WTF 5.7?
        • 18 Climber Types: Which Are You?
      • Kids >
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        • The Guidebook
      • Legends >
        • B - Joe Brown
        • G - Brad Gobright
        • G - Todd Gordon
        • H - Hugh Herr
        • H - Thomas Huber - In Another World - A Personal Climbing Journey
        • J - Saxon Johns
        • M - Tim Macartney-Snape: ​A Legend from Sea to Summit
        • M - John Middendorf
      • Mental-Physical >
        • Climbing Training Series >
          • Improving Hip Mobility
          • Rock Climber Mobility
          • Train the Mind: Mental Toughness Tips for Quaratraining
        • A Climb Worth Fighting For
        • Achilles
        • Everyone Around Me Is Better Than I Am
        • Fear, Pride, and Exploration
        • How Auto-Immune Disease Affected My Climbing
        • Mastering Joy on Easy Street
        • Mind, Body, and Soul
        • My Demon Has a Name
        • New Year's Resolutions
        • Of Cartoons and Quickdraws
        • Push and Pull
        • Sorcerer and the Kidney Stone
        • Take Risks - You'll Remember Them Later
        • The Art of Climbing Without Rock
        • The Devil's Game
        • The Eye
        • The Taste of Climbing
        • 12-Weeks to Onsighting a 5.8
      • Other/Misc >
        • Assault on Schurman Rock
        • Book Club
        • Climbing, Community, and the U.S. Presidential Election
        • Climbing Drinking Games
        • Climbing Gyms: The Gateway Drug
        • Climbing Hands
        • Climbing in the Bare Essentials
        • Climbing Resolutions
        • Demented Dirtbag
        • Don't Take Granite for Granite
        • Dorothy, We Aren't on Havana Anymore
        • Guatemalan Worry Dolls Go Climbing
        • No Health Insurance Changed How I Climb
        • Snakes and Ladders
        • Starting Over
        • The Adventure of A Lifetime - So Far
        • The Bane of Northwest Climbing
        • The Pink Tricam
        • Things of Stone and Wood
        • We Were Just Boys
        • Zac the Interloper
      • Places & Climbs >
        • Climbs >
          • Consolation Prize
          • Flakes and Shakes: Flake Crack Revisited
          • From Yorkshire to Eternity
          • Tiptoeing Through Some Bungles
          • Tombstone Territory
          • Yosemite - What We Came For
        • Location Reviews
        • My Home Crag >
          • Climbing in the Upper Cumberland Valley, Kentucky
          • Drytooling in the Rain - Wayne's World, WA
          • My Home Crag: Nowra, NSW, Australia
          • The Kenyan Climber
        • Travel Stories >
          • Blue Mountains - Bliss: Climbing in the Blueys
          • Buenos Aires, Argentina Crag
          • Colorado - Calling Pat Ament
          • Coolum Cave - Sendfest 8
          • Ecuador - A Nation of Four Worlds
          • Egypt: The Sinai Sampler
          • El Potrero Chico - Riding the Dirty Dog
          • Yosemite: Growing Up
          • Lover's Leap - Zone of Craptitude
          • Rio de Janeiro - Classic Climbs Sampler
          • Taghia, Morocco - Hardly Failing
          • Tasmania - Legend of the ‘Unclimbable Cliff’
          • Thailand - Lost and Found: A Mini-Epic in Paradise
          • Vedauwoo, WY
          • Yosemite - What We Came For
          • 20 World Destinations for Adventurous Climbing
        • 2020 U.S. Rock Climbing Festivals
      • Poetry/Prose >
        • Anti-Social Climbers
        • Sojourn at Dyuritte
        • Finding Poetry
        • Ice is Nice
        • The Space Between
      • Safety and Skills >
        • Bolting and Ground-Fall Potential
        • Euro-Death Knot is NOT
        • Multi-Pitch Tips: Two ATCs
        • Sketchy Anchor Bolts
        • Sliding-X Anchor
        • Three Ways to Use a Stick Clip
        • Top 10: Climbing Best Practices
      • Science Fiction >
        • Red Curtain: Prologue
      • Social, Social Media, & Social Issues >
        • Chossy Trio Renegades
        • Climbing into the Fold
        • Diversity in Climbing is Not a Bandwagon
        • Fuck "Gumbies" and "Noobs"
        • Montana, My Home: Claire Larson
        • My Husband Climbs Stronger than Me
        • Navajo Rising
        • Social Network Rescue
  • Marketplace
    • Butora
    • Climbing Addicts Colored Chalk
    • Climb-On Maps
    • Dynamite Starfish
    • FIXEhardware
    • Furnace Industries
    • Grimpi
    • Heroclip
    • MoveWell with McGee
    • Mystery Ranch
    • Neilico
    • NW Alpine
    • Rockytalkies
    • Tension Climbing
  • Reviews
    • Books >
      • Advanced Rock Climbing Book Review
      • Adventures at the Edge of the World
      • Climbing Rock: Vertical Explorations Across North America
      • Hangdog Days Book Review
      • HOOKING UP: The Ultimate Big Wall and Aid Climbing Manual
      • Paul Preuss: Lord of the Abyss
      • The Sharp End of Life: A Mother's Story - Book Review
    • Equipment/Gear Reviews >
      • Belay Device Review >
        • Edelrid Mega Jul
      • Harnesses >
        • ArcTeryx-FL-365
        • Misty Mountain Cadillac
      • Packs and Bags >
        • Sukoa Chalk Bag Review
        • Trango Crag Pack
      • Personal Anchor Systems >
        • Camp-Daisy-Twist
        • Petzl-Dual-Adjust
      • Other >
        • Dr. Piton's Review of the D4 Delta2P Portaledge
    • Location Reviews >
      • Australia >
        • Queensland, Australia >
          • Kangaroo Point Photos and Beta
          • Kangaroo Point Review
        • New South Wales Australia >
          • Blue Mountains >
            • Blue Mountains Photos and Beta
            • Blue Mountains Review
          • Nowra >
            • Nowra Review >
              • Nowra Photos and Beta
      • Mexico >
        • Potrero Chico Photos and Beta
        • Potrero Chico Review
      • United States >
        • Climbing Area Check List - U.S. >
          • Climbing Area Check List Part 1: Alabama to California
          • Climbing Area Checklist Part 2: Colorado to Michigan
          • Climbing Area Checklist Part 3: Minnesota to New Mexico
          • Climbing Area Checklist Part 4: New York to Wyoming
        • Arizona >
          • Queen Creek Canyon
        • California >
          • Joshua Tree >
            • Joshua Tree Tips
          • Mount Whitney >
            • Mount Whitney Photos and Beta
        • Idaho >
          • City of Rocks >
            • City of Rocks Photos and Beta
            • City of Rocks Review
        • Oregon >
          • Smith Rock >
            • Smith Rock - Photos and Beta
            • Smith Rock Review
          • Spring Mountain >
            • Spring Mountain Review
            • Spring Mountain - Photos and Beta
          • Trout Creek >
            • Trout Creek Photos and Beta
            • Trout Creek Review
        • Nevada >
          • Gun Club
          • Keyhole Canyon
          • Mt. Charleston, Nevada
          • Red Rock Canyon >
            • Red Rock Canyon Review - Yeahs and Neahs
            • Red Rocks Photos and Beta
        • New Hampshire >
          • North Conway, NH
          • Rumney, NH
        • New York >
          • Gunks Review
        • Utah >
          • Echo Canyon
          • Ferguson Canyon >
            • Ferguson Canyon Photos and Beta
            • Ferguson Canyon Review
          • Ibex >
            • Ibex Photos and Beta
            • Ibex Review
          • Maple Canyon >
            • Maple Canyon, Utah Photos and Beta
            • Maple Canyon Review
          • Moab >
            • Moab - Main - Photos and Beta
            • Moab -Main - Review
          • St. George >
            • St. George - Prophesy Wall- Photos and Beta
            • St. George - Prophesy Wall - Review
        • West Virginia >
          • Seneca Rocks
        • Wyoming >
          • Ten Sleep
  • Photographers & Artists
    • A- Brook Anderson
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    • O - Charlie OlGrady-Kessner
    • O - Karmelo Onate
    • O - Camila Ospina
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    • W - Joel Wilson
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      • Dave Barnes Extended Bio
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    • T- Frothy Thomson
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    • Z - Peter Zabrok