Southern
Ontario
Toronto/
London/ Hamilton/Owen Sound
Climbers from these regions gravitate towards the numerous limestone sites
on the Niagara Escarpment. The Niagara Glen, near Niagara Falls has hundreds
of boulder problems. Top-roping is abundant in the Milton area, as is both
trad and sport climbing. Further north, at Old Baldy and Lions Head, there
are high quality sport routes, with some as hard as almost any in the country.
Kingston/Brockville/Ottawa
Eastern Ontario offers extremely diverse possibilities. Kingston Mills has
top-roping and some trad leading, Luskville, near Ottawa has trad climbing
and a well developed sport scene. Bon Echo on Mazinaw Lake is a good site
for learning multi-pitch climbing with numerous well-travelled moderates.
The more adventurous could try the Toronto Wall and Oiseau Rock, the highest
cliffs in the region, located on the Quebec side of the Ottawa River. Ottawa
residents are also only a couple of hours’ drive from Weir and Val
David in Quebec.
Ice-Climbing: Hamilton, Wiarton, Muskoka, Eagle’s Nest, Calabogie
Southern Ontario offers the less possibilities for ice-climbing than many
other regions in Canada, mainly because of the comparative lack of consistently
cold weather. That being said, a few of the waterfalls around Hamilton,
Spirit Rock at Wiarton, the Eagle’s Nest at Bancroft, and Calabogie,
an hour from Ottawa, all provide single pitch ice-climbing varying in quality
according to the weather.
