CrusheR: July 2010

Ontario,Canada good time

Living in NY doesn't leave you with a lot of options for good summer climbing. To be honest all climbing is good, it's just slimy, hot and frustrating when you slide off rock climbs because of 100% humidity and 104 degree heat. Not super psyched, but Canada in the summer, Bruce peninsula in particular, is the place to be. It has a sweet variety of sport routes, you can find some trad routes, beach bouldering, sweet temps and crystal clear fresh water swimming....not so shabby...and all within minutes from each other.
Me and my own crusher lady Sandy Gaylo took off work for a week and crossed the Canadian border with little problem to go play on rocks that won't be slimy with greasy nastys. Lion's Head was the main destination and we did some rock climbs there the same day we arrived. Lion's Head is amazing!

The hike to the craig is super fun, and the cliff itself is enormous. It is not baby friendly since you are already on top of a giant cliff. So do not bring a baby with you, unless you want to get rid of it. To access climbs you have to find trees to rappel off, and there are no chains or top anchors, so a guide book would be real handy because you will have to climb your way out, or bushwhack for a very very long time...very very long time.

Lion's Head

After checking out Lion's Head we went to see what White Bluff was all about. Sandy and I didn't know the correct approach to the cliff, so we ended up bushwhacking and following a cliff that we thought would bring us to the right spot. Plenty of choss, spiderwebs and poison ivy all the way to the craig. Little did we know is that the correct approach would lead us into a beautiful white stone beach overlooking the bay and Lion's Head in the far, along with about a 10 minute walk instead of a 30 minute bushwhack.
The wall is pretty underdeveloped but does offers a good amount of sweet fun bolted lines. So much potential for 'psyched' and never ending 'sendfests'. Sandy is such a beast, she managed to rip off a huge chunk of a climb, probably upgrading it from 5.12d to god knows what. Good job Sandy, you did good. Sandy sent the new broken climb and a bunch others without breaking anymore..I had a hard on.

Sandy bouldering on the beach

I have an unreasonable fear of falling when I lead. In my mind i know I'm totally safe but i can't help but freak and overgreap everything and peel off shit all the god damn time.
I did get on a bunch of routes and was super psyched to actually send a 5.11a called Hellraiser. If i were Nikki, I'd call it something like Terminator or Fender Bender or maybe Friendly Fire, why not...
Georgian Bay is the place to be when the heat wave hits and makes it sticky. It has all the climbing you want, all the swimming, and a ton of awesome things to check out during your downtime/rest days.
To be honest, I did not want to come back to NYC with all its heat, work, and other things that are not called climbing, road or camping. Sandy also makes for a pretty good road trip companion and a very patient belayer when I freak out on the wall moving to a jug screaming TAKE!

I think we should make a party and gather an army to come back to Canada and go crush some riggs in Halfway Dump, which is also located on Bruce Peninsula, You done crushing, treat yourself to a jump into a crystal clear water of Georgian Bay and chill. Also think about how much fun it will be trying to cross back to U.S. with a crew of, lets say, 8 people?! we might not make it...