I began this week on Monday climbing at Harrison South. I had not had a rest day from the previous day at Metcalfe Rock, so I drugged myself up suitably with Tylenol.
On the way, we met Mark and his friend Gord. Apparently Mark is a fairly experienced climber who climbs quite often with Bob and Neil, who Chris knows quite well. Anyway, we decided to try top-roping two potential routes. The first will have to wait for a better climber than Mark or Chris (I didn’t bother trying it), but the second showed a lot of potential. I worked my way partway up a variation on the chosen line, but the problems on it are really a higher grade than I could manage that day. We ended up leaving quite late after the sun went down.
On Wednesday, we had another relatively light day of climbing at West Rocks in Owen Sound. We did our usual warm up on Happy Face, Chris lead it, I top-roped it, placing gear on the way, and he cleaned the gear and examined the placement. He then lowered down, pulled the rope, and asked me if I was going to lead it now. I kind of hummed and hawed, but ultimately decided to give it a go. I actually performed surprisingly well, until I got to the last section with very thin feet and a bit of a runout. I climbed and downclimbed a few times before finally asking to be lowered from my last piece. It was a bit disappointing not to send the route, but I still left feeling somewhat accomplished. I think the next time I go I will have to give it another shot on lead.
We then decided to move left to another route I had never tried before. It was a fun route, but apparently the pro was pretty difficult and spaced out in sections. We decided to head home after completing that route.
Yesterday, we decided to head out to Cape Croker. This was Chris’ first time, so I was somewhat anxious that his first time on my favourite crag be a good one. Despite the long weekend, it was surprising quite at the crag. When we arrived, there was only one other couple from Barrie climbing Insatiable Mandingo. Unfortunately, peace was not to be had, as the park itself was busy, and the noise from the beach carried to the base of the cliff very well. We got on Garden Party to warm up. It’s not a terribly challenging climb and I find it rather unenjoyable as far as routes at Cape Croker go.
We moved on to October, a trad route with a 5.10b grade. Chris managed to flash it, though he didn’t enjoy the route that much, despite its two star rating. I enjoyed it immensely on top-rope. It was chock-full of unique movement, and was just challenging enough to be enjoyable.
We then got on Isolated Beauty, one of my favourite climbs at Cape Croker, with a crux that I still haven’t really worked out yet. Neither of us wished to setup a top-rope, so Chris decided to start leading the route. He got to the third bolt at the lip of the roof before the crux, and then got completely shot down. I mentioned the beta I had used in the past, but he was unable to find one of the holds. Finally he lowered, and I climbed up to try that section. I managed to find the holds I used, but was unable to use the same beta as before, so I decided to move for a crimp instead, leading to what I recall was a fairly positive ledge. Unfortunately I slipped and fell, and decided that was that for the route for the day. The two pockets I work of are extremely sharp, so it’s difficult to spend a lot of time on the crux. Chris then returned and using my beta, he was eventually able to get past the crux; however, he was unable to exit it properly, and ended up being stuck with no holds to move to and unable to clip the next bolt. Suffice to say, he eventually fell and decided to try the crux again with some slightly different beta, but the sharp pockets were too much and we eventually left the route. Chris was a little put off by how painful Isolated Beauty was. Personally, I think it’s the sort of route you can only really give two or three shots at before leaving it for another day because of the painful holds.
I convinced Chris he should get on Ivy League, the one route that I was fairly sure he would have an affinity to. On impulse, I decided I wanted to lead the route. Realistically I knew I hadn’t worked out the crux yet, but I had the section leading to the crux quite solid the last time. I tied in and started climbing. The bolts are actually fairly spaced on the route, and there was probably groundfall potential between the first and second bolt, and the first bolt was quite high off the ground as well. Nevertheless, I clipped the first bolt no problem, and then assessed the next section for the necessary beta. I was a little sketched out by the spacing, but decided to go for it, made the next clip and moved directly into the beginning of the crux. It starts by moving across through some fairly powerful sidepulls into an undercling, from which you get some high smearing feet, and move up to a fairly positive ledge, and then move back across again, on practically nonexistant feet. I knews the beta for the first part, but was usually too pumped by time I got to the second traverse to give it much of a serious go. Anyway, the first time I just went to the undercling, and then retreated back into a take, but Chris goded me on to give it another go, so I worked my way further into the crux before pumping out and falling. It was nice to actually move into that position knowing I was going to fall and just accepting the fact. After I lowered off, Chris got on the route, and discovered how beautiful the route is, and also how challenging it is. With lots of rests, he eventually made it to the top and the cleaned the route. I was nice to leave knowing that he had something he wanted to return for.
Partway through our effort on Isolated Beauty, these two guys showed up, obviously knew to the crag and looking for something easy to set for the two girls accompanying them. I mentioned what some of the grades were, so that they had an idea and wouldn’t set them up on something they would be totally frustrated with, to which I got the response that they had no problem with 5.10s and 11s, but they were just worried about the girls. I shrugged and let them be, but my eyebrows did raise a little when the one guy set his eyes on what I believe was a 5.12 and decided to set a top-rope on the route for himself and the other guy. By the time he started rappelling, we were already working on Ivy League. As I belayed Chris, a drama unfolded beside us. The guy seemed to really be fumbling around and I wasn’t too sure he actually knew what he was doing. I gathered in overhearing their conversation (it could hardly be helped since it was mostly at the top of their lungs) that he was rappelling of a rope that had been tension hitched to the tree at the top. This seemed a little bit odd to me, but I suppose there was no problem with this. Anyway, once he had set the rope in through the rappel rings (not really kosher, but I guess it made sense in this case), he started lowering again, before he realized he wouldn’t make it to the bottom since he basically only had a third of the rope to rappel with since it was still hitched to the tree at the top at the halfway point. He started furiously yelling for his partner to untie the rope, but his partner was stuck in the middle of setting up an anchor for the other group. Finally after several minutes, the other guy untied the rope and the rappelling guy got to the bottom. When the other guy finally showed up from walking down to the base, the rappelling guy just bit into them and they got into a rather heated yelling match and it sounded like they might not climb at all. They must have settled things between them though, because eventually the rappelling guy started climbing. It wasn’t long before he was completely owned by the route. Instead of conceding, he started using the bolt hangers as aid, hooking his finger into them! Fortunately he was on a top-rope and it was slightly less risky than falling on lead with a finger in a hanger, but still, he could have very likely left with a broken finger, if not have his finger ripped off entirely depending on the situation. Chris and I decided it would be prudent to leave. We were already pumped, and decided that this was only a disaster waiting to happen.
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Tags: Cape Croker, Harrison South, Owen Sound, Sport, Trad, West Rocks
A Day of Firsts
I spent the last little while, from last Saturday to Wednesday, at a cottage near Parry Sound with my family, and boy can I feel it, even missing only two days of climbing. My legs are still groaning from todays abuse. I can’t help but feeling pleased by it. For a while, climbing had stopped making my muscles sore, mostly because they grew attuned to it, I suppose, but you can’t help feeling that you’ve actually put a good effort forward when you’re aching afterward, even if it’s just because you spent the day stemming and hanging on anchors belaying for the first time in, well, ever.
Chris and I decided to do something a little different and headed for the first time to Metcalfe Rock between Thornbury and Kimberley in the Beaver Valley area. The crag really is fantastic, with the shortest and easiest approach I’ve had yet, and a clear base that is not overly covered with talus, making it quite straight forward to move around the base.
I started by getting on what is apparently a short 5.8 sport climb. With difficulty, I made it to the third bolt, but ultimately bailed after struggling on the next move, which turned out to be the crux of the climb. The route isn’t in the guidebook, and apparently isn’t on rockclimbing.com – this route is just a bit further north than the most northern route I recognise on the site – Arete Dreams and Quantum Leap at the Rubble Heap. Anyway, I finally gave up, lowered, and let Chris lead the route, and then cleaned it on toprope, and was still shotdown my the crux move. Really, the climb was quite interesting; you work off large, juggy holds, but have to make large, gymnastic moves that are not immediately obvious. The holds might warrant a 5.8 grade, but I definitely felt the moves made the climb more difficult.
We then moved on to another climb, longer, and apparently graded harder than the last, though I found it to be quite a bit easier. I didn’t lead it though, and some sections runout quite a bit, which upped the mental aspect for Chris on lead. I definitely found the route quite enjoyable, which is somewhat surprising since it reminds me a lot of Plastic Victory Jug and Surf Zone at the Latvian Ledge at Lion’s Head, both of which I absolutely hated.
Our final choice was a beautiful trad line, Agitez Bien, a 5.10a crack that ends with a huge roof, which has to be traversed to the left and into a chimney. There are rap rings at a ledge below the roof, from which you can lower. Due to the limitations of our rack, we decided to climb to the first anchor, and then climb the rest of the route as a second pitch. I surprised myself by climbing the first part of the route without any falls; my introduction to crack climbing at Cape Croker was rather humbling, but it seems my intensive trad diet seems to have brought some improvement. At that point, I transferred the rack over to Chris, setup for a belay, and let him lead through the second pitch, which he succeeded in doing with a single take. Unfortunately, he had difficulty with the gear placements on the second part, and so his enjoyment of the route was tempered somewhat by the long runouts he had to take.
I lowered him to the ground, cleaned the anchor, and proceed up the route, to the underclings at the base of the roof. I carefully traversed this section, until I reached one of the nuts Chris placed. I was already beginning to feel the pump, but I gave a bit of a tug a wiggle to the nut, decided this would require more work, and than called for Chris to take so I could rest my sore arms. This may have proved to be the fatal mistake, as I then struggled back into the undercling, tried to get some slack into the rope, decided this approach was failing miserably, clipped directly to a nearby, adjacent nut which was permanently stuck, and worked some more before finally agreeing with Chris’ suggestion that I lower off the nut and he give it a shot. I agreed with this, as my first encounter with a hanging belay had already made me somewhat nervous, and my feet were beginning to scream at me from shoes which were clearly not designed to wear while belaying from anchors. I had contemplated taking them off at the station, but decided I wasn’t prepared for the consequences of dropping them. He then proceeded up the route, and managed to whack the nut out from the right, something I was unable and unprepared to do (the potential pendulum already made me a bit nervous). We were both quite tired after this and headed home. The part of the route I did was amazing, and I highly regret that I didn’t get the opportunity to finish it.
In any case, Metcalfe Rock was fantastic, that route was fantastic, I did my first multipitch climb (all 30m or so of it), I belayed hanging from anchors for the first time, and overall, I had a fantastic time.
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Tags: Climbing, Metcalfe Rock, Sport, Trad
Weekend Warrior
Chris and I managed to go climbing at a part of West Rocks further west on Wednesday this past week. The nature of the escarpment there is sufficiently different and the access is so radically different, that it really warrants another name entirely; however, presently there is really only one bolted line, and our investigation didn’t turn up much potential.
The escarpment through much of Owen Sound is sufficiently low that, for the most part, the rock remains obscured by the trees and lichen flourishes on its surface. When exposed to the sun, lichen isn’t necessarily such a terrible thing; however, within the trees, it seems to absorb the moisture in the air, and the rock becomes rather slick and moist. A motivated person may dedicate time to cleaning some of the lines with more potential, but there are better places to go exploring. So little of the climbing potential of the escarpment has been uncovered, and we’re doing our best to rectify that situation, week by week.
Today, we decided to explore the West Bluffs (or South Bluffs?), which are a bit further south of West Rocks. Like Harrison South, much of the base of the escarpment is rough terrain, and it is much easier to reach the climb from the Bruce Trail above the escarpment than to approach from below.
As a warm up, and to humour me somewhat, we got on ‘Happy Face’ the 5.7 trad route feature the plethora of horizontal cracks up a less than vertical face. I had been thinking about gear placements since we went last weekend, and wished to try my hand at it again. I must say, this time things did go much more smoothly. Not all of my placements were perfect, but some were excellent. Chris thinks that I should try my hand at leading it soon, but I kind of want to save that for an exceptionally easy climb like what can be found at Rattlesnake Point. On the other hand, I won’t really gain any confidence in my placements until I actually have to rely on them.
After climbing that route, we proceeded to West Bluffs, found a shoelace tied to a tree (our only beta), and found an ideal place to rap down behind one of the wide fissures that are so common in that area. We left the rope in place, and hiked further along until we came to a fantastic looking crack in a corner, which came to a ledge above which it then ran along the edge of a roof until it reached the top.
Chris proceeded to get on the route, and climbed the first portion comfortably, until trying to make the ledge. At the point, most of the features disappear on the face of the walls, and you are forced to use opposing smears on either face until you can get your left foot on a half decent ledge. From there he traversed the edge of the roof, using the crack as an undercling and get his feet high, and then proceeded to go around the corner, and layback through the next section where the crack becomes a bit offwidth.
I followed on toprope, and managed to make it through the roof and into the layback without falling, but by that point, I was feeling a little bit pumped. I called out “Take!” to Chris, who then called back “No!” Feeling a little bit irritated, somewhat more desperate, but knowing he was also right, and struggled around, but I think my exhaustion clouded my mind quite a bit, because I wasn’t moving in any sensible manner. After awhile, I finally yelled out “Please take..???” and he gave into my plea. I rest for a moment, before deciding to continue into what was actually a relatively easy layback section to finish the climb.
After lowering, we decided it was likely a 5.9, though a very good quality one. It is by far the hardest crack I’ve climbed (well, sort of) and thoroughly enjoyable.
We hiked further along and decided and want looked like a fairly nice crack, though the protection seemed a little thin. I won’t spend much time talking about it, but Chris lead it while resting on an anchor at one point, and I followed it until near the top I got fed up with the route and bumped the final few feet. It was quite difficult, Chris thought maybe a 5.10a or b, it featured poor protection, and the climbing wasn’t particularly rewarding either.
After investigating a bit further down, we returned to the fixed line, and ascended it with a prussik and autolock.
I should also mention the events of Saturday. Jay had decided to come up to the Bruce Peninsula for the weekend, and I met him on Saturday around noon. We headed over to Cape Croker, had picked out our route, and I was in the middle of putting on my harness when Jay realized he had forgotten his harness at home. Rather than setup a swami belt, which would have been relatively easy, but terribly uncomfortable, we decided to hike to the base of White’s Bluff and check out some of the routes there just for the heck of it. I’m officially impressed. It’s the first time I’ve seen the sort of steepness so common in Kentucky on the escarpment.
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Tags: Climbing, Owen Sound, Sport, Trad, West Bluffs, West Rocks
When I was a kid, my family and I would go for a walk around the block, so to speak – it was a rural block – on Sunday mornings and collect all the beer bottles along the side of the road. It was a nice way to make a few bucks as a kid, but it is only now that I realize I was profiting off of other people drinking and driving. It is somewhat alarming how profitable our little walks actually were.
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Tags: Reflections
Progress
Climbing with new people really hits home just how much of a novice I am when it comes to climbing. When climbing with friends who I have climbed with regularly in the past, it doesn’t matter as they are already well aware of my deficiencies and so they don’t have expectations beyond which I am comfortable delivering.
This is not necessarily a good thing. Ever since I went to Kentucky, I feel like my progression as a climber has taken a decidedly downward turn. I can’t help but wonder if that’s not because I’ve allowed myself to stay in that comfort zone and haven’t been around people who force me to stretch my boundaries. Usually I give up too early and I need a bit of an extra nudge to encourage me to continue and finish the climb. Without finishing, or at least putting in a full effort, I only leave feeling dissatisfied and disappointed.
Consequently, the last few months have been a bit of a struggle as I try to search for that motivation I’ve been lacking. Since climbing at the Red River Gorge, I haven’t really given myself the opportunity for the sort of satisfaction I had there, where I was getting on new climbs, left, right and centre, and really breaking new ground as far as my development as a climber is concerned.
This past week, I managed to get in touch with a climber in Owen Sound who has been looking for a climbing partner to climb with several times a week. Chris and I decided to meet and go climbing on Canada Day, but on the spur of the moment, we ended up going on Monday evening instead. I felt like a nervous wreck. It never ceases to astound my friends, but I tend to have deep anxiety about meeting new people, and this was off the Internet no less.
We were climbing within Owen Sound in the northern part of Harrison Park. I believe the first climb was a 5.8 crack protected by gear. This was the first climb I had ever done that was protected by gear, and additional, one of the first times I had ever climbed a crack. Fortunately the climb itself wasn’t too difficult; however, I actually found myself with sewing machine legs, something I hadn’t experienced in a long time, and on top rope too! I lowered off that route, relieved that I hadn’t looked too foolish on the route.
I wasn’t to be so lucky on the next route. This was a sport route, a mid 5.10 or so, which would normally be well within my grasp on top rope. I cruised the start, but as my muscles began to feel pumped, and I entered the crux, I was completed shot down. I ended up bumping through most of the last half of the route, feeling more than a little bit ridiculous. On reaching the anchors, I realized that there were no rappel rings to lower from and that I would have to top out and setup a rappel from there.
I should note that I absolutely hate cleaning a route. It’s a chore that I endure; I consider it some sort of token of gratitude to the rope gun that setup the top rope for me in the first place. Nevertheless, I never feel so exposed as I do cleaning an anchor. It’s not so bad when climbing somewhere like Cape Croker, where all the routes have anchors and rings; however, I’ll occasionally stumble across a route which breaks the mold I’m accustomed too, and so, spins me for a loop
This process seems relatively straightforward in retrospect, but in this situation – my mind clouded by my embarrassment over my rather inelegant ascent – it all seemed terribly confusing to me. I realized I would have to top out and rappel down, a process I have limited experience with, and don’t relish at all. Reaching the top, I pulled the whole rope up, slung it around a tree at the halfway point, tossed down the rope (this all took far longer than it should have and was also far more complicated than it needed to be), and then proceeded to start the rappel, Chris generously providing a fireman’s belay, maybe realizing that I was bumbling around far more than was safe. I had just made it past the edge, when foot slipped. In response, my upper body swung into the wall, and my left hand got jammed behind the rope and scraped across the rock, gouging three holes in the back of two fingers and my hand.
Somehow I held on, paused for a moment, and continued to the bottom, relieved that I had ended up there in one piece. I really should have insisted on being lowered, given my state of mind; however, the pressure of performing made me continue on. Fortunately despite bumbling along like an idiot, I had enough presence of mind to bumble along in a relatively safe manner and didn’t really get into any situation that held any more risk than a scraped hand and a bruised ego; but I do find it unsettling that I allowed myself to continue into that situation at all.
I decided that was the last climb for me for the evening, and we moved on to a difficult route that Chris has been projecting. I was slightly astonished, and slightly relieved, that he actually let me continue belaying him.
We decided to continue with our plans for climbing on Tuesday at the southern end of Harrison Park. Chris had never actually climbed there and was uncertain of the approach with a car. We parked at the Inglis Falls Conservation Area and hiked our way in until we determined that we should bushwhack to the base of the cliffs. As it turned out, we ended up bushwhacking something like a kilometre, through thick brush and over talus to the base of the first climb. The rough approach was offset somewhat by what I believe was a vultures nest in one of the deep crevasses that dot this section of the escarpment.
Chris first got on a beautiful crack, but quickly discovered that he didn’t have the gear for the climb. He downclimbed, recovering the gear on the way.
We then made our way to two bolted routes, with the beta that one was very hard and crappy, and one was hard and amazing. We examined the routes, both of which seemed quite thin from the bottom, before choosing the one on the right (5.11b/c). It turned out to be a fantastic route. Chris came quite close to redpointing it on his first go, and then I struggled up the route, performing somewhat better than I expected after my performance the night before, but coming up short of the anchors. Chris then redpointed the route, and setup a top belay as we had determined that it would be easier to return via the top of the cliffs.
Since it was now impossible for him to help me bump through difficult sections, we setup a somewhat improvised hauling system with a prussik and the remainder of the rope. By the time I reached the top, I was pumped out both from the difficult climbing, and also hauling myself through the tough bits. Reaching the anchors, I had to work myself around him, as well as our bags which he had hauled to that spot, and then top out the route, a prospect I didn’t relish, realizing the potential for a high factor fall and also with the uncertainty of the beta for this segment. Chris coached me through the beta, I worked my way through the segment, and quickly setup another anchor for him from which I could belay him to the top. We sat around chatting and appreciating the view before heading back to the car. We climbed what amounted to roughly one and a half routes, but ended up staying out for 7-8 hours due to the bushwhacking.
I was beat up from Tuesdays climbing and decided I would leave anymore climbing to the weekend. We ultimately decided to climb today at another crag in Owen Sound, West Rocks. West Rocks is predominately trad and is located in an old quarry that misfortune has located next to a highschool; the place is littered with broken beer bottles and the walls painted over with graffiti. We decided to start on an easy 5.7, which was split by horizontal cracks over its entire length. Chris led the route, and then I top roped it, placing gear as I went in order to get familiar with placements. It was a thrilling experience. My head was clear as I was on top rope, but I had to take my time and stretch out rest positions as I searched for good placements.
We then switched to a (poorly) bolted line, perhaps a 5.8 or 5.9. Chris decided to lead it on trad, since it really was a trad line anyway, I then followed on top rope, and he decided to then lead it again, place some gear and clip the bolts so I could have
a go at leading the route. I gamely did just that, before stalling toward the end, falling on the last bolt, and deciding to lower before the anchors… again. I was slightly disappointed in myself, but it wasn’t something I really wanted to do.
We then switched over to another trad line, a bit harder than the last, which I motored through on toprope, which was a big surprising for myself. Using the same anchor, we climbed a route beside it, the grade which I don’t know, since I got frustrated on that route and decided to finish on the original.
We ultimately decided to setup a top rope on a route just a bit further to the left which was supposedly quite difficult, though I am once again uncertain of the grade. It really offered nothing for protection except a rusty piton, and so we walked to the top to setup the rope. Chris climbed the route well, as he always does, and then convinced me that I should at least give it a go. I had already determined that I was done for the day at that point, but figured I would go ahead with it anyway. It proved to be my favourite route of the day. I stepped onto the route with zero expectations, half expecting to be blocked by the first few moves and yet managing to continue unstopped until a mini crux which I almost managed to cruise through as well except for my foot which slipped just as I was grabbing the hold. I managed to work through that sequence and finally decided to call it quits when I reached the large blank section at the top which had involved a gigantic dyno on Chris’ ascent and which I was not prepared to repeat.
It’s strange that despite bailing out twice today, I headed home feeling satisfied beyond belief. The week had started out a disaster but steadily improved. I am now feeling quite comfortable climbing on gear-protected routes and my first attempt to place gear myself had gone remarkably well and had been exhilarating despite being on top rope. Finally, today I far surpassed both my expectations, and Chris’s, climbing a route beyond my ability with ease that surprised me. I left feeling excited and rewarded; I had finally found what I was looking for these past few months. That’s what I call progress.
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Tags: Climbing, Harrison North, Harrison South, Motivation, Owen Sound, Sport, Trad, West Rocks
Living at home, working at home.
I was offered a job in my field a few weeks ago and being unemployed and facing a serious cash shortage, I accepted – rightly so I would like to believe – and moved to Wiarton to live with my parents while commuting everyday to Owen Sound for work.
In order to make this work, I also had to buy a car, which, for someone with a serious cash shortage is no easy matter. Having never bought a car, and with only a week to organize the purchase of the car, I quickly decided on a 2004 Saturn Ion on the advice of my Dad. It was a fair bit more expensive than I had planned, but the car itself was far better than anything else I had looked at.
In order to pay for this car, my parents loaned me the money upfront – $0 down, 0% financing so to speak. This sort of financing is pretty much unheard of for a used car, but comes with the additional caveat that I am now in debt to my parents, who expect me to pay it off as quickly as possible. The consequences? I’ve now agreed to work an additional 15 hours a week for my parents over the 35-40 I have with my existing job. What this amounts to is that I am now saddled with far more work than I ever wanted in order to pay for a car which I bought to allow me to take this job. I’m working for the sake of working; this is the last thing I ever wanted.
My parents made a good point. I pretty much have to decide here what I want. Do I want to have the free time in the evening to laze around, or do I want to be able to take time off and go travel to climb and canoe? Writing it down makes the decision seem easy, but actually motivating myself to work a little bit longer and harder at 7 o’clock at night certainly doesn’t feel so. How much am I willing to sacrifice to do what I really want to do?
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Tags: Motivation, Work
Climbing in Owen Sound
Now that I’m working in Owen Sound, I don’t really have the opportunity to go to the gym on weekdays, I’ve decided that I should investigate climbing possibilities in and around Owen Sound. There are naturally fantastic climbing opportunities north of Wiarton; however, in the interest of saving money, I figure I should check out the opportunities in the city.
Rockclimbing.com refers to a few trad areas that I might be able to set some top ropes on, and there is one sport climbing area, most of which are graded a bit difficult for me. In either case, I’ll need a partner, which would make bouldering ideal. Unfortunately, there is only one documented problem, 3D Direct, which actually looks pretty cool except for the graffiti blanketing it. Other than that, and a few other problems that might share the boulder, there isn’t much else.
My best plan is probably searching for a climbing partner in the Owen Sound area. There are two members of rockclimbing.com who seem to have posted information, so I might be able to establish something with one of them. Otherwise I’ll just have to go exploring for my own opportunities, maybe bouldering the base of routes or working out traverses.
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Tags: Climbing, Owen Sound, Partners
