When you tackle ice climbing in fabled Agawa Canyon, it’s about the journey.

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Climbers like parables. Chalk it up to the tenuous nature of their pastime? Probably. And the favourite puts the journey above the destination. This is the climbing truth for Agawa Canyon, one of North America’s most unique ice-climbing areas. Really.

Agawa Canyon is a 10-km (6-mi) long break in the Cambrian Shield, about 183 km (114 mi) north of Sault Ste. Marie, ON. To reach the icy routes that cling to the canyon walls, you can book passage aboard the Algoma Central Railroad and channel the old-school romance of riding the rails into the wilderness. Once you’ve arrived, the train’s crew will drop you and your gear along the tracks, leaving you alone and purposefully stranded, with nothing to do but climb, camp and with any luck, bask under the aurora.

After guide and Ontario ice-climbing pioneer Shaun Parent discovered Agawa Canyon in December 1985, it’s seen 120-plus routes that range in difficulty from intro grade-2 pitches to more committed grade-5 routes. Some routes extend vertically for more than 100 m (328 ft) above the snowy apron, rivaling the thrills of climbs in the Rockies.

Typically, the season runs mid-December to late April. In March, the area is the setting for the Agawa Ice Climbing Festival that attracts ice climbers for an extended weekend of swinging tools.

www.northofsuperiorclimbing.com
www.agawacanyontourtrain.com

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