Winter 2010 - The Alpine Club of Canada

Ontario’s Eagle’s Nest lures ice climbers, coffee addicts
by Margaret Imai-Compton
If you aren’t a Bancroft, Ontario local,
and you pull into Tim Horton’s on
Highway 62 any winter weekend,
you’ll see a most curious sight: people
lined up outside with their backs to the
window, coffees in one hand and pointing
across the highway with the other.
Following their gaze less than 200 metres
across the highway, you see the reason for
the crowd; a dozen ice climbers spread
out across ice curtains and rolling formations
on the huge rock face called Eagle’s
Nest.
“If God had wanted us to climb ice,
he would have given us picks instead of
toes,” comments a grizzled man in the
crowd.
Until recently, ice climbing in southern
Ontario was a limited activity, due
mostly to the limited topography and lack
of route information. But within the past
10 to 15 years, Eagle’s Nest in Bancroft
has come into its own as a favourite ice
destination for enthusiasts from around
Ontario, and even adjoining US states
including Michigan and New York,
thanks to the publication of the guidebook,
Southern Ontario Ice, by Kartner
and Bracken, (Borealis Press, 1995). An
entire chapter is devoted to Bancroft and
the surrounding Madawaska Highlands,
which are described as having Southern
Ontario’s best and most scenic routes.
A climber works his way up Blue Angel at Eagle’s Nest.
Climbers hang out between routes at Diamond Lake.
Not only is Bancroft an accessible
three- to five-hour drive from Toronto,
Ottawa and Rochester, NY, Eagle’s Nest
has the shortest approach of any ice route
I’ve ever done. It is, max, 100 metres
from the parking lot and maybe another
75 metres in the other direction to Tim
Horton’s across the road. The great majority
of routes may only be one pitch and
you may have to share a top rope with
five or six climbers, but the trade-off is
Photo by Colin Huggard.
Photo by Colin Huggard.
the comfort of a warm washroom and
Timmy’s coffee when it’s -20 C outside.
For the past five years, the Alpine
Club of Canada’s Toronto Section has
hosted a weekend event at Eagle’s Nest.
The announcement is eagerly anticipated
at the start of the season.
“Join us for our annual Eagle’s Nest
Ice Climb with a sleepover option. Stay at
the luxurious Imai-Compton cottage (aka
unofficial ACC “hut” for the weekend),
10 minutes from Eagle’s Nest. $40 gets
you dinner, breakfast and a warm place
to sleep. Bring a sleeping bag, towel and
your libation of choice.”
At its inception, between eight and
ten climbers participated in the weekend,
but in the last two years the numbers
have been capped at 25, as the “hut”
quickly overflows with a mix of seasoned
and novice climbers.
As the evening unfolds, the climbing
stories grow increasingly outrageous and,
as scotch and wine bottles form a mini
pyramid in the snow outside the door,
negotiations begin for the prime sleeping
spots in the loft and before the fireplace.
With so many bodies squeezed onto
every available surface, it is inevitable
that sleeping positions require a kind
of syncopated choreography, a situation
which inspired trip leader Rob LeBlanc
to rename the event: the Annual Eagle’s
Nest Spoonfest!
6 Alpine Club of Canada Gazette Winter 2010