
Margaret Kirk
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Sault Star
Why is there no ice climbing community in Sault Ste. Marie when we have the highest climbs in between Colorado, Alberta, Quebec and New Hampshire?
This is a question that stumps Shaun Parent, the “grandfather of ice climbing” in Northern Ontario. The name was earned as he has developed more than 1000 ice climbs in the region.
He’s returned to climb about 100 of those he has pioneered. “I like to explore them, discover, and move on,” he told The Sault Star.
The Windsor-native has been mentoring and guiding ice climbers in Northern Ontario since ’86 and has given lessons to more than 4,500 people.
The vast majority hail from the United States.
“If you picked 100 climbers in the season, 90 of them would be Americans,” he said. Further, he guessed 70 would be from either Ohio, Chicago, or the Detroit area.
While the Algoma region is rich with cross-country and downhill skiing, mountain biking, rock climbing, and ice climbing, Sault Ste. Marie is traditionally thought of as a hockey and soccer town, reflects Parent.
“People don’t realize that we have something that’s very different than anywhere else,” he said.
Climbers who come from Western Canada always come back, said Parent, because the climbs are just as high, there is no avalanche risk, and it doesn’t take long to access high level climbs.
“A three-hour approach in Colorado is a 15-minute approach here,” said Parent.
In February, he will guide a 20-person group from Chicago who have been travelling to the Sault for nearly 25 years for its favourable climbs, and knowledgeable guide.
In 2000, Parent was rated the only Canadian in the top six ice climbing schools in the world. He has been featured in the Toronto Sun and the New York Times.
Parent teaches climbers at through his company, Superior Exploration, Adventure & Climbing Co. Ltd, to ascend frozen waterfalls or other icy rock faces using specialized equipment such as ice axes and crampons (spiked footwear), while being secured by ropes and a harness for safety.
He also offers rock climbing, expiditions to Peru, and paragliding in Chile and Peru.
When Parent first started ice climbing in Thunder Bay in 1979 while attending Lakehead for Outdoor Recreation, there were no other climbers. He released his first guidebook of the area in 1983 — now there is a community of about 200 ice climbers.
“Being a pioneer, you get laughed at… by people in tourism…” said Parent. “It was a struggle at first, and then once tourism Thunderbay got involved it evolved very quickly”
When he had exhausted the bulk of the routes in Thunderbay, he moved to Montreal River in 1999 and ran the Mad Moose Lodge to host no less than 20 ice and rock climbers, usually American, every weekend.
Moving further south, Parent stayed for a season at the Voyageur Lodge in 2004, then settled by Chippewa River, where he remains today at age 68.
The Sault Ste. Marie ice climbing community is still in its “infancy”, said Parent, but he hopes that by the time he slows down, there will be more young climbers to carry the torch.
There are a handful of ice climbers in the Sault area, and Parent says they usually go to Mile 38 Road, where Parent has established 140 technical climbs in a 40-kilometer stretch.
“It is the only place where there’s already people parked there in the parking area when I go,” said Parent.
Although he wants ice climbing as a sport to flourish in the Sault as it has Thunderbay, he still likes to keep some spots for himself. A coveted climb called “Stratosphere” is 770 feet high and has only been conquered 12 times.
When Parent takes clients there, he has them sign a confidentiality agreement.
“There’s 40 that are all over 500 feet that will never be in a guidebook because I want an area to call my own that I can take my friends there and my clients there,” said Parent. “I’ve given people hundreds and hundreds of climbs. Give me a break and let me have some of my own.”
One common spot Parent takes clients to is a 60-foot ice climb down Hult Road by Searchmont Ski Resort. Last weekend, Stephanie Lui travelled from Toronto to give it a try alongside Parent’s family visiting from Windsor, and Tina Montgomery, who sometimes helps Parent coach.
“It wasn’t just the activity, but the experience that Shaun has that drew me,” said Lui.
She described the safe environment that Parent creates when teaching. Last year she made the trip up north for 5 days to learn from Parent.
“He’s a pioneer of the sport, and a teacher who will challenge you to keep developing skills that you need for any upcoming adventures,” she said. “You’ve got to be prepared.”
Lui loves the “mind-body connection” aspect of the winter sport.
Shaun teaches about two curves: the mental aspect of getting to the top, and the physical.
“Kids don’t have that,” he said. “They don’t know what fear is or maxing out their brain, so they just climb.”
As Parent’s approach to ice climbing has evolved with age, he now finds more fulfillment in teaching young kids to climb.
“Climbing is good for kids because it causes them to focus,” said Parent. He shared that many kids he has taught who have stayed with the sport have managed to improve their marks from Ds to As, due to the mental clarity it requires to reach the top of the ice wall.
Montgomery has been climbing with Parent for three years and says she and her kids are “hooked.”
Her two sons, 11 and 9, have been ice climbing numerous times and adapted quickly to the heavy ice climbing tools and “height factor.”
When Montgomery assists in ice climbing lessons for children, they sometimes use a pulley system to hoist the kids up as they learn to climb.
“Once some of them get over the fear and gain that little bit of confidence, they just do their thing and they’re gone,” said Montgomery.
The mother of two has summitted walls of 150 feet, though said she does it for “fun” and isn’t concerned with getting to the top every time.
Montgomery described the local ice climbing culture as “quiet,” and says that women she knows who are avid ice climbers come from out of town.
Through every guidebook he publishes, lesson he teaches, and route he pioneers, Parent fosters opportunities for local climbers to embrace a sport he has spent over 40 years shaping in the region.
His latest self-published work comes out this January with more than 160 new climbs in the Agawa River area.
The real challenge now is growing the local climbing community, he shared. While climbers from Michigan and international adventurers have recognized the magic of Sault Ste. Marie’s ice, local participation remains sparse.
Tourism Sault Ste. Marie advertises Parent’s services on their website, though none of the work Parent does to create access routes and establish new climbs are funded.
Parent believes the solution lies in ongoing collaboration with Tourism Sault Ste. Marie, improving accessibility, and changing the perception of ice climbing.
He wants locals to understand that ice climbing is not just for extreme athletes, but for anyone willing to embrace a little cold, a little fear, and some determination
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