We may not be able to enjoy climbing outdoors or even in gyms at the moment, but there are many resources for staying fit at home available at your fingertips!  Keeping active is vital not only for your sanity, but also to ensure your body stays healthy so your immune system is ready to respond.  We’d like to take this opportunity to share what gyms all across Ontario are doing to help the climbing community at this time.  We might be stuck at home and physically distanced, but we’re all in this together.

Check out these resources and see what fits into your schedule.  Stay healthy, stay strong, stay happy!

• Arc Climbing & Yoga has created a YouTube channel with a variety of training, yoga, and informational videos to keep you moving.
• Boulder Parc has created a Discord channel to keep the climbing community communicating with each other.  Join to chat with members and gym staff alike!
• Boulderz Climbing Centre held a virtual handstand progression challenge on their Instagram account, with prizes for the winners!  Follow them and keep your eyes peeled for more challenges to come. 
• The Cave posted a 6 episode series of climbing skill challenges that you can try using only equipment you can find in your house.
• You can get a personalized home training plan designed by Gravity Climbing‘s competitive team coach, Liz Maffett.  Contact her directly for more details!
• Hub Climbing has put on a variety of home workouts, all streaming on their dedicated Facebook Live Stream account!  Follow them to get notifications on the next session, or to watch videos that have already aired.
• Toprock Climbing hosts a dedicated core workout on their Instagram Live feed every Friday at 7pm, with additional workouts sprinkled throughout the week. You can also get a personalized hangboard plan set for you by contacting Kevin Allen!
• Follow Up the Bloc‘s instagram feed for a variety of home workouts from their personal trainers.
• And while not an Ontario gym per se, Gripped has been publishing a progressive stay at home workout series composed by Ontario climber Noah Walker.

Ontario’s Healthy Parks, Healthy People Survey—Nov. 25th Deadline
The Province of Ontario is collecting public feedback on how they can improve access to and raise awareness of nature’s health benefits. Part of Ontario’s Healthy Parks, Healthy People initiative, the deadline for submitting feedback is Nov. 25th, 2019. As someone who visits our provincial parks, the province wants your feedback. Let them know what rock and ice climbing means to you, in your own words. Let them know if you’d like to see more Ontario Parks opened up for climbing activities. 

Submit Your Feedback

Access Updates: Campden & Halton
On November 8th, OAC volunteers hosted the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority (NPCA) for a chilly but sunny day of climbing at Rattlesnake. It was a great chance for the NPCA to learn about climbing and the potential for sustainable climbing in areas like Cave Springs (aka Campden).On November 15th, Halton Conservation hosted a meeting attended by Randy Kielbasiewicz and Mike Makischuk of the OAC, Burlington Fire and the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority.  Topics included an updated evacuation plan for Mount Nemo created by the Burlington Fire representative, climbing access to the currently closed Campden Crag, and discussions regarding climbing at Conservation Halton Properties. 

OAC 2020 Calendar
The 2020 OAC Calendar has been printed & will be available in a MEC near you in just a few weeks. The calendar makes a great gift and all funds go towards projects like the Rattlesnake bolting project. Stay tuned for more details soon!

A special thank you to Dennis Barnes, Jessica Best and Bonnie De Bruijn for coordinating the calendar creation & to all of the photographers that submitted their beautiful photos!

There’s more to outdoor climbing than just roping up. 
We all have a role to play in keeping climbing access open to all of our favourite crags in Ontario.

If you’re already a lifetime member, thank you for your support! We’d like to ask you to consider a donation to further our work with the community and on the frontlines of climbing access.Make a donation to support Ontario crags and climbing

If you aren’t a member, please join us! We work hard to advocate for climbing and are on the ground keeping access open to over 1500 routes and boulders in Ontario. A lifetime membership is only $5, but getting in our good books is priceless.
Become a lifetime member

Member Exclusive: Giveaway Alert!
Win tickets to see National Geographic Live Mark Synnott: Life on the Vertical at Roy Thomson Hall on Sunday, Nov. 24th at 7pm. See the big wall rock-climber of the highest order. He’s made legendary first ascents of some of the world’s tallest, most forbidding walls, from Baffin Island to Pakistan. Today, he uses his skills to break scientific ground, reaching incredibly inaccessible environments in search of rare species. It’s all in the spirit of adventure and exploration to educate about these sites of strange, remote beauty.

The first 5 OAC members to email info@ontarioallianceofclimbers.ca by 1:30pm on Friday. Nov. 22nd. will each get a pair of tickets for this weekend’s show! Use “NGL Tickets” in your email subject line! 

Join Us at Reel Rock 14—Dec. 3rd
Join the OAC for Reel Rock 14, hosted by True North Climbing. You can catch this exciting lineup of films at the Ted Rogers Hot Docs Cinema on December 3rd. The first showing is at 7pm and, by popular demand, a second show has been added at 9:45pm.Want to get in touch with us? Maybe you have a question about something you read here. Or maybe you’re at the crag and need a little extra support on how to minimize your impact. Email us at info@ontarioallianceofclimbers.ca; we’re here to help!

Dear amateur and professional photographers, have you ever wanted to see your work published and hung on walls? We are putting together our annual Ontario Crags calendar and we need your help! Please consider donating a photo to help raise awareness and funds in support of the Ontario Access Coalition.

The Ontario Crags calendar aims to celebrate and highlight the wide variety of climbing that Ontario has to offer. We want to showcase everything from as many different crags and seasons as possible — ICE, SPORT, TRAD and BOULDERING are all honoured here. Valid photo submissions must have LANDSCAPE orientation (i.e. horizontal), and be of climbers at Ontario crags only (of course!).

Please send your best shots to submissions@ontarioaccesscoalition.com by SUNDAY, OCTOBER 6th for a chance to have your photo featured and credited in the calendar! Chosen entrants will get a free copy of the 2020 calendar as well as a credit complete with your name and website.

Please see additional rules of submission here:

Thanks in advance for your efforts to support the OAC!

This past Sunday, August 18, emergency services and nearby climbers successfully evacuated a climber from the far end of the Swamp, following a ground fall. The climber sustained non-life threatening injuries.

Please take this opportunity to refresh and update your safety systems while climbing. Some safety tips: Remember, the most important safety tool you have is your awareness and attention. Consider bringing a headlamp when you go to the crag, as well as wearing helmets. Renew your wilderness first-aid training—not all of our crags have cell phone service, and the furthest point of the Swamp is more than an hour from definitive care.

The OAC communicates on your behalf with emergency services about evacuations from our local crags. As always, thanks to our emergency responders for their excellent work!