Lion’s Head Climbing Update
Jul 15, 2009
A crew of top American climbers recently visited Lion’s Head and realized what many Ontario locals already knew - Lion’s Head offers some of the best difficult climbing in the province and arguably all of Canada. The strong team consisting of Sam Elias, Keith Ladzinsky, Chris Alstrin, Emily Harrington and Lauren Lee spent just over a week sampling the crag’s countless classic lines and more difficult testpieces. Elias put in the most impressive performance quickly dispatching such outstanding lines as Coeur de Lion 13a, Flying Squirrel 13a and the stunning Maxi Pista 13c which he described as “amazing and mind blowing.” On the women’s front, Lee bagged numerous hard 12s and sent the beautiful and challenging Everything is Illuminated 13a. Many of the ascents were filmed and will be included in an upcoming climbing DVD. Over the last decade, Lion’s Head has seen a quiet transformation with many new and established routes now sporting top anchors and starting from the ground. These changes have eliminated the need for uncomfortable hanging belays and bushwacking top outs and have reshaped Lion’s Head from an interesting locals area with time-consuming climbing logistics into a modern sport climbing destination.