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New Northwestern Ontario Guidebook Preview and More

Aric Fishman of Thunder Bay has been working hard to release his new guidebook to Northwestern Ontario. It will include hundreds of routes, many of which have never been published, colour photos, topos, maps and more. The last guidebook to the area was by Alex Joseph over a decade ago. Fishman’s guidebook will include adventurous routes up to 100 metres, sport routes to 5.13d and everything in between. While the area has no 5.14s, there are a number of strong climbers visiting the area this fall who will hopefully send some of the possible 5.14 projects. In the video below, you can watch drone footage by Fishman of climbers on Spiral Galaxy, a classic two-pitch 5.8 near Thunder Bay. For more information on the guidebook see here.

The area where Spiral Galaxy is located was referred to as Squaw Bay, but locals have since agreed it would be best to rename the area to Brule Bay, after the body of water it stands above and the road that skirts its base. A similar decision was made in Squamish a few years ago when locals changed the name of the cliff called the Squaw to Slhaney. Anyone driving across Canada to rock climb out east or west must drive through Northwestern Ontario. The climbs have long been popular with Winnipeg and Minnesota climbers and over the past few years have attracted some Southern Ontario senders to make the trip. The new guidebook by Fishman will surely expose the area’s beauty and splitter climbing to many climbers.

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