DIAMOND LAKE
A collection of images from ice season 2021
BOW LAKE
Bancroft, Ontario, CA
SHERBORNE LAKE
Haliburton County, Ontario, CA
DIAMOND LAKE
Madawaska Valley, Ontario, CA
THANK YOU
Note to my friends:
Oh, I remember my first day of ice climbing like it was yesterday. Largely because of the terror it triggered holding the opposite end of a rope that served no purpose. But mostly because of the thumbtack-sized scar on my forehead from a falling hunk of glass. Seeing my scar prompts memories of an Ontario morning in January, where I was somehow persuaded to leave my warm bed at 4:30am to climb icicles. It sounds unethical.
So who knew 4 years later I’d still be up at 4:30am on days off to visit places most people I know would consider horrible. But it was an experience that would grab at my shoulders and shake till my eyes opened. On that first day, eagerness drained from my hands, then leaked out my forearms, burned my fingernails and left me dangling from my imperceptible limbs. The second my arms relaxed, that energy surged back and woke me up at a time in my life when I felt very little. No wonder it's been 4 years.
It’s been 4 years, and I’m still a terrible climber. But improving has never been my main priority. What I love is the "escapism" of ice. Yeah, sure. I'll call it that. We explore landscapes during seasons when everything sleeps. Pin-sized houses lying dormant until the summer watch us wander across barely frozen lakes. We press our tools and crampons into steep walls of delicate ice and spend hours hauling our friends up ropes and making snow angels and snowmen. We complain about the pain, wind, hunger, the explosive bangs from below the lake, but nothing from yesterday or tomorrow. The 5 hours of climbing is more than worth the 6-hour drive because if we’re able to leave reality behind for even a day, it’s enough.
It’s barely about the climbing.
I’m happy to have photographed last season. The restrictions in Toronto were colder than a single day up north. The stress of COVID was tougher to endure than the screaming barfies. Watching hopelessly as my mom disappeared was more painful than a cut from the ice. So we did alright. Thank you to my friends for an incredible season of laughs and adventure. Climbing with all of you was a privilege ...you really do save my ass every time lol
-Char
Follow me on IG: @otterchar
