MOUNTAIN LIFE - Blue Mountains | Winter 2021

41 words & photos :: Kristin Schnelten Jim Faulkner summited the Matterhorn in Switzerland, Chimborazo in Ecuador, Gran Paradiso in Italy. A 13,323-foot mountain here, 20,548-foot there. Some he conquered back-to-back—two years ago he climbed seven peaks in 10 days. But today he’s at the edge of a frozen lake in Haliburton Highlands, gearing up for a trip of decidedly less-dramatic proportions. We’re just headed out for a little ice climbing. Four strangers and a guide, hacking away at 70-foot frozen waterfalls in the warm sun of early March. It takes a few hours before I learn of Jim’s mountaineering feats. He’s a modest man, soft-spoken and unassuming. It’s only through repeated questioning that the stories emerge, the track record leaving me scratching my head: “And you live in Barrie ?” Unbelievable as it is, Jim the insurance- broker- cum -mountaineer does indeed live down the road, just like the rest of us. Laura Bruulsema, Bre Robertson and I are merely first-timers on the ice, each of us quietly anxious as we listen to our guide’s instruction. Peter deMos, owner of Liv Outside Adventures, introduces us to ice tools and crampons in the parking lot. He demonstrates kicking our toes into the ice, to stabilize our weight with the least amount of exertion. Grabbing climbing boots from the van, the realization sets in: Mine are back at the shop. Peter takes the blame and apologizes, but let’s call it a mutual miscommunication. Resigned to my grounded state, I kick myself for leaving my hiking spikes at home. Something tells me the approach may be a bit slick in nothing but Sorels. We trudge across the lake in our helmets and harnesses, then up the steep, icy bank to the base of the rock—a short hike during which I fall flat on my face or backside countless times, sliding from one switchback down to the last, at times wishing I had an ice axe to self-arrest. Finally at the face, Peter hikes around the waterfall to the ridge, to set up a top rope. At the base, we watch and encourage, rest and chat. I discover Bre has only recently returned to the world of adventuring. After 25 years of disabling knee problems, three double-knee surgeries have given her a new ICE FLOW Making connections on frozen waterfalls CLIMBING L-R Jim Faulkner, Peter deMos, Bre Robertson, Laura Bruulsema.