Blackcat Hill, Madawaska - New Ice Routes

Here's some more new route info for the Madawaska area.

Ice Routes at Blackcat Hill, Madawaska Highlands

Blackcat Hill is a distant, remote crag that has a number of long and interesting routes, some of which last well into April. It is one of the few crags in Southern Ontario that faces north. It gets practically no sun in the winter months, and then only some in the late afternoon in March/ April. As a result it can be painfully frigid at the base of the crag, even in March. It is a long drive from Toronto and a slog to get to.

Blackcat Hill Overview, Madawaska Highlands, Ontario.Directions:
Blackcat Hill is located east of the town of Madawska on the south shore of Little Cub Bay of Bark Lake in the Madawaska Highlands (see maps in the Kluke Lookout post as well). Map 21 F/5, reference 743420. Three approaches can be used to reach Blackcat Hill.
1) By going past the Kluke Lookout (Bear Mountain) cliff. Follow the directions given for Kluke Lookout (http://www.climbers.org/forum/2009/05/13/kluke-lookout-bear-mountain-madawaska-new-ice-routes). Then continue past the Kluke lookout cliff to the south end of Bear Lake (watch for thin ice at the beaver dam), follow a creek southwards for 300m (a bit bushwacky, but not bad) to the north end of Little Cub Bay of Bark Lake. Cross the bay to its south end. Blackcat Hill and the wide fat flow of Fat Cat will be easily visible from the middle of the bay - head straight for them (you may have to detour slightly around the outflow creek from Little Cub Bay to Bark Lake). The distance is some 3.7 km. Time will vary from 1.5 hours in good snow conditions to well over 2 hours when the snow is deep and non-supportive (the last 250m from the shoreline of Little Cub Bay to the base of the cliff being especially unpleasant).
Kluke Lookout/ Blackcat Hill Topo Map 2) By going over Kluke Lookout (Bear Mountain). If you are approaching in very late season and the ice on the lakes is suspect, you can get to Blackcat Hill by taking the trail from Highway 60 (same start as above) to near the top of Kluke Lookout (Bear Mountain), then bushwacking down its southern slopes (not bad) to the north-east corner of Blackcat Hill, passing by the Little Cub Bay slabs (see the Addendum at the end), then skirting the eastern shore (mucky, reedy) and southern shore (sandy, gravelly) of Little Cub Bay and hopping one creek to get to Blackcat Hill. 2 hours+. Only for the truly committed (or those who should be).
3) By walking along an old logging road/ trail that drops into the northwest corner of Little Cub Bay. To find the start of this trail, drive east from the town of Madawaska on Highway 60 for 7.5 km, looking for a slight opening (not flagged) in the woods on the south side of the highway. A semi-useful landmark is a sign for Barkwick camp (facing east and tottering over) some 70m further along on the north side of the highway. Follow the road/ trail (snowshoes a must). It will make two left-hand turns (in small clearings) and contour gradually and steadily downwards around a hill. When you can see a lake through the trees on your left, leave the trail and head down to the lake (100m) – this is Little Cub Bay. The rest of the approach is as described in option 1 above. The distance is close to 4 km.

John Chan leading Fat Cat. March 22, 2009. Photo by Don Collier.Alley Cat in fat conditions. March 11, 2006. Photo by Zbysziek Kielb.Fat Cat, WI3, 45m (FA Danylo Darewych, Zbyszek Kielb, Omri Menashe, March 11, 2006).
The obvious fat, blue flow in the middle of the crag. It’s 10-15 metres wide. The route starts with an initial 8 metre vertical step to a big wide, sloping ice ledge, followed by another 30+ metres of fat ice to the top. Good stances for placing screws. The ice lasts well into April.

Danylo on FA of Alley Cat in thin conditions. April 9, 2007. Photo by Don Collier.Alley Cat. April 6, 2008. Photo by Danylo Darewych.Alley Cat, WI3+ or WI 4-, 22m (FA Danylo Darewych, Don Collier, David Britnell, April 9, 2007).
Located in the corner/ open book 10m right of Fat Cat. Scramble up, over easy-angled snow and/ or ice for 10m, past a large cedar to a big ledge/ platform – this is where the route starts.
The route forms every year, but can vary greatly in nature – from a wide, fat sheet that fills the whole corner, to a thin column in the back of the corner, or a thick fat pillar. Expect some tricky, balancey moves from right to left at the crux.

The next two routes, Jungle Cat and Thundercat, are located side by side in a small alcove some 25m left of Fat Cat. Jungle Cat is on the right, Thundercat is on the left. Only about 5 metres separate these two routes, yet, surprisingly, they form as completely independent lines. I’m not sure if these two routes form every year. The ice can be thin and nastily brittle.

Thundercat. March 22, 2009. Photo by Don Collier.Jungle Cat, WI3 M3, 25m (FA John Chan, Don Collier, March 22, 2009)
The right side route in the alcove. A thin route. Weave among trees to a narrow column of hard-to-protect vertical ice some two and half body lengths high (rock gear, perhaps BD stoppers #4-6 and CCH blue Alien, would give some protection options on the rock corner). A few foot placements on rock may be necessary. Follow more easily angled ice to the top. Rap the route (guaranteed rope mess).

Thundercat, WI4, 25m (FA Dave Broadhead, Danylo Darewych, March 22, 2009)
The left side route in the alcove. Follow a thin smear of easy angled ice for 5-8m to a very thin vertical column. Find a stance on the right on a bit of a ledge, delicately climb the thin column (6m), step around tree (either right or left), then squeeze left past a big block, and up a final bulge to the top. Thin ice, awkward, balancey moves, and poor protection at the crux make this climb more difficult than the amount of vertical would suggest. Rap the route.

Don Collier on start of Tomcat. April 6, 2008. Photo by Jon Gullet.Top section of Tomcat. April 6, 2008. Photo by Don Collier.Tomcat, WI4-, 35-40m(FA, Danylo Darewych, Don Collier, Jon Gullett, April 6, 2008).
This route isn't really visible from the lake, because it is hidden by trees. To get to it, head for the thin ice line visible at the left end of the cliff (this is Pussycat). As you get to the base of Pussycat, Tomcat becomes visible just to the left of Pussycat.
Tomcat starts up some easier-angled (WI3) thin ice among trees for about 25 metres, but finishes with a really nice 10-12 m just off-vertical (85 degree) corner. The ice can be a dripping, unprotectable, chandeliery mess on the top section, but the position makes up for it.

Danylo Darewych on Pussycat, just after the traverse from Tomcat. April 6, 2008. Photo by Don Collier.Pussycat, WI 3+, 35-40m (FA, Danylo Darewych, Jon Gullett, Don Collier, April 6, 2008).
Another worthwhile and interesting route. Pussycat is visible from the lake as a narrow route on the left end of the cliff.
Pussycat starts 5 metres to the right of Tomcat. The route does not seem to touch down all the way to the base of the cliff, so start by climbing the first 10-15 metres of Tomcat (which starts just to the left), traverse right through some trees, and continue up Pussycat. The next 10-15 metres are fairly easy angled, but then the route kicks back for the final 10-12 metres to almost vertical (although not quite as steep as Tomcat). The ice is only about 2 body widths wide, but quite thick at this point, and the protection is good. The route ends under a small overhang covered with a thin layer of completely unbonded ice. Prepare to make a sketchy traverse left over loose rocks, using an only-slightly alive, stunted cedar as a handhold and then exit through some annoying cedar shrubbery (I hauled on it shamelessly). Or make a v-thread in the thick ice under the overhang.
This route would be harder (WI4), if the ice touched down all the way to the bottom, because the ice would spill over a small roof 5 metres from the ground, and probably be very thin.

Little Cub Bay Slabs. April 6, 2008. Photo by Don Collier.Addendum – Little Cub Bay Slabs, WI2 15-20m(FA: Don Collier, April 9, 2007)
If you do take the over-the-top-of-Kluke route to get to Blackcat Hill you will pass by some easy-angled ice-covered slabs at the north-east corner of Little Cub Bay (Map 31 F/12, Ref 741444). These were climbed by Don Collier “in a new route haze” on the way to Blackcat and in his words are: “Probably covered with snow most of the year and not worth the effort unless you happen to go right by them.”

Some Nature Info:
The rock is “part of a large intrusive mass known as the Algonquin Batholith (Lumbers, 1980). This same body underlies most of the eastern side of Algonquin Provincial Park. These are Mesoproterozoic intrusive rocks some 1450 to 1420 million years old. Work by Eastern (1992) and others of the Ontario Geological Survey indicates this area to be part of a structural area termed the Opeongo Domain of the Algonquin Terrain. Quaternary deposits are confirmed to the east end of Bell Bay.”(2)
The area is home to some species of plants that are normally found much further north. “Significant plants with arctic affinities … are Encrusted Saxifrage, Threetoothed Cinquefoil, Fragrant Cliff Fern and a grass Narrow False Oats (Trisetum spicatum). These plants are provincially common and secure but at their southern extreme located in a unique isolated habitat.”(3)

(1) A batholith (from Greek bathos, depth + lithos, rock) is a large emplacement of igneous intrusive (also called plutonic) rock that forms from cooled magma deep in the Earth's crust. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batholith
(2) http://nhic.mnr.gov.on.ca/areas/areas_report.cfm?areaid=3017
(3) http://madawaskavalley.on.ca/municipal/documents/Initial%20Environmental%20Impact%20Study%20-%20Bark%20Lake.pdf

Lodging: Most convenient, and cheapest, place to stay in the area is the HI South Algonquin Backpackers Hostel (aka The Arlington Hotel) in Maynooth. The place has a lot of “character” and it’s usually empty. There is a pub on the ground floor of the Hotel, but it’s rarely open in winter.

Food: Bring your own food and cook in the hostel kitchen, since there is nothing open in Maynooth or Madawaska at the time of day when climbers are looking either for breakfast or dinner. Otherwise, stop in Bancroft or try the Spectacle Lake Lodge (a couple of kilometres past the Kluke lookout access trail) which caters to snowmobilers and appears to be open fairly early and relatively late.

Hope you enjoy the climbs at Blackcat, if you decide to check them out. I go there once a year and find it's worth the slog (but then I'm biased). Let me know if you're interested. I also have mini-guides in word format, if anybody is interested.

Danylo Darewych