Landon's Bay, Sunday January 3, 2010

Driving home from the Daks on Sunday I stopped to check out the ice at Landon's Bay east of Gananoque, an area I had never visited before. I wasn't really expecting the bay to be frozen over, but it turned out to be fine, so I went for a look. I wasn't expecting a lot of ice either, but again I was pleasantly surprised - there was already a fair bit of ice. Some of the routes were still on the thin side, but they were there.
Overall it's a nice area, in a nice setting on a long narrow bay lined with crags and with some interesting looking routes. Some of the routes looked a little more vertical and harder than the guidebook grades would suggest (I Scream Sunday, a gulley capped with a chockstone, is given just a WI2+?), but perhaps the ice is till in early season shape. I only climbed one route - They Don't Fix Your Brakes or Psoriasis - which seemed about right for the grade of WI2.
Here are some photos of the main ice routes more or less in order from south to north as you would see them walking in. I tried identifying them as best as I could, but I couldn't quite match up the photos with guidebook descriptions (I don't think the routes have filled in yet, plus there appears to be some ice that is not listed in the guidebook).

Dirty Half Dozen Wall on right, Jan 3, 2010Here's a photo of the first decent ice. I'm not sure what the route in the middle of the photo is called, but the routes on the right are the Dirty Half Dozen Wall.

They Don't Fix Your Brakes (left side of flow) and Psoriasis (middle part)I Scream Sunday, Jan 3, 2010 Here's a closer look at the two main lines on the Dirty Half Dozen Wall - They Don't Fix Your Brakes and Psoriasis (I'm not really sure how to tell them apart). They're about 20 metres high.














Here's a photo of I Scream Sunday which is found in a gulley/chimney 10m to the right of Psoriasis.












Fab Four Wall?, Dec 3, 2010 Here's the next major flow. I think this may be The Fab Four (John, Paul, George Ringo), but I don't really see four lines here, nor "the low-angle apron of thin ice" leading to a steep wall that the guidebook mentions.












unsure, maybe Fab Four So, then maybe this photo shows the Fab Four (I don't know).










Froggie' s Face, Jan 3, 2009 However, I'm pretty sure that this is Froggie's Face, at the very far northern end of the bay (and on the other side from the other crags). It didn't look very well formed except at the top.






Anyway, Landon's Bay is definitely worth a visit.