Dear amateur and professional photographers, have you ever wanted to see your work published and hung on walls? We are putting together our annual Ontario Crags calendar and we need your help! Please consider donating a photo to help raise awareness and funds in support of the Ontario Access Coalition.

The Ontario Crags calendar aims to celebrate and highlight the wide variety of climbing that Ontario has to offer. We want to showcase everything from as many different crags and seasons as possible — ICE, SPORT, TRAD and BOULDERING are all honoured here. Valid photo submissions must have LANDSCAPE orientation (i.e. horizontal), and be of climbers at Ontario crags only (of course!).

Please send your best shots to submissions@ontarioaccesscoalition.com by SUNDAY, OCTOBER 6th for a chance to have your photo featured and credited in the calendar! Chosen entrants will get a free copy of the 2020 calendar as well as a credit complete with your name and website.

Please see additional rules of submission here:

Thanks in advance for your efforts to support the OAC!

This past Sunday, August 18, emergency services and nearby climbers successfully evacuated a climber from the far end of the Swamp, following a ground fall. The climber sustained non-life threatening injuries.

Please take this opportunity to refresh and update your safety systems while climbing. Some safety tips: Remember, the most important safety tool you have is your awareness and attention. Consider bringing a headlamp when you go to the crag, as well as wearing helmets. Renew your wilderness first-aid training—not all of our crags have cell phone service, and the furthest point of the Swamp is more than an hour from definitive care.

The OAC communicates on your behalf with emergency services about evacuations from our local crags. As always, thanks to our emergency responders for their excellent work!

We’d like to send out a big THANK YOU to everyone who came out to our first community discussion at Climber’s Corner last week.  We had great turnout and a productive conversation, with proof that the Ontario climbing community is dedicated to ensuring we’re following best practices and building a strong reputation as climbers. 

Meeting minutes can be found at here for those of you who could not make it:

We are also announcing our second community discussion to be held at Grand River Rocks next Wednesday, July 24 at 7pm!  Come on out to learn about local access issues and make your voice heard!

Rock climbing access at Devil’s Glen (DG) is facing steep environmental, social, and logistical challenges.

In response, the Ontario Alliance of Climbers would like to invite you to a community discussion about the important issues that are facing our beloved crag. Thursday, July 11th, we’ll be meeting at Climbers Corner in Collingwood from 7-9pm. 

The topics we’ll be discussing include:

1. The history and current state of rock climbing access at DG
2. DG’s primary access threats
3. What climbers are seeing when they visit DG
4. What we can do, as a community, to improve access
5. The formation of the Beaver Valley Climber’s Collective

So, come out for a few pitches and some productive conversation about the important issues that are facing our beloved Devil’s Glen!

We look forward to chatting with you!

Lions Head and Devil’s Glen climbing access is AT RISK. 

The OAC is currently in talks with Ontario Parks to address their concerns regarding the impact of climbers in these areas. 
As these sensitive discussions progress, please continue to be great ambassadors for our sport by minimizing your impact at all Ontario crags. Steps you can take include:

• Avoid visiting these crags in large groups.
• Please visit other areas when possible. Ontario is home to many great climbing areas. Please do your part by spreading the love to other, less traveled areas! 
• Continue to practice good crag etiquette and leave no trace ethics. This also applies to human waste. 
• Be proactive in communicating best practices to other climbers.
• Do not visit these crags without the appropriate level of skill. 
• Reminder: Lions Head is an advanced crag and it is not suitable for new climbers.

For more information, read our Gym-to-Crag best practices.

We’ll provide updates as conversations with Ontario Parks progress.

Every year, the Ontario Alliance of Climbers holds an Annual General Meeting. We appreciate Conservation Halton’s support in hosting us at Rattlesnake Point Conservation Area this past June 1st, 2019. The short formal portion of the meeting allows OAC members to elect Directors for the coming year (as legally mandated). Afterwards, the AGM gives us the opportunity to connect with the membership in a loosely structured Q&A discussion session.

Discussions during this year’s Q&A included:
* Why were glue-in bolts chosen for the Rattlesnake project?
* Does the OAC need help with (other) bolting projects?
* When is the OAC going to start buying crags?
* What are the different ways volunteers can support the OAC?
* Why does the OAC not provide funding to individuals engaged in retro-bolting?
* Does the OAC have policies in place about who can bolt?
* Are records being kept of hardware specs when bolting/retro-bolting is being done?
* Will more 2019 OAC calendars be available?

Thanks to those who came out to the meeting!

2019 AGM materials (Q&A, minutes, access sends)