Known for the scenic beauty of its spectacular gorge, Elora & Fergus offer visitors a truly unique way to embrace the deep freeze of Ontario’s winter. Adventurous types looking to get outdoors and make the most of the season before the warmer weather arrives can scale a wall of sheer ice on the face of the famous Elora gorge. For those looking to enjoy the incredible scenery of the gorge and the surrounding area with their feet on solid ground, Elora has a wealth of trails for hiking, snowshoeing and cross-country skiing.
The man-made ice wall is 20-metre high and more than 15 metres wide, and is open to experienced climbers and beginners, who can learn the ropes of ice climbing from experts with tour operator One Axe Pursuits.
One Axe Pursuits’ Elora location is one of the few places in Southern Ontario where ice climbing is permitted. One Axe, which operates rock climbing, caving and zip line programs for recreation, corporate team building and for the film industry, has exclusive rights to offer ice climbing at its location overlooking the gorge along Irvine Creek.
One Axe staff provide lessons on the basics of ice climbing – including how to use axes and crampons to dig into the ice for traction – before climbers tackle the ice wall. Two climbing blocks are offered daily – one for beginners and one for experienced climbers – throughout the winter.
WELLINGTON COUNTY MUSEUM & ARCHIVES TRAIL SYSTEM
“The museum is a great place for families to snowshoe because they can go for as long or as short of a hike as they want and we’ve also got public washrooms and a beautiful historic building where they can warm up after they’ve been out on the trails”
– Kyle Smith, Activity Programmer at the Wellington County Museum.
