Hrmph...is winter slow or what? Well, on this bluest of Mondays with windchills of -28C, shirley we can find something to do indoors, right? Wrong! ...and don't call me Shirley. There will be plenty of time for indoor stuff come rainy spring, snow comes but once a season.

Well, you could follow the advice of the article in the first link and cram chocolate down your throat like a hyper PMS dame in heat to add some excitement in your day, but that would be the equivalent of getting wasted and sleeping one off. Using chocolate to bring spice and excitement in your life is like using typhoid Mary as your 'friends with benefits' partner. The instant gratification obtained on the moment, is shortly lived, followed by remorse and your body never forgiving you.

On a second thought, chocolate may be the lesser evil of the two.

You want excitement on a blue day, ice climbing is it..IT. I dont think anything comes even close, during this season. Best of all, living in a developed nation with safety conscious people and above par health care (more on that later), makes this less of an extreme adventure, and more of a fun and safe outing. Age and gender do not matter and I've personally witnessed dainty little princesses with their hello kitty mittens outperforming my toned and refined upper body on the icefalls. It's not about strength at all, you just let the equipment do the work. And seeing 2 inches of a pick axe hold your entire 170lb body off of a 90° sheet of ice is stuff straight out of Ripley's believe it or not.



Here's what you need to know. Easiest way if you're not a pro is going with a tour and a guide that knows what the hell they're doing. They will take care of all the safety, ropes, equipment and I promise you won't ever need to know what belaying is. Fortunately northern cottage country above Toronto has plenty of cold spots where one can find tours. You can find one here and another one here. The latter one has just one trip a year I believe and for this year is scheduled for Feb 5, 2011.



If you believe the price is high, take a moment and think what it would be, should you want to do it on your own. Uh-huh. Now for safety, the second link covers well pretty much what you need on one these outings. Head cover including ears, a heavy down jacket (10 layers of wool sweaters with a regular lighweight jacket will not do), 2 pairs of gloves as they will get wet (it's ice water not pretend make-belief water) and sun glasses. These are important people, or the photokeratitis (say what?) will hit you so hard and so fast you'll be grounding up oxycodone back home, just to see if you can make it into eye-drops form. Trust me, it hurts like hell.

Hit the ice, good luck and have fun. It's safeeee! If not we got free healthcare, right?

Cost: $100-130 for the entire day