The ice-climbing wall in St. Boniface is ready to be conquered. Saturday afternoon, climbers battled the cold to make it to the top of the 20-metre ice wall.
"It seems a little bigger this year,” said ice climber Paul Hrynkow.“We left the bars up a little long and just, the way the wind blows and what nature gives from year to year."
The wall was built using a metal frame and a water sprinkler system, which sprayed a light mist onto the frame, slowly covering it in a thick layer of ice.
The three-sided tower offers a variety of ice climbing in varying degrees of difficulty, and resembles a real mountain slope.
"It's a shorter distance, but it's a lot more vertical than in nature,” said Hrynkow. “In nature, you are exposed to elements, much larger pitches, longer distances."
The Alpine Club of Canada has some ice-climbing equipment available for people to use and share, free of charge.
The wall is open every Saturday and Sunday from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Fridays 6:30 to 9:30.
Climbing may be cancelled when the wind chill factor reaches - 31 C or colder.
