Winter Fun

WINTER FUN

Though I have tried to convince my daughter that snow boarding is not the only winter activity, she will hear none of it. Living in whistler and Lake Louise for the last few years she perceives winter fun as gliding through knee deep powder in the latest of gortex survival gear. Where is the glamour in that? I tell you there is nothing more invigorating than an icy crawl down a rocky tube somewhere in Ontario. Think you can reach the mountains every weekend? Yeah, exactly, case in point. Neoprene with hoodie, hemet and rubber boots not your style? Give your head a shake, this is where its at.

Living as far north as we do in Ontario you might wonder how a caver can still pursue their interests of underground exploration while the snow still blankets the ground. There are two issues that relate to winter caving in Ontario, firstly the environment and secondly the elements.

As far as the environment goes a caver must always be especially wary of the animals in the caves they visit. Bats in Ontario hibernate through the winter in certain caves and to disturb them is as good as killing them. If they awaken while they should be sleeping they use up a valuable fat deposit and then discover there are no insects to feed on, this said they go back to sleep without replenishing their energy. In the Spring time when it comes time to awaken, there is no energy there to accomplish that task so they just sleep themselves to death. Only go underground in the winter with cavers who know the area and are aware of where bats hibernate.

It is also common to find porcupines in Ontario’s underground tunnels. He is a shy and furry little fellow who generally wriggles deeper into whatever crevice you might find him, blinking myopically at your light and hoping you will go away. Their presence is noted by their droppings and their tendency to strip the bark off trees around where they hide. I have often found myself crawling through tunnels almost choked by their waste material which when left long enough decomposes to an earthy substance. There is a cave in the Marmora area that is accessed by a slot in a low crumbling cliff. I call this the Marmora Maze Cave. If followed a short wriggling distance along a narrow crevice you soon drop down into a deeper level that is seasonally washed by torrents of river water. The tunnels are low and wide in this particular spot and as the explorer progresses up slope they will soon discover themselves mired in porcupine droppings. It smells just terrible and has stopped me from following up in that direction. One day when I run out of virgin passage I will probably make another attempt.

Mid-winter will find the Herald Moth underground. They look at first glance like numerous leaf flakes hanging on the underside of a rock shelf, their wings folded together they have a distinctive, jagged texture when seen in mass. Their appearance on the surface heralds the arrival of spring, hence their name. The more surface connections, the more animals you are likely to find. There is one example of a tunnel system that breaks through a limestone ridge above the Ottawa River that is a good example of this. It is absolutly overrun by porcupines and as the landowner said, “Those porcupines are damn destructive, if you see any you can do me the favour of killing them”. (Naturally I sympathized with their precarious existance in so hostile an environment)

The elements are indeed a formidable obstacle. Most Ontario caves are in some way quite closely related to the water table. In the winter this generally means a wet suit though this past year, in a rather active winter caving season, Doug and I made several freezing crawls in temperatures reaching minus 18. During one horrific morning we squeezed down a narrow, water filled tube, myself in a nothing more than a sweatshirt. A wet suit is almost essential for winter water caving. Hypothermia sets in really quickly; it’s a deadly game if you are not careful. Wearing neoprene in the XS Wire cave on the escarpment above Hamilton I began to get serious cramps in my leg muscles after being emerged and digging in water filled tunnels for about three hours.

One of the most exciting winter caving locations that we visited in Ontario this year was Marmora. It is a place that should appeal to any environmental enthusiast, explorer or adventurer. In the summer it is a great place to hike and canoe as well. Doug and I visited the Marmora karst in January of this year; it is an area of extensive limestone breakdown along the shores of the Crowe River. An impressive side channel sinks down cracks in the riverbed and a river 30 feet wide entirely disappears beneath the ground. This is really fertile caving ground; I am yet to fully explore the place.

Down where the water re emerges from the rock there are some beautiful high tunnels in the rock, they are remarkably straight and if you are willing to get wet you can wander through, your journey lit at times by skylights in the roof above. In the winter the water can be pretty wild and the thought of just stepping off in to the white water and hoping not to stumble is quite daunting. Nevertheless, I knew where most of the tunnels surfaced and I set off with my camera to take a few winter pictures. In the main channels the water really blasted along but in side tunnels the water was still and I crawled along on an underground sheet of ice. The formations were fantastic, all different kinds of hanging decorations, emulating the stone stalactites and stalagmites.
There are a few interesting things to note about the ice formations. The transparency is generally indicative of the stability of the environment. Some hanging draperies are absolutely crystal clear and in one case I wandered into an invisible pane of ice only realizing it was there when I knocked into it with my helmet. Ice crystals generally grow into the breeze and single crystals have been known to reach impressive sizes. In colder areas some formations can last for several centuries. Ice columns that barred the way finally stopped my explorations down one really promising tunnel. In the entrance to another tunnel I carefully picked way amongst a forest of stubby little ice pillars. One hesitates to damage them even though they will melt with the spring. It would be like stomping on flowers just for the heck of it.