Climbing to new heights: adventure company blazes ice-climbing path.

• Author: Kelly, Lindsay
• Position: SAULT STE. MARIE

Shaun Parent's career in geology took an unusual twist when he stopped in Thunder Bay while returning from "(he Prairies more than three decades ago.

"I was driving back from Saskatchewan, stopped at Lakehead University and I saw (a promotion for a program in) outdoor recreation, so I thought maybe I should take a break from exploration and sign up," he recalled.

That was in 1979, and, 36 years later, the Windsor-raised Parent still calls Northern Ontario home.

Now the owner-operator of Superior Exploration Adventure and Climbing Co. in Batchawana Bay, Parent is considered a pioneer in the world of rock and ice climbing, for the hundreds of climbs he's developed around Lake Superior's coast. He's published 17 guidebooks and is currently working on two more.

Before Parent began exploring the area in the late '70s, rock climbing in the North was virtually unheard of, but eyeing the big cliffs, sometimes 600 or 700 feet in height, Parent said he knew the North offered something special.

"I had climbed out west, and I'd seen the potential," he said. "I'd climbed in Yosemite, I'd climbed in Colorado, and I thought, 'Oh my god, we've got something here.'"

The area between Thunder Bay and Algoma now attracts people from all over the world--Argentina, Australia, South Africa, Japan--who explore the rock face during the summer months and climb the ice formations in winter.

Parent offers visitors a variety of climbs that range in difficulty from beginner to expert, and he tailors packages to guests' interests, which could include mountain biking, rock climbing, kayaking, old mine exploration, mineral prospecting, or ice climbing. In 2005, he added "cubing" to his repertoire: guests sit atop cubes of dense foam and float down a river, in a lazy, relaxed, river-based adventure.

Parent orchestrates all this while still undertaking mineral exploration for clients in locations around the world. Last year, he gained some notoriety following the introduction of new software for use in very low frequency (VLF) surveys he...