BY SCOTT HADDOW
Wild Northerner staff
When Shaun Parent arrived in northern Ontario in the late 70s, there was no one like him. Nearly four decades later, there still isn’t anyone like Parent in the region, but there sure are a lot of people enjoying the fruits of his passion with the extreme outdoors sport of rock and ice climbing. Parent, 60, has been called the father and pioneer of rock and ice climbing in northern Ontario. For good reason. His mountaineering experience ranges from North America to Nepal to India and South America. He introduced the sports to the area, starting out of Thunder Bay in 1979, and has been the driving force behind its growth ever since. He has discovered and developed more than 400 rock climbs, around 750 ice climbs, developed 15 areas and wrote 17 guide books. Parent owns and operates his own tourist company, Superior Exploration, which also works with the mining industry as he is also a mineral explorer. Parent seeks out wild times. He is an active para-glider pilot. He has been through some tough experiences such as falling off a speeding bus, being held captive and surviving serious injuries - and those weren’t even the worst. Parent took time out of his hectic schedule to give Wild Northerner magazine readers a glimpse into his life and what 37 years in the sport have taught him.