So i posted about my visit to this location not to long ago but never actually did a full write-up on it, so here it is. This all started back when I first got into UE around a year and a half ago. Whenever I was driving downtown I'd always pass this massive structure and wonder what this giant decaying machine was used for. It ended up sparking my interest and it was at that very moment that my urban exploring journey started. I went to go visit the location with hopes of getting in but with no experience what so ever I failed. I was pretty bummed about not getting in but knew that it was indeed something I wanted to do in the near future.
Fast forward 6 months later and I once again visited the malt with a bit more experience and was pretty sure I was getting inside of this massive structure. Wrong. This happened 8 more times. Every time I would go, I'd come up with some crazy plans that I would either never follow through with or they would just fail miserably. That was all until I came up with something that I was so sure was going to work(Late June). Finally, on a hot July night after me and a buddy got everything together that we were going to need, we ventured off at 2am in the morning. The reasoning for this was that the entrance was um, lets just say very very exposed and we were going to need time. After a physically demanding entrance everything played out perfectly and we were inside the notorious Canada Malting Co.
This moment was truly special to me and even right now as I'm writing this is giving me such a strong sense of nostalgia. It was surreal to finally see the inside of this beast after spending so much time spent on the outside perimeter. Back to the story, after getting inside it was pitch black as expected, we had flashlights but scared to use them as it would draw so much attention to the building. We said screw it and blasted them on as I cared a bit more about losing my life then getting caught.
We first checked out the basement which was already pretty flooded and not to interesting. We searched all around for rooms on the ground level but found nothing except pure emptiness. Our only option was to start climbing this spiral staircase. We started climbing and climbing and climbing and dam was this staircase ever long. I must add that being 6'4 didn't help on the stairs as every rotation around I'd smash my head so hard on either a beam or a broken piece of metal. Overall I was really impressed with how little graffiti was in the place. Just some small tags here and there. Finally after venturing to the top we came to the first roof where we sat for a solid hour just taking in how crazy our adventure had been so far + the amazing view. I remembered seeing a picture on flickr of an old piece of scrap metal with all the explorers names who had been inside but unfortunately that was taken out and just welded flat on the ground with no way of moving it(not sure what the reasoning for this was). We then went to the very tip top of the plant where I found an old roll of tape and left a little mark of our trip there. After getting enough of the view we wanted to explore a bit more of the top area of the structure. We discovered that all the old "hell holes" that I use to hear about were patched up and the overall structure was relatively safe, not completely though as one door just lead down a massive hole(maybe an old stair case that was taken out?).
Now after we explored most of the structure we went out on to a balcony at the top that faced the airport. Looked over the edge and it looked like we had some visitors pulling up below us. One cop cruiser pulled up to the perimeter of the building. Scared shitless we just kept our heads down and waited to see what was going to happen next. One cop stayed at the car while the other slowly made his way around the property until he made it back around screaming "CLEAR!" to his fellow officer and they made their way off. Super close call and the best part was that I got it all on video and our reactions are priceless.
Eventually, we make our way up to the first roof we went on and watched the run rise and the city wake up on a warm summer morning. This feeling is still one of the most memorable of my life. Something about it was just so different then your normal sunrise mission. I didn't manage to capture any photos from the inside of the place as it was pitch black for the most part and we needed to get out of the place asap as the lighter it got outside the more visible we were and the more people there would be. Really disappointed about not getting to many pics but I tried to focus more on recording this adventure so I can have a stronger memory to look back on.
Finally we made our way down and escaped the property at approximately 6:30am. This place was truly something special as so much went into it. Everything went perfectly and I couldn't have asked for anything more. The cops showing up added that much more adrenaline to the adventure. Hopefully you guys enjoyed my first write-up! Any suggestions on what I could do to make them better would be greatly appreciated! Here are the few pictures that I got from the explore. (They were very rushed, I'll try and capture more next time!)
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