
Hard Earned Lessons From Years in the Notch
“Never fall on ice”
This maxim of ice climbing was drilled into my psyche, like characters carved from a stone tablet, from my very first days of ice climbing in the Auburn ice bowl outside of Worcester Massachusetts. As we struggled up ice bulges on the man made walls of that aqueduct with two sawed off mountaineering axes, a neon yellow Elderid helmet, and an Alpine Bod harness, the rationale was clear. On a visceral level, it is easy to understand why this saying has taken primacy in the canon of ice climbing adages – falling with sharp objects rigidly attached to your body onto gear of questionable solidity should never be considered routine.
Aside from this most basic of ice climbing precepts, are there other nuggets of wisdom out there of similar value? After twenty three years of climbing with many climbers of superior talent and athletic ability than myself, I’ve come to understand some of the more subtle axioms of this sport that entertains us through long, cold and dark Vermont winters. As our community grows, I hope that climbers new to the sport would find some use in a few of these more obscure pieces of advice.
“Climbing ice in very low temperatures is less safe and less fun.”
On its face, this would seem obvious, however, when climbing shifts from casual pursuit to addiction, the ephemeral nature of ice imparts a sense of urgency that can put you at the bottom of a route in suboptimal conditions. Your love affair with ice climbing will, hopefully, be a long one and that route will return again. Make sure that you get to enjoy the route in addition to checking it off your ticklist. Concrete hard ice, difficult to place gear and frostbitten appendages do not make for an enjoyable day. All that said, if Pipe Dream shows up in good condition and it’s 0 degrees at the Lake, you just may have to violate this clause.
“The condition of ice is not based solely on the weather today, but also the conditions on preceding days”
I’ve been watching it rain for two days straight at my office in Burlington, but it’s going to be 25 degrees tomorrow and someone posted that Positive Thinking was “in good” a couple of days ago. Time to get in the car? Think again. That ice that looked great three days ago, has changed substantially, probably for the worse. Maybe give it a day or two more to rebond to the wall.
“The quality of the ice can often be ascertained from the base of the route before you even swing a tool.”
Once you have chosen to make the trip to the base of that route, now you have to make the call on whether to go for it. Mother Nature gives us subtle and not so subtle clues as to the quality and stability of the ice that we can read before we even get on the route. White, opaque ice signifies aeration and potentially poor gear. Faceted fractures within the ice suggest brittleness while dripping water means that you may find the veins of plastic ice that we all covet. To truly understand all of these variations takes years of observation, so work to continuously upgrade your knowledge by taking mental notes of these differences on every climb you complete.
“The safety of free hanging ice is completely dependent on the plasticity of the ice which is further dependent on preceding weather and the physical structure of the hanging ice.”
For those that choose to venture into the dark art of climbing free hanging ice or even climbing under it, the integrity of the ice structure is of utmost importance. This applies even if one is top roping. The plasticity of the ice and its overall architecture dictate the relative safety of these features. Bottom heavy hanging ice should be avoided and hanging ice should be generally avoided on cold days or under brittle ice conditions. One cubic foot of ice weighs 57 pounds. Keep that figure in mind when you are considering launching up that ten foot long four foot wide piece of ice.
“Think about how your gear will be affected by environmental conditions after you have placed it for the entire time that it will be an element in your belay system.”
As you are leading a pitch and placing gear, variables such as active water courses, sunshine and temperature can affect the integrity of the gear in a short time. Screws can melt out and ropes can freeze to gear, both of which can turn a great day out into an epic. Think about how your gear will interact with the environment when you are placing it.
“If you choose to run out easy terrain, you are effectively soloing.”
While this may, at first, appear to be self evident, the security of an ice tool in good ice can lead to complacency and sloppy climbing. Adopting the mindset required for soloing will result in more careful placements and more deliberate use of proper technique even when on easy terrain.
“Ice climbing is often more cerebral than it is physical”
With the explosive growth in popularity of gym climbing, climbers making the transition to outdoors often arrive with a higher level of athleticism. Steep ice, for a strong gym climber, can seem to be relatively trivial. True mastery of ice climbing, however, is achieved through a combination of strength, technique, mental training and years of accumulated knowledge. Even more so than rock climbing, knowledge is critical to safely engage in this sport. The second two elements needed to be heavily weighted when one is choosing to attempt a climb.
While these axioms are not intended to be comprehensive, I hope that people who are new to ice climbing can find some value in these words. Given that knowledge plays such a critical role to safely engage in the sport, carefully consider getting instruction from a certified guide for your first days out. Most of all, have fun!