![]() After all, he has survived a 2,000-foot slide after an anchor failed due to thawed ice conditions on the Moose’s Tooth. The quote struck me, because my perception of Jennings has been that he’s a little more comfortable with risk than most people. “I almost think ice is safer ,” said Ryan Jennings, who earned a Golden Piton award with Kevin Cooper for their first ascent of Stairway to Heaven (Alaska 6 A1 M6 WI4 AI5+) on Alaska’s Mt. I recently interviewed several avid ice climbers – Ryan Jennings, Josh Allison and Mike Schneiter – to see if I might gain some insight on this masochistic pastime. Was I as crazy as I looked to keep ice climbing? What kept me coming back?ĭid ice climbing do this to him? Heath Ledger’s portrayal of the Joker in the movie, The Dark Knight. It gave me the effect of a crazy smile that looked like Heath Ledger’s Joker. I ducked most of those, but one block left a temporary scar that turned up at the corner of my mouth. Even then, there were ice blocks that fell out and clobbered my face as I swung my axes into frozen drips. For a long time after the two near misses, I only toproped. My old, leashed Cobras didn’t make protection placements any easier, since I had to fumble with the frozen nylon nooses to free a hand that could do the task while warm blood drained from the hand that was tethered above me. Except the flat frontpoints would skate off of stances at inopportune moments, which made placing ice screws quite terrifying. Rarely one to blame the inferiority of my equipment for my lack of ability, I reasoned that leading WI5 on flat-tipped snow crampons was perfectly doable. It seemed my physical ability was outpacing my judgment.įor one thing, my gear was lacking. I decided then that I must not know what I was doing. Then, on my first day out the following winter, I was nearly smashed to a stain when a large pillar collapsed above me on a multi-pitch climb (the bulk of the debris shot over the top of me, but the smaller ice bricks beat me up enough that it hurt to breathe for days afterward). That season ended with a near-fatal fall on a routine free solo before dark, in which a tool popped out I narrowly arrested myself by bridging a chimney with my outstretched body, just before taking the Big Ride. I almost quit ice climbing after a bad year in 2007. Josh Allison places a screw in Rifle Mountain Park on a recent afternoon. ![]()
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