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I'm far from an elite climber, but I belong to the Alpine Club of Canada, have taken several courses and done more than my share of rock and ice climbing. I'm n

by hluska 12y ago

I'm far from an elite climber, but I belong to the Alpine Club of Canada, have taken several courses and done more than my share of rock and ice climbing. I'm not good enough to give you a definitive answer, but I have a story about the mental side of climbing. The first time I ever ice climbed was just terrifying. The entire environment, from the falling ice, to death cookies (if you wear crampons and step on a large piece of ice, your crampons become skates), to the slope is all designed to kill. One of my very first pitches, I was going up just great until I reached about forty feet. Then, the insanity of it all hit me...I mean, I'm afraid of flying in airplanes and there I was climbing a waterfall in the f'ing Rocky Mountains??? As the fear gripped me, my body failed. I started gripping onto my ice tools as tight as I could; so tight my arms spasmed until finally I had no strength left and I dropped. so, there I was on the side of a fricking waterfall, the ice tools (that I borrowed from a guy who bagged Everest) were six feet above me, and I had no strength left. My fear created the exact situation I was afraid of...

bobbles 12y ago
Scary stuff, did you survive? But seriously, how'd you recover from that?
- marcusrussi 12y ago
  I want to know if this guy was leading or on a toprope. If it was a lead climb he had no business doing it, you have to already be a skilled ice climber to lead a pitch of ice since the consequences of a fall are much higher than on toprope. If this was a toproped climb then the guy is exaggerating.
  - snowwrestler 12y ago
    On a tall climb, stretch and a bit of slack are enough to drop 5-6 feet if you fall on top rope. And it's not very nice to say someone is exaggerating their emotional state. :-) It's certainly possible for people to get very scared the first time they climb 40 feet up, even on top rope.

by hluska 12y ago

bobbles 12y ago

Scary stuff, did you survive? But seriously, how'd you recover from that?

marcusrussi 12y ago
I want to know if this guy was leading or on a toprope. If it was a lead climb he had no business doing it, you have to already be a skilled ice climber to lead a pitch of ice since the consequences of a fall are much higher than on toprope. If this was a toproped climb then the guy is exaggerating.
- snowwrestler 12y ago
  On a tall climb, stretch and a bit of slack are enough to drop 5-6 feet if you fall on top rope. And it's not very nice to say someone is exaggerating their emotional state. :-) It's certainly possible for people to get very scared the first time they climb 40 feet up, even on top rope.