anonymous99

A grouping of the three best ice-climbs ever IMHO (Terminator, Replicant, Sea of Vapors). Thanks for stoking the fire for the annual trip later this year! Anyone know if these have all been linked in a day?

Thank you, Dan/Dane. I appreciate your comments considering I am the person who fell and, in a very humble manner, limped out of there. I have always felt, as a climber, that if you get yourself into a situation you need to have the willpower and the abilities to get yourself out rather than endanger the lives of others who may come to aid. The fall was around 9:00am on Saturday and my partner and I were back at the car around 1:00pm. I have a broken left ankle along with spraining every tendon/ligament in that area. My right ankle suffered some damage as well. The rest were superficial scrapes and bruises (though I scared my youngest daughter with the nasty shiner on my left eye). Other than a cut above my right eye from a 40 lb ice block that I once knocked loose this has been the only damage that I've done to myself in 20+ years of climbing at a reasonable level and the only major fall that I've had. I feel that it is up to the people who make a living professionally climbing to write the stories so I've always been uncomfortable "spraying" - I don't feel that sharing past exploits is what climbing is about - climbing is deeply personal. But I'm not an inexperienced climber that made a stupid mistake either so I'll say that I've climbed WI7, have sportclimbed to 5.12d (though I've always preferred ice/alpine), have done the Kautz route on Rainier car-to-summit-to-car in 7:30 and Liberty Ridge in 8:35, the north ridge of Stuart (direct) in 6:30, etc. Granted - the above was in my youth and I'm no longer capable of these things. To set the record straight the ropes were 60m. And I clipped into the normal tree belay at the end of P1. As leader I intentionally headed off the normal route as the far left side seemed to hold more ice and that was the point. My partner and I were tuning up for a trip to ice climb in Banff in the next couple of weeks. I worked over a bulge, set a knifeblade, continued to work up toward a solid tree belay - I didn't find the climbing difficult. Finding limited protection opportunities I clipped a small tree from which I worked up and to the right. Both ice tools were placed in one patch of ice - one above the other by about two feet. Both had passed the "Lowe" tug so I comfortably moved my left foot up - at this point the ice popped. The movement moved me right over a lip which pulled the plant, then pulled the knifeblade (due to angle of fall). It was a heck of a ride though I never once doubted that I'd survive (the statement lucky to be alive might be an exaggeration), the tree at the end of P1 is solid and even hitting the snow at the bottom at such a steep angle wouldn't have been that bad (ever drop a 60' ski jump - most guys just land on their ass on steep landing like that). Needless to say, it could have been worse and I sincerely appreciate the people that were on that side of the mountain that day. Very competent, compassionate people that make this sport as special as it is. Again - thanks for the comments and concern.