My partner
for the day is Bigfoot Mountain Guide, Ryan Stefiuk. I first met
Ryan back in January 2012 for a day of Catskills Ice Climbing and again in
September for a marathon day of 5.fun classic climbing at The Gunks. Ryan is a very experienced, very
accomplished, and very proficient climber with an incredible amount of
knowledge and I’ve adopted him as a mentor.
When we met up that morning in Saugerties and began loading gear into my
trunk I noticed how ridiculously his gargantuan-size 15 boots (hence the
moniker, Bigfoot) dwarf my average size-9 boots. I felt sort of like John Connor’s
character from Terminator 2 when he realized the cyborg killing machine played
by Arnold Schwarzenegger would be his personal body guard.
This would
be my third Catskills trip, fourth ice climbing experience. I first climbed Stony Clove’s East Side back
in February 2011 with my wife. Later, in
March 2011, while visiting Smuggler’s Notch my wife and I climbed a man-made
ice wall (set over an outdoor gym-climbing wall). And last year’s visit to the Dark Side at
Platte Cove with Ryan. For this trip, we
went to Stony Clove’s West Side. All
routes were lead by Ryan, with me following and cleaning gear. The climbs we did were Climax, WI2+, Ice
Capades, WI2+, The Entertainer, WI3+, and Ron’s Gully, WI2+ (grades found on
Mountain Project, conditions may + or – a grade).
Starting off
I was a bit awkward. I quickly tired my
hands on the first climb by overgripping my tools. Not so much from holding on to them for dear
life as it was bad technique and a brand new pair of heavy gloves. Ryan advised me on gripping the tools lower
and letting the leashes do more of the work.
I felt much better on the second route and while on its steeper sections
I found my focus and fell into a rhythm.
Our third climb, The Entertainer (between 3+ and 4- that day), Ryan
suggested that if needed to I could deviate from his direct line and take the
path of least resistance, even to leave some of the screws for him to clean on
rappel. I almost took it as a challenge
and charged up the route, attacking the bulges and making it a matter of pride
that I retrieve every piece of gear. It
was an ugly grovel and I had to call take several times, but I managed to top
out with each and every screw and draw, completely exhausted. We finished the day with a climb on Ron’s
Gully. Just before the anchors there was
a short bulge that looked like a worthwhile challenge. I found myself in a very awkward foot stance
and trying to score a solid front point placement with limited room to kick and
repeatedly bashed my knees. After
lowering, Ryan was able to break down for me what I was doing wrong, and then
show me the proper way to advance from the position I was in. Problem is that I’m used to rock climbing and
not much of it transfers to ice. Ice and
Rock are limited in their similarities. For
example, standing on your toes works great on rock but on ice it will send you
sliding. Learning these sort things and
being able to execute them takes a great deal of time, a whole lot of practice,
and a good deal of patience.
But despite some initial difficulties and having to scratch and crawl my way up through a few sections, I had a really good time. You would think from my account of the day I was strictly focused on technique but the honest truth is that I was there just to be there and climbed without any expectations of performance. And again, it’s only my fourth time. Ice Season isn’t always a given. Ice is a fickle medium that relies on so many variables that it should be considered a blessing when it does form and those who climb it should focus on making it as enjoyable as possible. I am happy that I was introduced to ice climbing, happy to have had a chance to go ice climbing, and am very hopeful to continue ice climbing.
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