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| Ice Climbing Is Having Its Moment, but How Much Longer Will the Ice Be Around? | |
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| NORTH CONWAY, N.H. — In the winter of 1973, two climbers marched to the base of a 400-foot frozen waterfall, which spilled down the sheer granite flanks of New Hampshire’s Cathedral Ledge. The climb, named Repentance, had been ascended in summer, but clawing up the route in winter was a difficult and dangerous proposition. | NORTH CONWAY, N.H. — In the winter of 1973, two climbers marched to the base of a 400-foot frozen waterfall, which spilled down the sheer granite flanks of New Hampshire’s Cathedral Ledge. The climb, named Repentance, had been ascended in summer, but clawing up the route in winter was a difficult and dangerous proposition. |
| The two climbers, John Bragg and Rick Wilcox, started up anyway. Mr. Bragg led the way, a new kind of ice ax lashed to each hand, tiptoeing on the glassy surface with the help of steel crampons strapped to his leather boots. Ice-climbing equipment was untrustworthy and untested; Mr. Wilcox recalled Mr. Bragg chucking a broken ax down to the base of the climb before grabbing their spare. | The two climbers, John Bragg and Rick Wilcox, started up anyway. Mr. Bragg led the way, a new kind of ice ax lashed to each hand, tiptoeing on the glassy surface with the help of steel crampons strapped to his leather boots. Ice-climbing equipment was untrustworthy and untested; Mr. Wilcox recalled Mr. Bragg chucking a broken ax down to the base of the climb before grabbing their spare. |
| “This is a new world,” Mr. Wilcox said he thought when they made it to the top of the improbable climb, the route’s first known winter ascent. “This was something I thought would never happen.” | “This is a new world,” Mr. Wilcox said he thought when they made it to the top of the improbable climb, the route’s first known winter ascent. “This was something I thought would never happen.” |
| Fifty years later, a warmer world has begun to intrude here, and the winter challenges that Mr. Bragg and Mr. Wilcox took on in the Mount Washington Valley are slowly beginning to melt away. | Fifty years later, a warmer world has begun to intrude here, and the winter challenges that Mr. Bragg and Mr. Wilcox took on in the Mount Washington Valley are slowly beginning to melt away. |
| In the 1970s, just a scattering of zealots climbed, period. The subdiscipline of ice climbing existed on the fringe of lunacy — a cocktail of danger, frostbite and suffering few wished to partake in. Practitioners needed supreme mental poise and physical toughness. They needed to dissect each impossible-looking climb into bite-size pieces to solve the problem of getting to the top. | In the 1970s, just a scattering of zealots climbed, period. The subdiscipline of ice climbing existed on the fringe of lunacy — a cocktail of danger, frostbite and suffering few wished to partake in. Practitioners needed supreme mental poise and physical toughness. They needed to dissect each impossible-looking climb into bite-size pieces to solve the problem of getting to the top. |
| By the time I moved to New Hampshire in 2008, eager to test myself in this frigid arena, ice axes had more in common with high-end road bikes than with framing hammers. Trying Repentance for the first time, hoping to capture the route’s history in a visceral way, I took a chunk of ice to the face and struggled to stay on the climb. Bleeding, concussed and chastened, I descended with my partner. When I returned a few weeks later and finally struggled to the top, those hard knocks rendered success that much sweeter. Cresting was a chilly milestone I’ll never forget. | By the time I moved to New Hampshire in 2008, eager to test myself in this frigid arena, ice axes had more in common with high-end road bikes than with framing hammers. Trying Repentance for the first time, hoping to capture the route’s history in a visceral way, I took a chunk of ice to the face and struggled to stay on the climb. Bleeding, concussed and chastened, I descended with my partner. When I returned a few weeks later and finally struggled to the top, those hard knocks rendered success that much sweeter. Cresting was a chilly milestone I’ll never forget. |
| Something about the cold, immediate difficulty of winter climbing appeals to a deep part of me. I’m not alone. The once-cloistered sport of ice climbing is having a moment, thanks in part to state-of-the-art gear and the popularity of films like “The Alpinist.” | Something about the cold, immediate difficulty of winter climbing appeals to a deep part of me. I’m not alone. The once-cloistered sport of ice climbing is having a moment, thanks in part to state-of-the-art gear and the popularity of films like “The Alpinist.” |
| Last season in Ouray, Colo., where a canyon near the downtown contains an ice park, 24,000 ice climbers flocked to the frozen gorge to practice their craft. The park has tracked a steady increase in visitors over the past four years. “It’s grown in popularity. People have discovered that you can get outside and really enjoy yourself, get a workout and get inspired,” Peter O’Neil, the park’s executive director, told me. The Mount Washington Valley Ice Festival, a three-day grass-roots affair started by Mr. Wilcox and a few fellow guides in 1993, now musters an army of more than 45 climbing guides to keep its participants safe and happy. Skills clinics taught by famous mountaineers sell out months in advance. | Last season in Ouray, Colo., where a canyon near the downtown contains an ice park, 24,000 ice climbers flocked to the frozen gorge to practice their craft. The park has tracked a steady increase in visitors over the past four years. “It’s grown in popularity. People have discovered that you can get outside and really enjoy yourself, get a workout and get inspired,” Peter O’Neil, the park’s executive director, told me. The Mount Washington Valley Ice Festival, a three-day grass-roots affair started by Mr. Wilcox and a few fellow guides in 1993, now musters an army of more than 45 climbing guides to keep its participants safe and happy. Skills clinics taught by famous mountaineers sell out months in advance. |
| Yet just as ice climbing is surging, its future is uncertain. The mountains, waterfalls and cliffs that draw climbers are falling apart. Warmer winters, melting glaciers and summer droughts and heat waves make spending time in the mountains riskier every year. This is ominous not only for climbers but for all of us, a portent of the warming planet. | Yet just as ice climbing is surging, its future is uncertain. The mountains, waterfalls and cliffs that draw climbers are falling apart. Warmer winters, melting glaciers and summer droughts and heat waves make spending time in the mountains riskier every year. This is ominous not only for climbers but for all of us, a portent of the warming planet. |
| This summer, local guides suspended climbs above Chamonix, France, for fear that the permafrost (embedded deep in the surface and gluing the peaks together) had thawed. A glacier collapsed on the Marmolada in the Italian Dolomites, killing 11 people, including two local mountain guides. The glacier was in decline, Tristan Kennedy reported in Wired magazine this summer, but “there was very little to suggest this slow death spiral was about to accelerate so violently.” | This summer, local guides suspended climbs above Chamonix, France, for fear that the permafrost (embedded deep in the surface and gluing the peaks together) had thawed. A glacier collapsed on the Marmolada in the Italian Dolomites, killing 11 people, including two local mountain guides. The glacier was in decline, Tristan Kennedy reported in Wired magazine this summer, but “there was very little to suggest this slow death spiral was about to accelerate so violently.” |
| Silas Rossi, one of a handful of American guides who work in New England in the winter and in the Alps for the summer season, said traditional risks inherent in climbing are growing harder to predict. The dangers of avalanches and ice and rock falls have been amplified. “The term ‘unprecedented’ gets thrown around a lot,” he told me. “But I think it’s actually true. We don’t have historical data to rely on to make judgments about these events.” | Silas Rossi, one of a handful of American guides who work in New England in the winter and in the Alps for the summer season, said traditional risks inherent in climbing are growing harder to predict. The dangers of avalanches and ice and rock falls have been amplified. “The term ‘unprecedented’ gets thrown around a lot,” he told me. “But I think it’s actually true. We don’t have historical data to rely on to make judgments about these events.” |
| The scarcity of ice-climbing terrain and the growing popularity of the sport are colliding. Paul McCoy, who runs the Mount Washington Valley Ice Fest, told me that the ice in the name is no longer a given for the event. “Rain events are just more and more common,” he said. “It’s stressful. It almost keeps me up at night.” | The scarcity of ice-climbing terrain and the growing popularity of the sport are colliding. Paul McCoy, who runs the Mount Washington Valley Ice Fest, told me that the ice in the name is no longer a given for the event. “Rain events are just more and more common,” he said. “It’s stressful. It almost keeps me up at night.” |
| In a study coordinated by the American Alpine Club, a team of researchers focused on ice-climbing conditions in the Mount Washington Valley from 2001 to 2021 to project the sport’s future in the region. Relying on anecdotal and photographic evidence from area guides, as well as existing climate models, the team came up with scenarios for what winter climbing would look like in 2100. Without a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by the end of the century, the average annual number of climbable days may shrink to just 30 in the region from the nearly 100 over the study period. Already, the researchers found, midwinter conditions are increasingly springlike, increasing the hazards for climbers. | In a study coordinated by the American Alpine Club, a team of researchers focused on ice-climbing conditions in the Mount Washington Valley from 2001 to 2021 to project the sport’s future in the region. Relying on anecdotal and photographic evidence from area guides, as well as existing climate models, the team came up with scenarios for what winter climbing would look like in 2100. Without a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by the end of the century, the average annual number of climbable days may shrink to just 30 in the region from the nearly 100 over the study period. Already, the researchers found, midwinter conditions are increasingly springlike, increasing the hazards for climbers. |
| The last time I climbed Repentance, in 2019, its skeletal ice dribbled down, a fraction of what it was when Mr. Bragg and Mr. Wilcox climbed it in 1973. Struggling to keep warm as I paid out rope, I found it hard to think that this climb might evaporate into little more than memory. My wife worked her way past the most difficult section, carefully pecking at the meager ice so as not to dislodge any. In 2020 and 2021 the route hardly formed at all, yielding just a handful of ascents. In 2022 it returned for just over a week, with eager climbers queuing up to climb it, before disappearing again. | The last time I climbed Repentance, in 2019, its skeletal ice dribbled down, a fraction of what it was when Mr. Bragg and Mr. Wilcox climbed it in 1973. Struggling to keep warm as I paid out rope, I found it hard to think that this climb might evaporate into little more than memory. My wife worked her way past the most difficult section, carefully pecking at the meager ice so as not to dislodge any. In 2020 and 2021 the route hardly formed at all, yielding just a handful of ascents. In 2022 it returned for just over a week, with eager climbers queuing up to climb it, before disappearing again. |
| It’s not lost on me that the skills that ice climbing teaches, the ones used on the first winter ascent of Repentance on Cathedral Ledge — problem solving in the face of dire odds, unyielding optimism — are now required to preserve this climb and many others by slowing the warming of the climate. May we all take a page from Mr. Bragg and Mr. Wilcox’s playbook, and soon, as we confront this challenge. | It’s not lost on me that the skills that ice climbing teaches, the ones used on the first winter ascent of Repentance on Cathedral Ledge — problem solving in the face of dire odds, unyielding optimism — are now required to preserve this climb and many others by slowing the warming of the climate. May we all take a page from Mr. Bragg and Mr. Wilcox’s playbook, and soon, as we confront this challenge. |
| Michael Wejchert is a climber and the author of the forthcoming book “Hidden Mountains: Survival and Reckoning After a Climb Gone Wrong.” | Michael Wejchert is a climber and the author of the forthcoming book “Hidden Mountains: Survival and Reckoning After a Climb Gone Wrong.” |
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