Progression
Rock and Ice|February 2017, #240

A Modern Master Traces the History of Contemporary Winter Climbing—ice, Alpine, Mixed and Dry—and Offers Thoughts on Style, Ethics and What’s Next.

Will Gadd
Progression

NIAGAR A FALLS, 2015

My pick barely held in an inch of meringue on an overhanging ice wall. My closest pro, a hand-built prototype that looked like the offspring of a piton and a leprechaun’s shovel, had pulled the first and only time I tested it. But what really had my attention was the roar of Niagara Falls. I’ve done some crazy shit, but this was a whole new level of insanity. I leaned back on my tools and was smacked in the face with a pound of Lake Erie slush heading to sea. It tasted organic and old.

Looking up through the mist of the falls, I saw the black eye of a Red Epic camera staring back from the crane that was sweeping arcs above me. I knew that if I fell off now, it was going to be a really bad accident and a public relations nightmare for climbing.

Only when I reached the top of the falls did I believe that I’d actually gotten to climb it. This ascent, with Sarah Hueniken, was the culmination of my career—alpine climbing, spray ice, dry tooling, high-pressure competition wins and losses, friendships and the loss of friends, sunrises, sunsets, road trips, blood, sweat and literally frozen tears. When CNN’s Anderson Cooper (normally people like me have to do something really messy to make it onto his show) asked me why I’d done it, I told the truth: Because Niagara is the coolest waterfall on the planet, and I’m an ice climber. Now, as I finish my fifth decade (I’ll be 50 this spring) and start my 35th season of winter climbing, I need to both understand my own climbing path and examine winter climbing in general.

BEGINNINGS

Denne historien er fra February 2017, #240-utgaven av Rock and Ice.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.

Denne historien er fra February 2017, #240-utgaven av Rock and Ice.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.

FLERE HISTORIER FRA ROCK AND ICESe alt
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Call of Duty

Vikki Weldon: Hard lines and the front line

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THE BADGE

WE DEFINE OURSELVES AS CLIMBERS, BUT IS THAT GOOD ENOUGH?

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THE ACHIEVER

MARICELA ROSALES HAD EVERYTHING AGAINST HER. SHE BECAME A CLIMBER ANYWAY.

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Chris Sharma

FIRST ASCENTIONIST, FORMER WORLD CHAMPION, OWNS GYMS IN SPAIN AND USA. INTERVIEWED IN QUARANTINE IN BARCELONA WITH HIS WIFE, 3-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER AND 1-YEAR-OLD SON.

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PROJECT WAIT

A LIFELONG CLIMBER CONSIDERS THROWING IN THE TOWEL

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Older, Wiser, Stronger!

YES, THEY CAN GO TOGETHER. HOW TO TRAIN STRENGTH AS YOU COME ALONG DOWN THE ROAD.

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CALCULATED RISK

HOW UNDERSTANDING DANGER COULD KEEP YOU OUT OF HARM’S WAY

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Accessories To Climb
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Accessories To Climb

Field tested

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To The Grit
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To The Grit

About 10 winters ago I touched down in Manchester in a hard, driving English rain. The city was hidden from view. I was groggy after a red-eye from Dallas, an over-brewed black tea barking on my dry tongue.

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The Wild Ones
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The Wild Ones

North Conway is a typical New Hampshire town tucked among rolling hardwood hills and set at the foot of imposing granite slabs, but 30 years ago it was the stage on which a small band of climbers led the way in boldness and vision.

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