33 days in. 240~ pitches. Thousands of sticks, some perfect, some desperate. Sticks into pristine virgin plastic ice all the way to melded muddy turf. Warm days where getting soaked in a base layer was preferred, and some where eyelashes froze together and visibility was null. All to say is that with the waning of the winter climbing season, I feel accomplished. My goal was to digress from my usual lofty goals and seek heavy mileage. The local midwest ice parks gave me a great opportunity to train. Winona is moderate and engaging with endless routes from ice gullies to pillars to techy mixed. Sandstone doesn’t hold back and provided massive pillars and loads of tall smeary vertical climbs. Duluth’s casket quarry offered fat alpine-esque mixed along with difficult drytooling. I had capped off the season with my first proper Michigan Ice Fest. Climbing daggers with legendary Paul Kuenn, backcountry adventures across the frozen lake to death mushroom ice climbs off of Grand Island, and finishing off with some laid back climbing to Miners Fall. Before the seasons end, I had begun climbing with a newly found partner. We had met at the Winona Ice Park and went climbing for another additional day. I saw his stoke, his fire, his demeanor, and I was interested. The final climb was a 15 Mile roundtrip back in Munising. Hitting up lakeshore climbs “Dairylander” and “Bridalveil Falls”. By the trek back I had exhausted myself to the point of desperation . Overall It was nice, although I would be lying if I said I didn’t miss the warm days gripping on rock. I believe for next year I will be heading out to new england. The ice there seems adventurous and I hope to climb some gullies off the white mountains over there.
I think some of the few interesting things to share about what I learned or experimented with this season has to do most with my layering system and gauging what temps and conditions warrant what choices I went with. To start, I must define myself as running pretty hot. I have good circulation, a fast metabolism, and am pretty short and small, all of these contribute also to me running very hot in comparison to my peers. I took in concepts, threw them together and gauged a simple two category system to define my use cases.
This year I have switched to holey baselayers, a concept well established by the scandinavians. Despite its risque or useless looks, a polartech alpha direct top (90gsm) and a brynje synthetic lower has been my baselayer system for this entire season. They perform as well as everyone boasts, and for those hotter days ice climbing it was a godsend to have uber-breathable undergarments when the layers come off. I would switch between a light softshell and a hardshell top when conditions and temp’s apply. Hardshell pants always, I never deviate because the lower body is almost always in contact with snow or moisture of some kind, and overheating is never an issue because I can easily vent with the sidezips. All of this forms the basis of Twights action suit he had wrote about in the classic how-to guide “Extreme Alpinism”, Ultra-Breathable, moisture wicking system with minimal layers that allow for minimal restrictive movement in a quick drying format. The major caveat is that this system seems to only suit the few whose bodies run like furnaces, any insulation needed will have to be put over in the form of a belay parka or added underneath which disrupts the efficiency of the system
The only deviation from the basis of the system above is when it gets cold or the start/stop activities take too long for comfort, you switch the shell for an insulated one. Any colder temperature warrants better protection for the extremities rather than the core of the body so it's best to pack “oh-shit mitts”, a balaclava, hand/foot warmers, rather than another jacket. Even when I had been climbing at -15F I had been only in those two layers albeit with those extra accessories I mentioned
If rock climbing is a gear intensive hobby, ice climbing is a technocratic fetishistic circle jerk over gear. Ice tools, tool shaft geometry, ice pick angle, aftermarket ice picks, the difference between PXS0000 and PXS00, ice screws, Ice screw teeth variables, bore width, inverse threads theoretical holding strength, $1000+ boots, to boa or not to boa. Anyway a buncha shit, typically ice tools are the things most people fond over, and although there are enough technical ice tools on the market to cover most personalities, people will constantly ask and talk about the differences. My hot take is that like personalities, there really is only one right for you. The ergonomics of the ice tool shaft should be the main priority in your choice, not weight, not looks. Is 1st position comfortable? If it isn't, then don’t bother using that tool. However the real gains in performance are rather the picks than the tools themselves, this is self evident when you swap out picks for the first time. I used the DMM cortex this season and swapped between the stock picks and the ice picks, not to mention altering their geometry with different filling. The main differences between the stock ice tech picks and the ice picks is a thinner width by 1-1.5mm, a more open non-aggressive profile, and a reduction in some material in areas. This gave a noticeable difference in ease of placements and retrieving the tool, however were so open it was unsuitable for any hooking rock placements. When doing some mixed/dry days, I had filed the ice tech pick to remove the first tooth and add a curved beak to the tip to increase the security on hooking tiny chips as well as increasing how high I could hold onto my 2nd position. When it comes to technical waterfall ice climbing, analyzing your picks and how they interact with the ice as well as how the shaft geometry influences their swing is key to having a better understanding and security in the medium. Then adapt, retool, and or