ICE

A far cry from the security of rock climbing, ice climbing is an entirely different beast. Ascending a frozen waterfall requires delicate and deliberate movements, where the slightest mistake could be disastrous. It’s not uncommon for a 100+ foot ice lead to take over two hours, even when done by a seasoned climber. There’s a deafening sillence, interrupted occasionally by the wind whispering through the pines and the slow creaks of the hundreds of thousands of pounds of frozen water. The temperature has to be perfect, cold enough that you can trust the formation won’t shatter on you but warm enough that the Ice doesn’t freeze into brittle glass. There is a beauty in the sport of Ice climbing that I haven’t found in anything else. The idea of climbing something so massive that is bound to disappear in weeks or even days is hard to process. These climbs are an incredible thing to experience, and someday they will no longer be possible.

For all of these reasons and more, Ice climbing will always be my favorite thing to shoot