Greg Sievers c/o Mountain Project

A climber on the Squid in typical ice conditions.

​Located in Rocky Mountain National Park just north of Emerald Like, a 60-minute hike from the Bear Lake Trailhead, the Squid (WI5/5+, M6) should be on every ice climber's tick list, but climbing it presents multiple difficulties. For one, it's one of the most ephemeral hard ice routes in Colorado, usually only forming for brief stretches each winter. This is largely because of the climb's Southern exposure, which also makes the ice rotten, aerated, and difficult to protect.

Duncan Ferguson made the first ascent of the Squid in 1977 with Doug Snively. Though Ferguson is not as well known as some other Boulder-area climbers of the 70s, like David Breashears, Ferguson made many notable first ascents, including the first free ascent of the Naked Edge.

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East Vail's The Fang, one of the most notable climbs in the region, wounded another victim Tuesday when a climber fell almost 10 stories off of it. Just 30 feet short of the top of the climb, the entire formation collapsed, sending the poor dude plummeting over 100 feet. Miraculously, he wasn't crushed by the falling chunks of ice.

He was airlifted to Vail Valley Medical Center where he's listed in serious condition. It took rescue crews 45 minutes to get to him and another 45 to get him out. Early reports indicate that The Fang might not have been ready for climbing.

Tony Angelis, who has been ice climbing in the Vail area at least 12 years, said that the Fang had just connected to the ground this weekend. He said at the time it was very slender -- "a pencil" -- and would need some more time to "fatten up" before it was climbable.

Ouch.  Best wishes for a speedy recovery, guy.

c/o dZi Foundation Facebook page

Will Gadd readying for the Endless Ascent

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Some people just can't get enough. Marathon contests have always been popular, though they are usually applied to more accessible things like dancing or drinking.

Climbing, on the other hand, is physical enough that most normal people wouldn't consider doing marathon climbing sessions, at least not voluntarily. The sheer volume of mountaineering literature probably wouldn't exist without the many epics caused by people needing to climb through storms, injuries, and mind-blowing cold.

Of course, as Ted Alvarez wrote on Wednesday, most climbers aren't Will Gadd. More >>

I've tried my hand at ice climbing a few times before (on East Vail's frozen waterfalls and Rainier's Emmons Glacier, most notably), and On The Edge's Candace Horgan practically has ice tools for hands.

That said, Will Gadd has us way beat: Tired of "regular" ice climbs, the Crazy Canuck took to climbing icebergs floating off the coast of Labrador. That sounds nuts enough, but consider the fact these brittle hulks regularly shatter completely, sending their occupants into a hypothermic ocean. I'd say that throws Gadd into a whole new realm of wackypants.

Thank God he filmed it (above): That's just an excerpt -- look out for the rest of Aweburg to hit adventure film fests later this year.

Paul Carroll c/o Flickr.

Berthoud Pass backcountry.

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A while ago, I wrote about rescues and who should save you in the mountains. The story arose from an incident on Mt. Hood. One of the overreactions to the deaths of the three climbers has been the idea of mandating that climbers carry personal locator beacons (PLBs) with them when they climb Mt. Hood.

Many professional rescue teams are against the idea of mandating personal locator beacons, as well as the idea of the charging people for rescues. Ultimately, carrying PLBs can become a false blanket of security for those that have them. Further, as a series of incidents in the Colorado backcountry demonstrates, PLBs can cause their own problems.
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http://www.flickr.com/photos/grayskull/

Silverton skiing

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Traditionally, New Year's resolutions are about self-improvement of some sort. Of course, most people fail miserably at them, making me wonder what the point of the resolutions is. But no matter.

Why not apply the concept of New Year's resolutions to outdoor activities? Most people who have a passion for the outdoors have a mental ticklist of stuff they want to do at some point. For instance, I still want to make another attempt on Denali's Cassin Ridge (I spent fourteen days in a tent waiting out snowstorms the last time), and I know I have to get to Switzerland to try the Matterhorn.

For now, those grandiose trips will have to wait. But here's a list of five things I plan to do close to home that should provide nice fodder for "On the Edge." Look for reports on these activities at some point this year.
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c/o Mountainproject.com

Hidden Falls

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Driving through Glenwood Canyon, most people eye the Colorado River and the crumbly limestone cliffs right above the road. In the winter, Glenwood has a few attractions as well, including the ephemeral Glenwood Falls ice climb on the north side of the road right after the tunnel by exit 105.

Most people never notice the aptly named Hidden Falls, high on the south side of the Canyon just west of the Shoshone Power Plant. Michael Kennedy was the first to explore Hidden Falls when he saw the area from the road more than twenty years ago. He did reconnaissance on the approach to the climb in March 1975, and discovered a wall of ice nearly 500 feet tall and almost 200 feet wide.
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​"We are a local store that could use a leg up this season," writes Marily Macdonald, marketing coordinator for the Outdoor Divas shops in Boulder and Cherry Creek, just as I'm heading out the door to scrape the snow off my car and scrape together the last of my last-minute holiday shopping.

How local? We put the question back to her and got a list of local lines carried in the Outdoor Divas shops:

Here are some of my favorites:

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​At the far east end of Telluride, Bridalveil Falls is breathtaking in its beauty. Standing 430 feet high, it pours over a north-facing wall in a canyon. Come winter, the falls freezes into a delicate blend of hanging icicles, cauliflowers, and brutally steep ice.

In 1974 steep ice climbing was still in its infancy in the U.S. Greg Lowe, who started Lowe Alpine, had led the first ascent of Mahlen's Peak Waterfall in 1971, which really opened the door to steep, technical ice. Lowe created a pound-in ice piton called the Snarg. The Snarg didn't fracture the ice the way the old warthog ice pitons did.

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National Guard.

Utah Search and Rescue Training.

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Last weekend, three climbers went up and attempted a climb of Mt. Hood in Oregon. Luke Gullberg was found dead from a combination of hypothermia and minor injuries sustained in a fall. His companions, Anthony Vietti and Katie Nolan, were nowhere to be found, and an exhaustive search was undertaken.

Predictably, as the search for the missing climbers intensified and helicopters were drawn in to help, hand-wringing and moaning about the costs of the rescue and who was going to pay for it escalated.
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