After years of struggling on ice, I had a great season a couple years ago where I finally figured out that I could just climb vertical ice and it wasn’t really that big of a deal. Then, last year, winter decided that it was going to last for about a week, and I got in nearly no ice climbing. Since then, I’ve been worried that I would loose whatever mojo I had and be back to being a shitty ice climber.
This year has been a bit rough for ice. I’ve only led a few pitches, and pretty much everything I have climbed has felt harder than I thought it should be. So today, heading down to Provo with Scott made me a bit nervous, but I also knew it would be a great way to see where I really stood. We started up Stairway to Heaven, and eventually found ourselves at the base of the pillar on the 5th pitch. When I did this pitch a couple years ago, it was only the second WI5 pitch I had led.
Topping it out was a huge step forward for me in that it taught me that my first WI5 the week before wasn’t a fluke. But now, two years later, I was standing in the same place with the same pit in my stomach. After a couple minutes of contemplation, I made up my mind to simply start up the pitch and see how it went. Clipping the anchors on top re-confirmed that if I just took my time I could still get on vertical ice and do fine.
Unlike the last time I got to the top of the 5th pitch, I decided to climb the short M5 chimney on the 6th pitch. For anyone who wants to know what it’s like to be inside a frozen trash compactor with ice tools in your hands, I highly recommend it. No, seriously, it was awesome.
