The Adrenalist

Powered By Degree Men

An Ice Climber’s Near-Death Experience

Tweet

Comments

In ice climbing, there are two types of ice: alpine ice, encountered most often on big mountain climbs and formed by freezing precipitation, and water ice, which forms when a stream or waterfall freezes.

The ice seen in the video above is water ice and, as you can tell, it’s quickly becoming more water than ice, exposing slippery and unclimbable rock below.

These are the dangerous conditions an unidentified climber must overcome. Thanks to fellow ice climbers who reached the top before him, he makes it out alive moments before a slab of unstable ice would have sent him flying over the side of the mountain.

Climbing website PlanetMountain.com claims he would have fallen more than 160 feet had he slipped. The two ropes that trail him suggest the climber is self-belaying up the face. He would have set protection below him – likely an ice screw wound tight into ice that either would or would not hold if he were to lose his grip.

Add Your Voice To The Conversation: