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Outdoors
Tuesday, April 9, 2002
Up the slippery slopes Frozen waterfalls offer climbers a new winter adventure N.S. NOKKENTVED, THE OLYMPIAN Originally published Tuesday, April 9, 2002
OLYMPIA -- Like jewels set in stone, ice in fantastic shapes of blue, green and silver clings to vertical rock walls.
With ice axes for handholds, crampons for footholds and a thin rope for safety, Rob Plankers clings to the frozen waterfall.
He described a recent ice-climbing adventure as "lots of fun, but pretty dangerous."
Only a week later, someone died climbing the same place, he said.
Plankers, a manager at the Alpine Experience in downtown Olympia and an experienced mountaineer, found a new challenge in the Canadian Rockies this winter. He and his wife, Jackie, spent a week learning about the growing sport of ice climbing on frozen waterfalls and seepage from cliff faces.
Ice tools, short-shafted ice axes designed for the purpose, and steel spikes that strap onto boots, opened up a new world of strange and translucent shapes -- icicle curtains and columns and cascades of ice -- cold and steep, and with a drop in temperature, suddenly brittle.
Plankers, his wife and two friends hired a guide-teacher and spent a week in Banff National Park, a Mecca for ice climbing.
It was his first time in 20-below-zero weather.
"I've never been in weather that cold," Plankers said. "But it wasn't too bad."
The climbing party stayed in a hotel in Canmore, Alberta -- site of the 1988 Winter Olympics -- and made day trips to nearby waterfalls, slot canyons, anywhere water seepage would build up vertical ice formations.
They carried day packs with equipment, water, food and other essentials.
With an arm stretched over his head, Plankers set one ax -- then the other, at arms' width. Next he worked his feet up, kicking the spiked crampons into the ice for a firm grip.
He repeated the pattern endlessly, slowly working his way up the ice to the top of Lake Louise Falls.
For safety, each climber is connected to a rope attached to ice screws or to an anchor point, with the other end held by another climber below.
"I look for pockets in the ice," natural places to set the ice tools or his feet, Plankers said. He tries to find a natural route up the ice, like following a crack or set of cracks in rock climbing.
The ice is rarely smooth, and Plankers learned to use the lumps and angularities to his advantage -- there's no sense in pounding away at the ice to make a foothold when there are natural footholds available.
"A lot of it is energy management," he said.
Gauging the nature of the ice and the best place to set the tools is an art. When it is cold the brittle ice can shatter, and some formations will break off big pieces that can injure a climber. In extreme cold, ice can get hard enough to break the ax blade.
But sometimes the ice ax sinks in deep.
"When it sinks in, you get that warm, fuzzy feeling," Plankers said of getting a secure hold. But it comes at a price. The ax is harder to pull out when it's time to move up.
Other than falling, dangers include big pieces of ice falling from above -- either from other climbers or large icicles hanging from an overhang, ice breaking away and ever-present avalanche danger.
Those are good reasons to hire an experienced guide who knows the ice and how to gauge risk.
The best part of the Canada trip for Plankers was watching Jackie.
"I got a kick out of watching my wife," he said. "She was a down-right natural on that ice."
He also enjoyed sharing the adventure with friends, and the staggering scenery of the Canadian Rockies.
Plankers already is making plans to return to Canada next winter.
N.S. Nokkentved covers the outdoors for The Olympian. He can be reached at 360-754-5445 and at nnokkent@olympia.gannett.com.
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