Been wanting to push my icicle lead-head, and today I certainly did just that. Bruce has sung the praises of a secret ice stash near his home for the past year, so today I drove down to Schoharie County to have a look for myself.
From a distance, it looked fantastic. We geared up and began walking toward the gleaming white ribbon draped down the cliff across the field. I hurried Bruce along, impatient to get to and on this incredible-looking flow.
Oooo. Looks a bit steeper up close.
Definitely steep.
Once I stood below the beast, things changed. Up close, it looked really, really hard. No question, well out of my comfort level. Whoa. No longer so sure of myself, we took a few minutes to consider our options – and to settle my nerves. After awhile, I felt calm enough to go for it.
Suck it up and go, man!
Long story short: we did it. Lotta jitters on my part, but no one fell, no one hung, we made it up and, though somewhat sketchily, down without injury. It took forever – well, my lead took forever – so we didn’t have time to climb anything else.
We did it!
Sadly folks, the flow is on private property. Bruce got permission for us to take a shot at it today. Sorry to all my ice climbing buddies, but it’s off-limits to the public.