Ice Climbing Festival in the Devil's Kitchen with Alpine Endeavors
It’s winter in the Catskills and there is ice, that’s one thing that’s certain. But is it climbable ice?
In late January Alpine Endeavors, with Rock & Snow, hosts an annual ice climbing festival that’s part education and part recreation.
From the multiple clinics covering the skills and techniques needed to get out on ice - basic skills, to dry-tooling, to glacier travel techniques, to slideshows, a LNT clinic, guided ice climbing, and demo gear it’s all there.
As is so often the case in recent years climbable ice comes in and goes out. This season had an intense cold snap in early January followed immediately by a record warm day. Still, by the last weekend of the month there was plenty of ice to climb in ravines and north facing sites.
It’s a testament to Catskills’ ice how long it’s lasted.
Enjoy some pics of the day.
In late January Alpine Endeavors, with Rock & Snow, hosts an annual ice climbing festival that’s part education and part recreation.
From the multiple clinics covering the skills and techniques needed to get out on ice - basic skills, to dry-tooling, to glacier travel techniques, to slideshows, a LNT clinic, guided ice climbing, and demo gear it’s all there.
As is so often the case in recent years climbable ice comes in and goes out. This season had an intense cold snap in early January followed immediately by a record warm day. Still, by the last weekend of the month there was plenty of ice to climb in ravines and north facing sites.
It’s a testament to Catskills’ ice how long it’s lasted.
Enjoy some pics of the day.
Climbing into and out of Purgatory WI5 -M5
Photo story of a mixed route in the Devil's Kitchen, Catskills. The leader blood must have been running colder than the water running beneath the ice of the creek.
Related Stories
Jason on Ice
2016
In one of the warmer winters the Hudson Valley has in the past few years, the question of whether ice is climbable or not is a hot topic. There are many factors that go into the formation of the ice that climbers enjoy traveling over. Ice is a living medium. Read more |
|
