Coming from a place whithout mountains and where it hardly ever freezes, climbing ice is an extraordinary experience.
Just the knowledge that these huge, cold walls are temporary, ephemeral. That they emerge from the cold and disappear when the mountains slowly warm up. That they can only be climbed during a short window of time, every year, when conditions are right.
Moving up these ice falls, plunging ice axes and crampons into the frozen surface creates a very special connection with nature and wilderness. For me particularly so, because it confronted me once more with the increased transcience of landscapes that we always thought to be everlasting. As the earth heats up, the window of time for ice climbing decreases and might soon disappear completely, together with the ice falls.
I climbed my first ice falls together with
@martin_sieberer , who is in a league of his own when it comes to ice climbing, and any other climbing for that matter (do check out his IG, it's incredible) early February. It was another step I had to take in order to be able to safely tackle bigger alpine projects such as the ascent of the Lenzspitze North-East face in July. And what a great learning experience it was.
In one full day we climbed Bafflfall in Kühtai, a great ice fall for beginners like me with two routes: one single pitch (20m WI4-5), one multipitch (4 pitches, WI2-3).
I'll definitely be back in the Alps for some more, and more challenging ice climbing next years.
Thanks a million to
@martin_sieberer for guiding me,
@jef.guide en
@berggids for arranging this trip and to
@vincenzodas for the briljant images and edit.
#iceclimbing #eisklettern #mountain #mountaineering #alpinism #climbing #klettern #austria #tirol #visittirol
