Ice Climbing
Yellowstone is one of those amazing parks where mountaineering and ice climbing go hand in hand giving the experienced climber a unique and exciting way to spend time in this world renowned area. Many brave people have suffered the ice and frigid temperatures to ski and climb mountains in the park. However, despite the harshness, the crowds are few and the experience is one of adventure and peace in the Yellowstone backcountry.
The backcountry of Yellowstone is most definitely one of peace and isolation, far from the madding crowds. As the area is very mountainous, many expert climbers come to tackle some risky and challenging peaks and mountains, battle the cold and ice all for am moment of glory and a the satisfaction of knowing they really managed it.
Ice climbing comes from mountaineering, but it is literally the climbing of varied ice features using regular mountaineering equipment. Climbers ascend incline type ice formations, including ice covered slabs, and frozen waterfalls and icefalls. It comes in three forms and always is done in a mountainous environment. These forms include water ice and alpine ice. Water ice consists of frozen water flows that go across outcrops and cliffs and freeze in mid-air. Alpine ice consists of frozen moving water. They can be tough, brittle, hard or soft, depending on the weather.
There are varied grades of ice climbing. These include the W12 with low degrees of angled ice that require good techniques, W14 with vertical type step going up ten meters and require strenuous positions as well as protective screws, W13 with up to seventy degree angles and four meter high vertical steps, W14+ with W14 formations and needing expert techniques, W15 with vertical or near vertical steps of about twenty meters and sustained climbs with many protective screws for strenuous positions, W15+ with W15 formations and considerably harder, W16 with sixty meter pitches of vertical climbing requiring high level fitness and superior techniques, W16+ with W16 formations and lots of overhangs, and W17 with continuous extreme steepness and overhangs requiring extremely highly technical experience and many screws and other safety measures.
As ice climbing came from mountaineering it has taken many of its gear, skills and techniques from rock climbing. The biggest passion amongst many ice climbers is overhangs with ice daggers whereby the climbers dangles in mid air or tackles gymnastic routes over rocks and ice and even clambers down long ice pillars.
Many ice climbers will have a main base camp as their shelter at the bottom of the mountain. There are of course many hazards involved in ice climbing, including falling objects, falling as a climber and weather changes. Falling objects can include such things as gear, fellow climbers, snow, ice and rocks. A fall by a climber can involve landing on rocks, in crevasses or on ice or snow. However, another major danger is avalanches. Climbers should take along sufficient equipment and detection devices to alert them to possible avalanche danger spots as well as GPS and location devices should they require rescuing. Avalanche musts are avalanche beacons, probes and shovels.
Other common issues facing ice climbers include weather conditions such as blizzards, whiteouts, heavy snow fall, reduced visibility and sudden increase in temperatures that result in rain. Altitude is also another issue and over certain heights and thin air, altitude sickness is quite common, something that is best resolved by climbing higher and then going lower to sleep.
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