The weekend after Christmas, Dave and his friend Brett drove up to Mount Baker to conquer the Pandome Ice Fall. In layman's terms, they were going to clamber up the side of a large, frozen wall of ice. Dave had received climbing rope for Christmas and was very anxious to try it out. While the idea did not instill the greatest thoughts of peace and comfort in me, I was excited for them and their wintery adventure.After making the snowy drive up to Mount Baker, they unloaded ice axes, crampons & rope and got to work setting up the route with safety lines. A couple of young, local climbers showed up; also interested in scaling the falls, they helped the guys with belaying the climb. For those unfamiliar with climbing terms, according to http://www.gohigher.co.uk/, the word belay is a "fundamental safety technique for climbing in which a second person (a 'belayer') protects their climbing partner from falling by controlling the rope using anchors and braking devices."
Although Dave had never gone ice climbing, he had a good time and received accolades from the other climbers on his first effort. While I doubt it will match his interest in skiing, I think it is safe to say that ice climbing can be added to his long list of outdoor interests!
4 comments:
I don't think that even looks kind of fun to me. Way to go Dave! Did you watch, Michelle?
I love the pictures. It is so nice to live vicariously thru someone else. I would love to try it but know that physically I can't. Good job Dave (oh, sorry I used your real name) I mean Fred. Glad you enjoyed yourself. chelle, did you go with them and take the pictures.
I didn't go up with them - I think I would have been a little nervous, even though he was having fun. They took turns taking pictures because only one person could go up at a time.
Looks like fun but cold. Brrrrrrrrrr!
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