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Can you ice climb a waterfall?

        Adventure | Climbing

Waterfall Ice Climbing
This looks like a safe waterfall climb. The waterfall is frozen against a rock wall.
Ian Tomlinson/Getty Images

Seasoned ice climbers say the best ice climbing in North America is found in the Canadian Rockies, where there are frozen waterfalls for all skill levels and hundreds of climbs available from late November through March. In the United States, you can find frozen falls in Colorado, Wyoming and even California. Norway has some of the best frozen waterfall climbing in the world, and it even hosts an ice climbing festival each February.

Climbing water ice is a bit different from climbing alpine ice. One of the cool things about water ice climbing is that you don't have travel up to the highest mountain peaks to start climbing. Obviously, frozen waterfalls and runoff are found downstream. A waterfall climb is by nature always vertical, which requires more advanced climbing skills and specialized tools. Using crampons --spikes attached to the bottom and front of your boot -- and ice axes, you can Spiderman your way up vertical ice. To learn more about specific ice climbing techniques and tools, read "How Ice Climbing Works".

Water ice is also unique because it tends to be colder and more brittle than alpine ice. Brittle and dry ice is likely to break and shatter, what climbers call dinner plating. However, you can encounter dozens of different types of ice during a frozen climb. Ice climber Jeff Lowe has listed the common types of ice a climber might encounter. This list is by no means complete.

  • Verglas: ice less than 0.5 inches (1.27 centimeters) thick
  • Thin ice: ice 0.5 to 6 inches (1.27 to 15.24 centimeters) thick
  • Laminated flow: successive freezing of thin layers of ice
  • Chandeliered: clusters of hanging icicles
  • Cauliflowered: ice formed in strange and unstable formations, usually the result of water spray
  • Solid pillar: well frozen and cohesive ice
  • Rotten pillar: melting, chandeliered or cauliflowered ice
  • Small pillar: ice less than a foot (30 centimeters) in diameter
  • Aerated: ice with lots of bubbles or melted pieces
  • Plastic: ice that is warm but not rotten, and doesn't shatter
  • Mineralized: brittle ice and colored brown, orange or yellow
  • Blue/green: well frozen, sometimes brittle ice
  • Old dry: very durable ice

[source: Lowe]

How can you predict what the ice will feel like during your climb? It's hard to say. Ice can go from hard to brittle to slushy all in one climb. If temperatures are well below freezing, you may encounter brittle ice, which tends to break off in plates when you swing your tool into it. When temperatures are near or above freezing, the ice may feel plastic. Your pick will sink in quickly and stay there, making climbing easier and faster. If temperatures are warming to above freezing, ice may become slushy and soft -- not good climbing conditions.

Because there are so many different kinds of ice to deal with, ice climbing a waterfall is typically an endeavor for an advanced ice climber. The best climbers are those who can easily recognize stable and unstable ice and improvise accordingly.

To find out more about ice climbing and other outdoor sports, visit the links on the next page.­

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