 Whack!Whack! Kick! Kick! ...and voilá, Shaun completes TEN YEARS of CLIMBING without ever missing a month. With the exception of 3 or 4 months, that's all rock climbing - including year-round in Logan (brrrr!). In recent years, ice climbing has sometimes been used as a substitute. Another concession: several months have come right down to the wire with less than an hour left, and a few last-minute climbs have been less than impressive, but who's complaining? |
 "I thought I
could, I thought I could!" Don't worry, he didn't solo. The shot above is a short 15' cliff to access the ledge where the anchors were set for top roping. <-- This shot is before tying in and climbing 50', getting careless (that's what top roping is for!), blowing a hold in cold, brittle ice, and falling 15' till the rope stopped him. Darn - no adrenaline rush. (That's not what top roping is for.) |
Lindsey's one of the newest probational members (first-years, probies) of the Utah County Sheriff Search and Rescue team. She has years of experience with water adventure (think "Baywatch" in Virginia Beach) but this was her first time climbing it frozen. It looks like she enjoyed it, but the question remains - would she rather face falling blocks of ice or sharks? |
 While
demonstrating effective techniques for swinging the tools, Shaun punched through the outer
shell of ice and a refreshing fountain of water came gushing out. Kind of like Moses
with his staff. Shaun took it as a sign, of course, that Someone Upstairs was saying
"Happy 10th anniversary!" |
 Lindsey gets ready
to climb Stairway to Heaven. |
 The snow falls as
Lindsey nears the top of the pitch. Shaun and Chris will return and climb as far as the
ice will take them tomorrow. |
 One more shot.
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