Utah Climbing Club 2nd event: Ice Climbing

Our second event was on Saturday. We drove to Maple Canyon just of I-15 by Nephi.

This canyon is amazing because the walls are like cobblestone roads-- big round rocks all over the face of the walls.

The group headed there Saturday morning.

We found 14 ice climbs already set up with top ropes so we could start climbing. Top rope means that if I were to fall, I would fall a few inches and thats all.

Ang and I have both never done ice climbing before.

We put on our crampons and grabbed the ice axes.

This was our first climb. I took a picture of this crazy climb. There is a fellow climber on the very top of the picture right in the middle. He has black on. That might give some scale to how big this was. I climbed up the big column in the center.

I would have been a somewhat smallish dot on the ice as I pounded my way up.

I was grateful this was my first climb. It had a little of every thing.

But that column was crazy hard for me. It was totally vertical.

This is us at the bottom of the first climb.

My arms could hardly lift the ice axes after this climb. I needed a short break.

This was our third climb. Long and a bit steep but it wasn't totally vertical like the first one. Ang is a power house (she is on the right). She has a good drive, and isn't scarred to try.

I on the other hand... I was scared A LOT! Not because I would fall, because like I said, it would have only been a few inches... But I didn't' trust that my ice axes and the spikes on my crampons could really hold me up.

They did ... most of the time.

This is me.

I was probably telling her to hold me tighter.

To which she would try to pull it tighter but couldn't... it was already as tight as it could go!

This was our last climb.

I was tired, but if Ang did it, I had to do it.

It was just a huge column. There is a cave behind this column.

You can see the sharp spike on Ang's crampons.

You just had to kick those spikes into the ice.

This is me.

It was a good day. I am glad I got to try something new.

I didn't love it. but I would try it again.... in a few week/months or maybe even next year!