Ice Adventures

We arrived at the ice park in Ouray, Colorado around 1:00 am. Our plan was to get a few hours of sleep in the tiny, two-door, Honda Civic and wake up early to get a start on our day. We didn't have much money so we decided to sleep in the car the first night and check into a hotel room the second night. Lack of money wasn't going to stop us from our outdoor adventures.

I didn't realize how tiny Josh's car actually was until both of us tried to sleep in it with all of our gear shoved in the back seat. Granted, we could have put the gear in the trunk to create a little bit more wiggle room but we both knew that in the morning we wanted warm gear. Frozen clothing, boots and gloves are not the most fun thing to put on when it's 8 degrees outside, especially when the high for the day will only reach about 20. Add some wind chill to that and you'll be glad you sacrificed the extra space.

Josh was nice enough to let me sleep in the passenger seat. I know he, who was about 5'11 (only a half an inch taller than myself), was crammed in the driver's seat with a steering wheel stealing about one-third of his leg room. Josh looked like your typical 'mountain man'. He was strong, had a scruffy beard, rough hands, holes in most of his clothing, and scrapes and cuts in all stages of healing covering his arms and legs. He looked like the type of guy who no 20 year old girl's parents would approve of. (They didn't.) (Mine were no exception.) I was young and going to do what I wanted with the guy of my choice.

Josh always wore the same puffy coat. It was a burnt orange color that I suspect would have been a much brighter orange if it hadn't been completely covered with dirt and stains. There were silver duct tape patches in several spots that were curled up on the edges. These patches were doing their best to keep the fluff contained to the inside. Cigarette ash burns randomly spotted the coat. Despite the abuse, the coat did its job. It was warm and mostly waterproof. A perfect cold-weather belay coat. The infamous orange coat worked well as a partial sleeping bag too.

I was wrapped up in a similar coat. Mine was gray and almost as puffy. However, my coat was much newer, cleaner, and didn't have any tears or cigarette burns. This was partially due to the fact that I, along with my parents, despise cigarettes and anything that has their scent soaked into it. Most of Josh’s belongings fit that description.

We didn’t have much to keep us warm from the freezing night air. The coats we were bundled in helped but we needed more. We needed the car's heater. The only way for us to use it is to keep the car running. Not wanting to leave the car on the whole night, trying to save gas, Josh would start the car and turn on the heater every time it got too cold to sleep. Then he would turn it off several minutes later. This continued throughout the night which made it difficult to get much sleep.

Morning quickly came. Activity at the park picked up with other climbers who also wanted to get an early start. We turned on the heat one last time while we quickly ate our half frozen granola bars and climbed into our cold, but not frozen, clothing and gear for the day.

There wasn't a cloud in the sky, a gorgeous day for ice climbing. The snow surrounding us was blinding and the sun reflected off the monstrous ice formations all along the canyon. It was near impossible to be outside without something to shade our eyes. We were prepared for that.

Climb after climb, route after route we took turns climbing and belaying each other stopping only to hike to a new location, change out gloves, find a tree to pee behind, and once for a well deserved lunch break. Lunch was about like breakfast, not much and definitely not warm. Our meals pretty much consisted of any snack foods we had rounded up before we left. The M&M’s were quite entertaining for me. When spilled in the snow they turn the snow different colors. Then when you try to pick them up with your mouth, because bulky gloves will not cooperate, they turn your face all of the fun colors. Frozen strawberry Gushers are still one of my favorite treats. To bite into a cold, hard but chewy candy and have a small burst of icy, gelatinous liquid consume all of my taste buds is like heaven. The thought makes my mouth water.

After a long day the sun began to set and the community of climbers began to dissipate. Soon Josh and I were the only ones in the park. The stars filled the sky as if someone had spilled a bucket of glitter across a black canvas. The stars alone were enough to hike without lights but we did have headlamps to wear while we climbed. That is one thing we always had…headlamps. There is nothing worse than being stuck on the side of a cliff or in the wilderness somewhere and you don’t have enough light to see where you are going. We had both learned that the hard way…several times.

It was getting colder now. I wished my extremities were numb. They weren't. It felt like hundreds of bees were biting and stinging my fingers and toes. My lips were numb. It made me laugh listening to myself try to sound out simple phrases.

It was my turn to climb. We anchored the rope to a small bundle of thin trees and I tied off to the end of the rope with a simple figure 8 follow through, like I had hundreds of times before. Josh locked into the other side of the rope and tied off to the same bundle of trees for safety. We carefully checked each other's work. I strapped my ice axes on to my wrists with leashes so if I did accidentally drop one I wouldn't lose it. I clicked my headlamp on and began leaning backwards over the cliff's edge. I was a little nervous for several reasons. We were alone, it was dark, I was fairly new to climbing ice, Josh was going to be at the top where I wouldn’t be able to see him or hear him, and the only way out of this ravine was to climb out on my own power. Was I strong enough? If I wasn’t able to climb out I would be in big trouble. I pushed these thoughts aside and started to enjoy the ride down.

I tried not to let my crampons get stuck as I bounced around on the ice during my descent. Scoping out what I was about to attempt to climb back up I tried to get an idea of the route I wanted to take. I finally reached the bottom. The small river made a lot more noise now that I was standing directly on top of it. I stood there for a minute taking a few deep breaths and enjoying the complete solitude. It was completely silent except for the sound of the rushing river below my feet.

I looked up at my challenge. “Here we go”, I said to myself excitedly with a hint of nervousness. Ignoring the pain of the cold on almost every part of my body, I swung my right ice axe and it stuck in the ice beautifully. I repeated the same process with my left axe. Same result. I kicked my right foot, stabbing the 'claw-like' point on my toe, into the ice and stood up on it. Solid. I climbed up about two feet and waited for the rope to tighten in front of me. I yelled, “CLIMBING!” as loud as I could. I knew Josh could not hear me. I had no way of signaling that I had begun my ascent. I needed him to take up the slack while I climbed so I wouldn’t fall too far. He quickly caught on and pulled up the appropriate amount of slack. I continued climbing. Right axe, left axe, right foot, left foot. My focus was completely on the ice in front of me and where I wanted to place my axes next. Occasionally, a larger chunk of ice would break off, fall against me sliding down between the front of my body and the wall of ice in front of me nearly knocking one or both of my feet from their grip on the ice.

Moving up this cliff of ice more quickly than expected, I was feeling good. I felt strong. The nervousness I had felt earlier melted away. All I had now were feelings of excitement. I couldn't stop thinking about how amazing the ice in front of me looked with the light of my headlamp shining against it. It was so clean and blue. I've never seen a more beautiful color.

There was a shallow cave-like feature directly in my path above. As I climbed to the right of it I couldn't stop thinking about how much the cave resembled the mouth of a snarling beast. The icicles grew like fangs from the top of the cave. The back of the shallow cave was bare rock. The bluish-white fangs were almost glowing against the blackness of the rock which made up the monster's hollow mouth. This monster was ready to swallow me whole. My imagination ran away with me while I climbed past the cave. I continued further to my right to a section that looked a little easier to climb. For some reason I felt a little safer the farther I got from the creepy (Ice?) cave-monster.

My muscles were beginning to fatigue. I found myself in a crevice-type feature where the ice was not as sturdy as I had hoped, it had almost become slushy for some reason. I felt the nerves creeping back into my body. Suddenly before I was able to swing my right axe into the ice, both my feet slipped out from under me. Breath held, I was clinging to my left axe with every ounce of strength I had. I realized while I was dangling there how heavy all the gear was that I had on. My helmet, extra layers of clothing, harness, large thick boots and metal crampons were pulling down on me harder than they ever had before. The leash that was attached to my wrist began sliding toward my clenched fist. The leash was beginning to pull my glove off as my fist slowly slid down the end of the axe handle. My hand was going to slip through the grip of the leash and take my glove off with it. Under all that weight, the ice that was holding me up finally gave way. I was falling. The thought came into my mind, this is going to hurt. Everything was happening in slow motion. Since I had climbed so far to the right, instead of falling straight down I was actually swinging to my left. My body spun around so I was facing the opposite side of the ravine. My headlamp was lighting a circular shape against the ice on the opposite side. I could see the black sky completely studded with brilliant stars. I swear I have never seen so many stars in all the nights of all my life added together. That, combined with the snow and ice reflecting the glimmer of the twinkles in the sky was breathtaking – almost intoxicating. I was falling for what seemed like an eternity. It was so peaceful. I couldn't help but be transfixed by the view I had before what I thought would be my own death.

Since I was facing the wrong way I couldn't see what I was going to hit. I should have hit by now, I thought. The wet rope stretched farther than I had anticipated under the weight of me and my gear.

Suddenly and very strangely my view narrowed. My peripheral vision darkened, almost like I was swinging backwards into a tunnel. Just then I realized what was happening. The cave! It happened. My fear came true. The monster had swallowed me.

I opened my eyes. I was dangling in the mouth of the monster. Several icicles had been knocked down by my body and the rope I was attached to. I realized I had been unconscious for a short period of time. My head hurt. Luckily I was wearing a helmet or my fate could have been much worse. I could hear the faint desperate yell of Josh’s voice, ”MEGAN!!!”. It took me several minutes to get my wits about me and yell back, “I’M OKAY!” Am I okay? I thought. Don’t think about it…Just get to the top, I told myself. I used my ice axe and hooked it onto an icicle that was on the side of the cave. I pulled my free hanging body closer so I was able to hook my other axe in followed by both my feet. I began climbing again. I knew I needed to hurry before shock wore off and I would realize the extent of my injuries. I climbed quickly and steadily towards the top. I could barely muster up the strength to pull my body over the icy edge to meet Josh. I made it. My body collapsed face down in a heap at Josh’s feet.

“Are you okay?!” he asked with sincere concern.

“I fell.” I replied, not answering his question.

Holding back a snicker he responded, “I figured.”

Without anything else being said he began to unhook the webbing and ropes. I flopped over to my back and he untied the knot that kept me from falling to my death. I was too exhausted and shaken to move.

“Let’s get outta here” he said as I struggled to my feet. The pain began to set in. My head was pounding and my right butt cheek hurt so bad I could barely put any weight on my leg. We gathered our gear, his pack being much heavier than mine, and started the hike back to the car. We hiked in silence. Each step I took made the pain worse. I didn’t care. I wanted to get out of there and someplace warm. Anywhere but here.

After the short hike down we arrived at the car. I began clumsily taking off my crampons and harness. I climbed in the car, carefully positioning myself on my left side, while Josh loaded our gear. With the turn of the key we were headed into town to our hotel room. I could hardly wait. Warmth, softness and hot food were all I could think about. When we arrived at our room I hobbled into the bathroom to check my injuries. Yep, just as I thought, it had already begun to turn black and blue. I tried to think back about how I could have ended up with a bruise on my butt this big. I guess flying backwards into the cave I hit butt first followed by the back of my head which knocked me out.

Cool, I thought.

As I lay in bed, I couldn’t get the vision out of my head of what I saw as I fell through the air. A little smile crept to my face as I slipped into a deep sleep.