Ice Climbing
Reaching New Heights:
Ice Climbing in Northern Minnesota
Frida practices low on the icefall to get comfortable using her ice axes and crampons.
I’m afraid of heights, so what the heck am I doing dangling next to an icefall with an ice axe in each hand and crampons on my boots?
Oh, that’s right, now I remember. I came to ski at Lutsen Mountains and to fully immerse myself in the winter playground of Northern Minnesota. I’d heard you can’t fully appreciate winter here if you don’t at least try ice climbing.
The rugged landscape of Northern Minnesota, perhaps most well known for its 1,175 lakes that make up the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, is carved by rivers flowing into Lake Superior. The resulting deep gorges are full of gorgeous waterfalls that freeze solid during the cold winter months and attract climbers looking for world-class walls of ice.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
No local commercial guides offer ice climbing in Northern Minnesota, but when you book your ski trip at Lutsen Mountains, let them know you are interested. They will try to find local climbers who are available to guide you during your stay.
Lutsen Mountains
Address: 467 Ski Hill Rd.
Lutsen, MN 55612
Ski area phone: (218) 663-7281
Reservations: (218) 406-1320
Internet: www.lutsen.com
E-mail: ski@lutsen.com
And so I found myself with my husband and a group of friends—all men except two of us—hiking down the frozen Cascade River through a volcanic canyon to be indoctrinated into the sport of ice climbing. We rounded a curve in the river and came face to face with our challenge: the massive 60-foot Cascade Icefall dueling it out with rocky cliffs. Our chatter instantly ceased. It was awesome and intimidating.
We put on our climbing gear and our instructors went over safety procedures and climbing technique. A few of us had ice climbed before in our “younger days,” but none considered themselves very skilled and some of us, like me, were brand new to it. I looked around and realized the youngest of us were in our 40s, not your average group of people who want to learn to ice climb.
As I’ve mentioned, I’m afraid of heights, but my husband and friends told me that being roped up provides a sense of security. No one wanted me to do anything I wasn’t comfortable doing, and I told everyone that if all I did was put on my gear, rope up and take two steps off the ground, I’d be pleased with myself.
I watched the guys climbing one by one. Dick…Neal…Ron…Scott…Larry…Peter… I couldn’t decide whether I was more or less ready to do it myself, so I hung back, as did Frida. Finally, it was my turn. I decided to take the somewhat easier route, which had a more gradual incline before it became vertical.
I found it not only easier than I expected, but also far more fun! Reach up and dig in right axe, now reach up and dig in left axe, raise right foot so I will be in a crouching position and dig in crampon, raise left foot to full crouching position and dig in crampon. Before I knew it, I was somewhere between 8 and 10 feet off the ground. Not high by most measures, but big vertical for me. My adrenaline was pumping. And then it wasn’t.
We rounded a curve in the river and came face to face with our challenge: the massive 60-foot Cascade Icefall dueling it out with rocky cliffs.
My strength sapped out of my body without much notice. One second I was feeling confident, scouting for a spot to swing my ice axe, the next second my calves were screaming and my arms were too heavy to lift above my head.
I yelled down to the instructor, “I think I’ve had it. I’m done. I’m ready to come back down.”
As I hugged the icefall, feeling my body become more fatigued by the second, I heard the instructor yell up to me, “Now pull out your axes from the ice one at a time, push out with your toes and slowly walk down the ice while I belay you down.”
I removed my right axe, then contemplated the fact that once I removed the left axe, there was no way my crampon toes would hold me next to the ice. He said again, “Remove your left axe.”
My head was rushing through thoughts and the first one that popped out of my mouth was “Why?”
I continued, “How am I supposed to remove the left axe when I no longer have the right axe in the ice to hold me up?”
His answer, “That’s a good question! You’ll just have to trust me to keep you from falling once you’ve released both axes from the ice.”
And then, inexplicably, I found myself swinging to the left, my right arm flung out and around and my entire body followed it, leaving me looking like a fish caught on a hook.
Once I removed the left axe, I dropped a bit as the rope found its tension. And then, inexplicably, I found myself swinging to the left, my right arm flung out and around and my entire body followed it, leaving me looking like a fish caught on a hook, my back to the icefall and face looking down on everyone below me. Once the shock of falling and swinging wore off, I realized it felt safe to be hanging there like that.
The instructor yelled up to me, “How long do you want to hang there?”
“Well, it’s not as scary as I thought it would be so maybe I’ll let this sink in a bit.”
Meanwhile, my fellow ice climbing comrades were laughing and taking pictures, telling me to smile for the camera.
When I got off the icefall, I felt overwhelmingly empowered. I had climbed an icefall! I raised my ice axes in victory and hollered, “I am the ice queen!”
The guys laughed and one said, “And that’s meant in a good way!”
For more pictures of our Lutsen Mountains trip, please visit the “Road Trippin': Vermont to Minnesota” album in our Photo Galleries.