Excellent Will Gadd Youtube Series

timothy fisherwrote:

 I knew some guys who could place snargs on steep ice

Yeah, but did you know anyone that could remove them??  My partner was a carpenter, the SOB. Pounding was what he did for a living. I didn't.

I started ice climbing with a Bill Forrest “Serac Sabre”  ice tool and a Mollnar hammer.  The Sabre had a blade wide enough to split wood and my pinky finger is forever damaged from hitting the ice every time you swung the thing.  We also used hardware store conduit cut down to ice screw lengths and hammered them into the ice and tied em off.  Eventually invested in Lowe “Big Birds” which at the time were high tech !  I still have a couple of his pound in “screws” …  Ah the good ole days ! 

it’s true as the leader- snargs went in ok - but as the follower you hated the leader every time you came to one.  “Take” then you’d have to pretty much chop that *#%+^= out. I remember going from Cassin welded screws to 17 and 22 cm black diamond screws that were $35 a piece, at the time that seemed like a lot of money.  I got really good at palming those things in.  They were fast.  For the day… so many great memories of climbing hard on “the gear of the day” 

Here's an excellent vid on the way it was:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-PMFOt8T-M..  Another mind-blowing (for the time, and even now) vid is the one of Jeff Lowe and Mike Weiss making the first ascent of Bridalveil Falls in 1974, with long, straight tools, broken picks, and Salewa screws (which suck x2).  I've seen it (friend's VCR tape), but have never seen it available on the web.

That is not how i lead steep ice with Chouinard screws! 

What a film! Glad he didnt die!

timothy fisherwrote:

That is not how i lead steep ice with Chouinard screws! 

What a film! Glad he didnt die!

Putting in the first one by hand was impressive--makes you wonder how good the ice was!  The second "screeeeerrrk" is more par for the course, wrenched in with a tool.

Skibowrote:

Putting in the first one by hand was impressive--makes you wonder how good the ice was!  The second "screeeeerrrk" is more par for the course, wrenched in with a tool.

There were some very cold winters in the late 70s. Quebec City is a pretty cold place on an average winter. That ice looks hard (cold) to me. Those climbs nearest the falls are WILD.

Seems like he didn't finish placing that first screw?

Great replies and posts on this thread! After starting ice in '96...I remember my first foray with new Charlet-Moser Pulsars and switching from Lowe Foot Fangs to Charlet's "new" mono-point. Boulder canyon days when Jeff Lowe was filming with Bird Lew and Jack Roberts was running around. If only they could have kept the ice park concept going! 

Jim Clarkewrote:

 If only they could have kept the ice park concept going! 

Or stayed alive.  They left big holes.

Jim Clarkewrote:

Great replies and posts on this thread! After starting ice in '96...I remember my first foray with new Charlet-Moser Pulsars and switching from Lowe Foot Fangs to Charlet's "new" mono-point. Boulder canyon days when Jeff Lowe was filming with Bird Lew and Jack Roberts was running around. If only they could have kept the ice park concept going! 

Exactly - I was just going to recommend that video for those interested in some Jeff Lowe 1990s Ice climbing: It's called Waterfall Ice featuring Jeff Lowe and Bird Lew - and a good companion to Jeff's "Ice World" book. Both of which can still be purchased on the Mentanoia website: https://www.jefflowesmetanoia.com/metanoia-merchandise.html 

It's a bit dated material but even with 7 seasons of ice under my belt I still enjoyed going through them and they're a good pre-season refresher. The fundamentals don't change. I wish i owned a pair of wool gloves to climb ice without tools I feel like that would be great footwork practice as shown in his video.

Mr Andersonwrote:

Exactly - I was just going to recommend that video for those interested in some Jeff Lowe 1990s Ice climbing: It's called Waterfall Ice featuring Jeff Lowe and Bird Lew - and a good companion to Jeff's "Ice World" book. Both of which can still be purchased on the Mentanoia website: https://www.jefflowesmetanoia.com/metanoia-merchandise.html 

It's a bit dated material but even with 7 seasons of ice under my belt I still enjoyed going through them and they're a good pre-season refresher. The fundamentals don't change. I wish i owned a pair of wool gloves to climb ice without tools I feel like that would be great footwork practice as shown in his video.

I wish that his Alpine Climbing video was for sale.  I have an old VHS version, but it's a pain to haul my VHS player out of storage and hook it up to my TV.  

Skibowrote:

Or stayed alive.  They left big holes.

Jeff and Jack certainly did...poor wording in my post, meant to say I wish Boulder could have worked it out for the ice park there...the flows over Vampire Rock were insane!