as always it started innocently enough, we spent the weekend in the pine pass snowboarding at powderking. I was sneaky and packed an extra bag of gear, saturday night in the chalet after a full day of epic powder and digging a snow cave to camp in that night i spring the trap.
"want to go climbing dee?" is all it takes.
So dion got his first climb that night. On ice. At night. it was good and we went back and bribed alex the groomer operater for a ride to the top of the mountain and went to sleep in our cave. after a couple more beers of course.
The next day was sunny and bright and we were both sore and a little slow so when we stopped for lunch i suggested we maybe go do dairy queen again in the daylight, dion was game till we got to the bottom of it. then he pinched a small fit!
"you made me climb that?" "it's terrifying. And tall. And scary...." I got the impression he was impressed.
So i made him do it again, different in the light. At night you climb in a 6 foot bubble, just what your headlamp will reach.
On the way home with the fear fading we started planning to do lots more. You know they build ice climbs in banff for competions?
Boom idea is born! We should do that, with temperatures around 40 below for weeks on end it would be easy. It wasn't as easy as that but pretty dam close.the first year we hung pallets from the poplar trees in his back yard and made a very short climb. 20 feet maybe in total if you counted the top section the water never froze to.
the second year we borrowed 3 tiers of scaffolding from Jarret, and set them up in the center of the backyard surrounded by snow covered bmx ramps and then leaned the shitty old ladder up against the structure on one side. wrapped a bunch of chicken wire the the top and stuffed old pizza boxes behind the wire. Dion for some reason collects pizza boxes, i think he intends to build a gaint out of them one day.
armed with last years mistakes we laid pvc plumbing round the top edge and drilled holes in the bottom every couple inches. this spread the water evenly and allowed it to chill much faster. Presto! no melty streak for the first 3 feet, an actual wall of ice began to form almost instantly. within hours we could tell it was going to work.
Getting the volume of water right was crucial and there were mistakes made, too much and it would still melt the top, not enough and the water would freeze in the line. more than several time we would check the ice wall only to discover crunchy hard line froze right back to the window it was run out of.
One morning while enjoying my coffe i discovered the hose was froze, pulled on my boots and helmet grabbed my axes and started up the wall to untie the line.Our neighbor next door was out in the yard with his dog and didn't see me till i was halfway up, the climb had been up for over a week already but the sight of me in my houserobe and climbing gear was the straw that broke his poor back! Chuckles quickly turned to loud out of control laughter, i kept a straight face and finished my chore and im sure that just fanned the flames of outrageous humor.
he had seen us ride the ramps with little bikes ride the trampoline with little bikes ride the ramps with little quads and motorcycles, combine the ramps and trampoline. fires and fireworks live music and ramps in the garage during winter months when the snow kept us of the outside ramps and never uttered a word.
Years of carefully concealed guffaws burst thru. I coiled the hose and carried it inside without letting my mask crack. "I think we finally got him Dion!" I said as i pulled my boots and cramps of in the entryway.
He turned and looked at me and cracked too.
"The hose froze and you went and got it down like that?" not really a question more an accusation. "That calls for a lap on the wall" mock mad that i would do something so obviously needing punishment by being forced to climb. grab a hold in the hallway, traverse past the bathroom into the boulder cave and start doing laps until we fall.
indoors or out the mountains are in our blood.
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