How ice climbers enjoyed the cold

Cathedral Falls in Fayette County, West Virginia is one of the easiest waterfalls to see in the state. It is immediately off U.S. 60, just past Gauley Bridge, and there is even a small parking lot.

The record cold temperatures for days on end froze the face of the falls and a group of local climbers took that as an opportunity.

“It has a sticky, different texture, and it has a completely different feeling than rock,” Brook Carlson, a local climber, said. “And there’s a very technical aspect.”

The area is one of the premier rock climbing destinations in the eastern U.S., boasting thousands of established climbing routes. But Carlson’s father got him climbing more than just rocks.

“My dad was an ice climber from New Hampshire, originally,” Carlson said. “These are his old tools that we’re using today, and his old equipment.”

Carlson, Jake Clock and Stephen Croy were out practicing their skills. But they also were, literally, showing two younger area climbers the ropes. Carlson had hiked around the back of the falls and secured climbing ropes to trees at the top.

Stephen Croy, an alpine climber, practices his ice climbing technique on Cathedral Falls.

Photo Credit: Eric Douglas/West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Carlson was the only one who was able to break away to talk for a minute. Two climbers scaled the ice while two others anchored the ropes giving just enough leeway for them to move and climb. That way, they were able to provide safety for the climbers on the ice face, should one of them slip, or if the ice breaks. And it did break. Fist size ice rocks fell nearly constantly, requiring helmets if you got close to the ice.

“The conditions are not good enough to lead it, but they’re good enough to do what’s called “top roping” it, which is setting the anchor up on the top ahead of time, and then coming down here and just running laps on it,” he said. “And it’s good enough to have fun on.”

Carlson said he enjoys passing along his ice climbing knowledge in the same way his father taught him and others.

“This is like the safest way you can do it, and so these younger guys can get the experience of the feeling without the risk of having to lead.”

Carlson’s family legacy and bond on the ice is important, too.

“My dad is 70 now, and he used to have a company guiding ice climbing, and it’s special to be out here with his old tools,” he said. “When I go back home today, I’ll be doing another interview with him. He’ll be asking all about which tools we used, how we did it, and it makes him about as happy as I am on the ice to know that his stuff is still being used 50 years later.”

Carlson said they have been able to get on the ice each of the last four years as arctic cold snaps have frozen the falls. Once his climbing days are over, he said he plans to go to Summersville Lake and learn to scuba dive.

“That’s what I’m gonna do when I’m older,” he said. “The divings in the future, long-term, it’s a great time, and it can be done. It can be done very safely … This place is like a resource, for I always say, this is a town for participants, not spectators.”