JOURNEY TO WEEPING WALL

WORDS BY CASSIE DAVIES

WANTING TO BROADEN HER CLIMBING HORIZONS, CASSIE WANGLED A JOB SECONDMENT TO THE US IN 2020, THEN MOVED TO CANADA—AND THERE SHE HAS STAYED. FROM HUMBLE BEGINNINGS ICE-CLIMBING NSW’S CHERISHED BLUE LAKE (WORLD-CLASS IT IS NOT, BUT WE LOVE IT!), SHE’S NOW TAKING ON THE BIG WALLS.

Pitch one

Elaine and I are at the peak of our Canadian ice-climbing season. We’ve been regular climbing partners for the past three years and have done countless pitches together on gneiss, conglomerate, quartz, desert mudrock and sandstone.

Recently we’ve been dialling in on ice all over the Canadian Rockies. Every weekend, it’s up the icefields parkway and onto a new multipitch, the next challenge in our progression on ice. We swing leads and know each other’s food patterns, risk preferences, knowledge and ability inside out. I couldn’t have asked for a better partner to be sharing a rope on the mega Weeping Wall.

Ice climbing started for me at a small, very melty crag of ice called Blue Lake. In the backcountry behind Perisher in Australia’s Snowy Mountains, it became my training ground on ice. The best regular ice weekends a Sydneysider could hope for.

The first time I touched an ice axe was on a mountaineering course at Blue Lake. I just wanted some skills for a trekking peak in Nepal, but instead I was handed an axe in front of vertical ice and, at the same time, handed a world of opportunity in a new form of climbing. As my hand wrapped onto the handle, my brain wrapped around new dreams. I had always had a fascination with mountains, and these were the tools to unlock them.

Elaine’s axe stuck fast in the ice and refused to come out. This frustrating experience had characterised a few of our multipitches this season. Ice climbers sharpen their own gear with a wood file, and it’s easy to misalign a sharpening angle. It takes many grinds of the file to unwind a catching notch.

I groaned slightly inside. We had a huge day ahead, and this was going to waste extra energy. But I kept silent as Elaine swore at it and yanked it out. Next swing. Next screw placement. I felt relief as the sticking axe seemed to start to play ball. Next to us, I could see my Aussie friends Tom and Matt making good progress up their first pitch within eyesight of our climb.

This was the dream, climbing big wall ice next to friends, but in your own world of focus.

I’m up. This is the WI4. Or was it a 4+? Ice climbing is a sport where grades are made up and the points don’t matter. Every season, every day, pitches will vary in condition, quality and difficulty. It’s drilled into new climbers: get experience in different conditions, different aspects, different weather.

Today, the ice felt good, my sticks were sticking. This season, I had been dialling in my focus to just be on the next move, the next metre. Sometimes thinking about the whole pitch could make me feel rushed or want to get it over with, but I had to maintain focus on securing every swing and every kick.

I started to learn this method of focus in NZ. My first ice climbing experience outside Australia was the Remarkables Ice and Mixed Festival. I learnt how to torque my tools and feel the point that the tip would slip. I met some Americans who came and bossed some challenging mixed routes.

What did they do over there to get that good? The New Zealand Alpine Team gushed about ice climbing in the Canadian Rockies.

I reached the belay and felt great. It was one of the top five hardest pitches I’d ever led on ice, but it had unexpectedly been a breeze. I felt the adrenaline kicking in but calmly built a good anchor. I was in the full sun, so I built an especially good ice screw anchor and shoved snow on top of the screws to keep them cool for as long as possible.

We decided to break this one up. The first part Elaine was comfortable with, but the second half of the pitch was just as hard as the last pitch, so that one was mine.

My legs started to seize up a bit. I shifted and tried to keep the blood flowing in various awkward stances. By the time I was following again, my adrenaline had left and my legs felt stiff. Stabs of hunger started to hit me. Pitches of ice are slower than rock, and breakfast felt like a long time ago. Even though the next belay spot was tight, Elaine and I wolfed down our hot pasta.

By 2020, I had moved to the US, looking for adventures. Soon, remote working meant I could live closer to mountains, expanding my horizons for adventure even further. I based myself near Ouray in Colorado. Ouray is a mecca for ice climbers. It is one of the few artificial ice parks in the world. With over 200 carefully maintained ice routes with bolted anchors at the top, it is an excellent place to learn to climb and train.

Ouray days are usually cragging days, and that’s where I learnt a lot about keeping warm whilst on belay. Hot thermoses of hearty food became a must to keep my warmth and spirits up for long days deep in the canyon. I met Elaine living out there and we ventured together from the ice park to the backcountry. We grew our experience as ice climbers together, stoked on each other’s improvements and gains.

I took over on the second half of pitch three. This was complicated ice. I needed to chop off chandlering formations when placing screws to find the more solid ice underneath. The ice seemed to lean slightly backward. How was this still WI4? I reminded myself to focus on the next move and stay relaxed.

I pulled the lip of the bulge and stepped on a wide bench to build an anchor to bring Elaine up. I felt flooded with adrenaline, my emotions soaring from the thought of what I had just pulled off. In the realm of ice climbing, I’m under no impression of greatness; but for me, this achievement was huge.

Pitch four

I was convinced we didn’t have enough time to finish the wall. The good thing about ice is that you can bail from anywhere with V threads (using ice screws you can drill a “V” into the ice to thread your rope though).

But seeing Matt and Tom rappelling off their route and hearing their yells of encouragement, my spirits lifted. Elaine’s stoke was high and she was happy to finish the last pitch. I could relax and just follow.

Long cold days at Hyalite in Montana prior to moving to Canada had taught me some good lessons about perseverance when cold and still needing to get down off the route. I dug deep. The sun went down behind the mountains and the night chill set in.

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I topped out after following Elaine’s impressive lead and started to weep. We had climbed it! We had achieved an audacious goal. I was at the top of a wall I hadn’t even considered myself good enough to contemplate at the beginning of the season.

Good communities build good climbers. I ended the day deeply grateful for the community, friendships and experiences which got me to the top of Weeping Wall.

Follow Cassie’s adventures on Insta @cassie_davies