Weekend Whipper: Ice Dagger Snaps With Climber On It

Readers, please send your Weekend Whipper videos, information, and any lessons learned to Anthony Walsh, awalsh@outsideinc.com.

The Italian alpinist Giacomo Mauri made a quick trip to the Canadian Rockies last winter, intent on climbing as many classic ice and mixed routes as he could. One route on his radar was the two-pitch Unicorn (M7), found just left of the ultra-classic Kitty Hawk (WI 5; 150m). 

But, as is often the case in the Great White North, temperatures around the winter solstice were positively arctic, making for challenging, brittle ice conditions, and the thin splatters of ice on Unicorn were worryingly delaminated. Mauri scraped his way up the low-angle beginning, soon facing off against a steep dagger-pull protected by a mid-size cam.

For viewers curious about how ice should not sound when swinging into it, be sure to play this whipper with volume on high. Mauri gives several heavy swings at the ice, each returning an empty, hollow-sounding thunk. Unsurprisingly, the ice severs when Mauri commits his whole weight to it, and he takes the ride onto the icy slab below. He was thankfully uninjured and even found his ice tools later that day, one still lodged into a block of ice.

Analysis

What could Mauri have done differently? Swinging less aggressively is a good place to start, especially on unsupported ice like this. Less-secure sticks mean they are also more likely to shear from the ice—but that’s a calculation each climber must make for themselves. Climbing on a slightly warmer day, when the ice may be softer and therefore less prone to failing, is also a worthy consideration. All that said, kudos to Mauri for climbing above his protection in this instance—and not trying to place an ice screw above his head. Had he been attached to the falling ice, he would have had a much uglier outcome.

Happy Friday, and be safe out there this weekend. Thanks to Tim Banfield at @iceclimbing for the video.