Niagara Climbs

February 18, 2015 7:55 AM

On January 27th, 2015, Canadian Will Gadd became the first person in recorded history to climb a frozen Niagara Falls.
posted by orange swan (29 comments total)

My mom was driving out to visit me in Maine (from Chicago) and she stopped at Niagara. She had mentioned she saw someone climbing up the ice falls and we all thought that was pretty cool.

Then a few days after she got home, she realized it was this guy. Pretty awesome stuff.
posted by mayonnaises at 8:16 AM on February 18, 2015 [1 favorite]

Sadly, did not then go down the falls in a barrel. A lost opportunity there.
posted by alex_skazat at 8:20 AM on February 18, 2015 [3 favorites]

I live in Niagara and this stunt got about 1% of the attention Wallenda's wire walk got.
posted by davebush at 8:23 AM on February 18, 2015 [1 favorite]

I really like the idea of ice climbing. The thought of just being able to swing a pair of ice axes and embed them into the ice, and kick in with crampons and climb a vertical surface like Spiderman makes me happy. So when I had a chance, a friend and I hired a guide and did a climb on top rope so we could give it a try in safety. It was about as fun as I expected, for a few minutes. Then, very soon, I realized that climbing that way requires a ton of arm and shoulder strength that I didn't have. My feeble swings started bouncing off the ice so I had to try and start using them more like hooks, searching for little ledges and stuff, which wasn't quite as awesome feeling since I wasn't any good at that either. But it was fun anyway.
posted by exogenous at 8:29 AM on February 18, 2015 [7 favorites]

Will Gadd has done some great climbs. If you ever get a chance to try ice climbing give it a good. It's a really fun sport and actually not that hard. It gets harder, but the easy stuff is pretty easy. Fairly gear intensive but there are festivals all over the world where you'll usually find demo or rental gear and lots of clinics.

Plus, you get to feel like a superhero covered in razors.
posted by misterpatrick at 8:34 AM on February 18, 2015 [2 favorites]

As far as climbing waterfalls go, you need to source a copy of the Masters of Stone, where Dan Osman climbs an unfrozen waterfall.
posted by alex_skazat at 8:37 AM on February 18, 2015 [1 favorite]

I saw an interview with this guy. By the time he finished the climb he was pretty hypothermic and miserable from spray. At times he reported climbing within an ice axe-length of falling water.
posted by kinnakeet at 8:38 AM on February 18, 2015

Plus, you get to feel like a superhero covered in razors.

The Shrike.
posted by OmieWise at 8:39 AM on February 18, 2015 [2 favorites]

Sadly, did not then go down the falls in a barrel.

Or on a toboggan or Crazy Carpet. Or hockey skates.
posted by orange swan at 8:40 AM on February 18, 2015

Does this thread need a theme song?
posted by HuronBob at 8:42 AM on February 18, 2015

Sadly, did not then go down the falls in a barrel.

Or on a toboggan or Crazy Carpet. Or hockey skates.

Probably waiting for a sponsorship deal with the GT Snowracer people.
posted by Sys Rq at 9:01 AM on February 18, 2015

Good fodder for the anti-global warming set.
posted by paulcole at 9:03 AM on February 18, 2015

Will Gadd is a total badass. Among the other intense, technically and physically difficult stuff he's into is "vol bivy" (basically camping by paraglider). He did a borderline unbelievable trip through the Canadian Rockies, which was on a recent episode of the Dirtbag Diaries podcast.
posted by that's candlepin at 9:05 AM on February 18, 2015

Obligatory gif.
posted by resurrexit at 9:10 AM on February 18, 2015 [5 favorites]

Made me think of...
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 9:36 AM on February 18, 2015 [2 favorites]

the first person in recorded history to climb a frozen Niagara Falls.

So...is this a thing ice climbers have long dreamed of and failed to achieve or is it more a "he's the first person in recorded history to try" thing?
posted by yoink at 9:43 AM on February 18, 2015

Obligatory gif.

Holy crap. Did that guy survive?
posted by suelac at 9:56 AM on February 18, 2015

He crossed the border, so I assume he had a passport.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:57 AM on February 18, 2015

Holy crap. Did that guy survive?

If the Imgur comments are correct, that's Urs Odermatt, and he's fine. Apparently, he walked away basically uninjured.
posted by schmod at 10:16 AM on February 18, 2015

There were way too many clips in there of trying to find a handhold and having the ice chip away. Terrifiying.
posted by maryr at 11:00 AM on February 18, 2015

The Shrike

I always confuse this guy for some reason with Flenser from A Fire Upon the Deep.
posted by shivohum at 11:12 AM on February 18, 2015

I do a fair amount of lead climbing, and there is no amount of money that you could pay me to make the leap to ice climbing.
posted by schmod at 11:24 AM on February 18, 2015 [1 favorite]

MetaFilter: like a superhero covered in razors.
posted by Halloween Jack at 11:31 AM on February 18, 2015

FROZEN NIAGARA IS PROOF GLOBAL WARMING IS A HOAX. WAKE UP SHEEPLE
posted by chavenet at 11:50 AM on February 18, 2015

Large bits of it are not frozen, shhhhh, shhhhh, there there sheeple, go back to sleep.
posted by maryr at 11:58 AM on February 18, 2015 [1 favorite]

Liquids are not meant to be climbed. This is simply insane.
posted by el io at 12:10 PM on February 18, 2015 [1 favorite]

Call me ignorant but for me this is way cooler than those guys who tweeted and internetted their way up that rock wall for weeks.
posted by ReeMonster at 2:02 PM on February 18, 2015

So...is this a thing ice climbers have long dreamed of and failed to achieve or is it more a "he's the first person in recorded history to try" thing?

The latter. The climbing's not that hard, especially for a climber like Will Gadd; the access, permits etc were probably the main barrier. Apparently, though Gadd (& Sarah Hueniken) are probably the first to climb Niagara's frozen fringe in good style - it had already been top-roped under the cover of darkness.
posted by Flashman at 9:14 AM on February 19, 2015 [1 favorite]

Whoops, that should probably read "the climbing's not that hard for a climber like Will Gadd..." It's still, rated WI 6 in difficulty, plenty hard for most everybody else.
posted by Flashman at 11:16 AM on February 19, 2015