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Here’s a horror story from Colorado: a few days ago ice climber and AMGA Apprentice Guide Leland Nisky was out taking a solo lap on a classic ice climb in the San Juan backcountry called the Ribbon. It’s a steep, walled-in WI4 couloir of ice that has as large bowl positioned above it that will often funnel spindrift and sloughs down the ice. While Nisky was about 400 feet up the route, a massive slough came down and he could do nothing but hang on for dear life. The resulting video is insane, and Nisky credits his practice with breathing control in keeping him calm enough to hold on and eventually downclimb to anchors and rappel even while more snow was raining down on top of him. He reminds anyone that solo ice climbing, while very freeing, is incredibly dangerous and that anyone going into the mountains needs to remember to gather every piece of information they can to make an informed decision about their activity.
