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Comment by LesZedCB | Hacker News Reader

holy fucking shit that hero photo of the climber on the verglas is totally nuts! i've done a fair bit of ice climbing myself, but easy, fat waterfall stuff. leading a pitch like that at altitude with that kind of exposure makes my stomach absolutely drop. alpinists are totally crazy! <3

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Yeah, I have no idea how really high-altitude climbers do it. I've climbed pitches of otherwise fairly easy alpine ice at about 6000m in Peru, and that was the hardest climbing I've ever done. I've never had my calves burn like that. I can't imagine leading on verglas like that at >7000m.

I have staggered up a 30% slope at 6000m, and remember taking a few steps and then having to have a breather (albeit with equipment and food weighing me down). Although I do ice climb at lower altitudes, I couldn't imagine effort to do the same at 6000m.

What was it like? Make 2-3 moves, then stand for 30 seconds to catch your breath?!?

Yeah, pretty much. I was well acclimatized, but there's no making up for that lack of oxygen.

Every time I whack a dinner-place sized piece of ice off, or absolutely bury my picks in the ice because any thing less feels dangerously insecure, I think about stuff like what's in that photo. I have no idea how I could ever climb something like the Smear of Fear, which looks like a fat easy waterfall compared to that photo.

Smear of Fear on Long Peak’s Diamond? Do you live in Colorado?

Not any more, but when I was learning to climb, ca 2000, I was living in the Boulder area, and the Smear loomed pretty large in the legendarium I came up in.

I live in the Boulder area. I've gotten back into ice climbing recently after a ~10 year hiatus. Smear of Fear is definitely legendary. I don't think it has had many repeats. I'm not sure how much it freezes up anymore, though.

There's an old but still gold video from Millet with some pretty cool stomach-churning footage https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISagf2eCzKg

These people prepared to die for their sport. It is another level of adventure. Source: I have climbed about 10 metres of not ice in an air conditioned gym :-)

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