Hydrophobia (Hardwear Sessions)

By William Meinen

Classic Ice Climbs of the Rockies: Hydrophobia

It's usually around Thursday that I start to get squirrelly around the office and start making phone calls to find a partner to climb with for the weekend. My buddy Andy Gallant must have felt the same way because he called me before I had a chance to start my search through the Rolodex.

"Wanna try Hydro?"

"Let's do it!"

Hydrophobia is an ultra classic ice climb tucked in the Front Range mountains. The climb in and of itself is sheer and magnificent. A true marvel. The difficult access to the climb steps it up to a whole new level. 4x4 mandatory. Don't even bother trying it with anything less than 12" of clearance. A winch and tire chains are very helpful with the multiple river crossings and steep hill grades. With the climb and the access combined together it really becomes a unique adventure, hard to compare against anything else.

Andy and I left on a Friday night and decided to do the 4x4ing that evening so we would be fresh for the climb early Saturday morning. A couple wrong turns and one episode involving the winch eventually found us within hiking distance of the climb. We set up the tent and had a few beers in front of the roaring fire.

The next morning we woke up to frigid temps and a beautiful sunrise. All of our water was frozen solid, and neither of us brought a stove. Shoving granola into my mouth with numb fingers filled my belly. The hike to the base warmed us both up, but unfortunately it still wasn't enough to thaw our Nalgene bottles.

I took the first pitch and Andy took the next. As I followed Andy's lead I was impressed. The ice was horribly brittle, and it turned into a delicate hooking fest with difficult pro. My recently broken ankle was not impressed with all the kicking and front pointing either. It became an exercise in upper body strength training as I slowly stopped using my gimpy appendage. As I locked off one arm, and scratched around for somewhere to hook with my outstretched tool I felt the pump. It felt good, but I was glad the rope was above me. As I pulled over a bulge and joined Andy at the belay I confessed my pump and lack of confidence in both my ankle and in the brittle condition of the ice.

"Do you want to lead the next pitch?" I bashfully asked.

"Nah," Andy replied. "The ice is shit. Let's come back when it's warmer, and perhaps we'll actually have fun. It's a suffer-fest up here right now."

And with that we rapped down. I felt like a bit of a pansy, but I didn't care. My ankle was so close to a full recovery I didn't want to risk another two months sitting on ass. I was disappointed but knew I was making the responsible decision. Besides, with warmer temps and longer days we might be able to link Hydro with the Sorcerer. That would be huge!

We loaded up the truck and started the complex 4x4 back into civilization. When I got back to my house, I hung up the ice tools. Hydro was pretty intense, and I felt like I deserved a fun day. I got on the phone.

"Hey Katie, you got any plans tomorrow? Wanna go skiing?"