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It's always easy to be an Monday morning quarterback, as my dad was always fond of saying. You can criticize the quarterback, the receivers, the defense, the coach…they're all fair game. In this day and age of the Internet and talk-radio, you don't even have to wait until Monday. Within minutes of the final whistle, the criticism begins. Heck, sometimes even before. Though rarely on TV, email and Internet forums provide the same type of thing for climbing.
You may or may not have seen the video "Fall, From Glory To Grace" about an ice climber taking a 60 footer off the right side of Dracula at the end of February. The filmmaker, Jeff Butler, posted a link to it on the NEClimbs Facebook page last week, and I am assuming to a number of other places. I posted the link on the NEClimbs.com forum as well.
While very well done, it is not an easy film to watch. I have grown up under the concept the ESPECIALLY on ice, the leader DOES NOT FALL. It is a completely different thing than falling on rock. Good gear or not, there is just too much at stake to take a fall on ice. It is all too easy to snap an ankle walking around in crampons, much less falling 20, 30 or 40 feet - much less 60! In any event, amazingly enough,the leader managed to get away with fairly minimal injuries.
As soon as this video started getting around, several folks pointed out some very disturbing things about the episode. At the risk of playing the Monday morning quarterback/leader game myself, here are the main comments:
1) When he fell, the leader was only about 10' from the top of the climb. In that entire pitch he had only placed 3 pieces of protection and when he fell he was 30' above his last piece of gear. He had plenty of gear, the ice was in great shape, but he didn't place any. As he was getting pumped out at the top, a climber at the top on the left side threw him a rope and carabiner, but he was unable to clip or even grab it.
2) The belayer was belaying using a Gi Gi instead of a normal belay device. To compound things it was used in a manner against the manufacturer's recommendations.
Ice Conditions Report:
Selected Ice Conditions effective February 19, 2026
Just as you would expect following Ice Fest AND a week of truly balmy temps, going to be upper 30's today, the ice can be a mixed bag. I saw someone post about how things are terrible. But digging into it, I realized they were talking about places like the North End that are very well used. It probably gets the most use of all. There are only a few places that have really easy access to moderate climbing and where you can set up a bunch of top-ropes. So that's not unexpected. And of course the climbs that are getting a lot of full sun are getting somewhat punked-out. On my way back from Wolfeboro mid-afternoon a few days ago I took a look at Rainbow Slabs which look as if they are getting pretty funky. And I watched a hunk of the bottom of Way In The Wilderness fall down! IMO it's really the time to start paying attention to what you're walking underneath, any time of the day. Enjoy this weather, but keep paying attention...
Huntington Ravine
numerous options
Repentance
iffy
Standard Route
GREAT conditions
Dracula
IN & very fat
For the full current conditions report, CLICK
HERE
3) The leader's harness, a BD Bod alpine harness, was not doubled back. The fact that it did not completely come undone when he fell is incredible.
There is more, but this is quite enough. Having it all so graphically displayed for all to see it a good thing, at least from a learning standpoint. My understanding is that the leader had been climbing for about 2 years. As my friend and mentor Brad White, says; that's the mort dangerous time for budding leaders. You know just enough to be very dangerous - very much like a teenager who starts driving.
There is a very good analysis and a few good comments about the entire incident by ice climbing master, Will Gadd on his blog. It is definitely well worth reading here:
I'm someone who looks forward to reading the Accidents In North American Mountaineering cover to cover as soon as it comes out. This may or may not be analyzed in next year's editions, but you could do a lot worse than spending some time analyzing this one for yourself. As Will Gadd observes: "Just for reference, I've personally made a lot of the errors in the video, we all have, the idea is to learn and do better, thanks."
NEClimbs & White Mountain Report On Facebook:
Join us and hopefully LIKE us on Facebook. I'll try and post some interesting pix every Thursday and the latest Ice Report in the season, tho certainly not the whole Report. Here's where you can check it out:
Mobile Version Of NEClimbs:
Up on one of the Mount Washington Valley's finest crags and want to know what that climb you're looking at is? Or maybe you're on your way up from Boston and want to check out the Ice Report for your upcoming weekend plans. Or more likely, you're at work just want to daydream about your next adventure. Well if you have a smart phone handy, you can get to NEClimbs from anywhere you have cell service. While it doesn't offer every single feature of the site and it's not an "app", in mobile form, it does do a whole lot and is very useful. Here is the live link to the mobile version of NEClimbs:
Check it out and if you have issues on your specific phone, please feel free to let me know.
NEClimbs & White Mountain Report On Facebook:
Join us and LIKE us on Facebook. I'll try and post interesting pix every Thursday and the latest Ice Report in the season, tho certainly not the whole Report. Here's where you can check it out:
Climbing is a very dangerous sport. You can get hurt or even kill yourself. When you go climbing, you do so of your own free will. Everything on this site is to be taken with a grain of salt. Don't blame us if you get up some totally heinous route, in over your head and fall and hurt yourself.
