Out of all the extreme sports that exist, the pursuit of the ice climber has to be the one that would turn us into a useless puddle of nerves the fastest. Ice formations have the potential to form in as little as a couple of days and can disappear (I.e. fall apart) at a moments notice.
Jeff Mercier is an ice climber featured in Ice Hunters: Cave of Dreams, which follows him as climbs in Chamonix after being away from the mountains. He ends ups finding an ice cave that’s as beautiful as it is dangerous.
“I stumble upon an image recently taken showing the inside of an enormous ice cave,” writes Mercier. “There’s no further information given about its position, but given the surroundings I can instantly guess the glacier it must be hidden in.”
Mercier isn’t unaware of how dangerous what he loves can be. He knows the risks and still can’t help but feel the pull to discover more.
“My pull towards the mountain had become so strong that certain dangers had just vanished from my perception,” he says. “On one occasion, a monstrous avalanche had swept me away despite being so sure that the snowpack was stable. And on another, I was dropped by the helicopter on a rescue mission for two climbers in need. Suddenly, I had found myself on the west face of the Drus jamming my fists into a crack without any protection and any attachment.”
Whew!
While we can’t say having similar experiences wouldn’t cause us to rethink what we were doing and make a hard pivot, we appreciate Mercier and people like him for their desire to push their limits.
Fortunately for us, Mercier is an ice climber and recorded this incredible climbing session so we can enjoy the beauty of it without the high risk. We call that a win-win.
Read more about Mercier as he recounts his time ice climbing in his own words, here.
