Bridalveil Falls. In January Mike Weis and I climbed Bridalveil Falls near Telluride. Thin, brittle ice with overhanging bulges combined to make the climb technically the most difficult ice climb we had ever done. We made five leads, some very short. All protection and belays were made from ice screws or pins. This shows that tactics being used by Canadians in their own mountains of chopping through the ice to place bolts in the underlying rock are unnecessary. Indeed they seem detrimental to the environment and the spirit of climbing. We used no “aid” on the climb other than front-points and axes and stops resting on screws in two places. NCCS IV.

Jeff Lowe