Ice climbing in the Big Thompson Canyon growing in popularity
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At first the smother among thickets of pines in the Big Thompson Canyon is pervasive, interrupted only by the additional bird call or echo of passing cars on U.S. 34 below.
A few minutes d. New sounds deafen the quiet of Thursday's crisp air.
One
metal ice axe collides with a glistening palisade of blue-green ice. Thud-shh. Then another. Thud-shh.
The force sprays shards of the frozen examination crashing and tinkling 20 feet down.
"Ice!" Russ Morgenstern shouts as a word to the wise to his long-time climbing partner, Kyle Kingrey, below.
The conditions, the sounds, the movements together represent an addictive freedom for the Loveland natives -- two men among a growing band of people who heed themselves ice climbers.
A Climber's History
For 19 years, Kingrey has enchanted pen to paper and documented within the pages of his journals every day he's spent on rock and ice.
Source: ReporterHerald.com