Ice Climbing by E-Bike
by Jim Davidson
Rodney hefted his climbing pack onto his shoulders and sagged under the weight. He buckled his helmet tight and said, “This is either one of our best adventure ideas, or our stupidest.”
During three decades of climbing together, we had shared many days filled with both. This scheme was a first for us, though: an electric bike approach to a never-before-climbed frozen waterfall.
The steep, gravel road in Rocky Mountain National Park was closed to cars for the winter, but still open to bikes and e-bikes. Minimal snowfall so far meant that the road remained accessible, yet some early winter ice was already forming on the cliffs – a rare combination. Two days earlier a ranger friend had sent me a vague image of a new iceflow that no one had reported seeing before. We didn’t quite know which mountain it was on. Or how far away it was. Or if the ice was still there. All we had was the photo, two e-bikes, and the willingness to try.
I climbed aboard my rented e-bike while wearing ice climbing boots (ALPINE ICE GTX). During my 34 years of wearing LOWA boots across six continents, I’ve had some wild experiences. But never one quite like this.
As I pedaled madly uphill, my thirty-pound pack pulled me backward and the bike wobbled beneath me. But when I applied the electric power, the e-bike’s movement accelerated and smoothed out.
We soon had to stop though and rebalance the heavy climbing gear and ropes. We did that four times in the first mile before the risk of crashing seemed minimal. Soon, we cruised up the many switchbacks on our first-ever alpine e-approach.
After five more road miles and 1,850 feet of ascent, Rodney’s bike battery was down to ten percent. We’d have to turn around soon. And then, the ice slab from the photo appeared just 150 yards from the road. It was on a different mountain than we had expected, but there it was - an unclimbed ice route at 10,350 feet.
Now that we had found the ice, we knew what to do. Rodney had 53 years of winter climbing under his harness. With 44 years of ice climbing myself, I was the junior member of our team. The quick approach and fun climb went well. We kicked crampons, swung ice tools, and soon reached the top together.
The route was modest: eighty feet of new ice, rated at WI2. On that day though, it was all ours. We safely rappelled back to flat ground. A lone raven flew above us and then over the route we had just climbed. Instinctively, I yelled up to the soaring bird, “Hey Mike! Is that you?”
Rodney smiled as he knew that I was really speaking to our long-departed friend, Mike Price. Mike had brought Rodney and me together as climbing friends shortly before he died while climbing Mount Rainier with me in 1992.
With the waning November day, we coasted downhill beneath alpine rock towers set afire with sunset’s yellow alpenglow. Over a beer that night, we named the route Mike The Raven.
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Jim Davidson is a climber, LOWA Ambassador, professional speaker, and the author of several mountaineering books. www.speakingofadventure.com
(above) Rob Ley on the approach.
The team filled with joy after the first ascent of Mike The Raven, behind them. (10,350 feet, near Sundance Mountain, Rocky Mountain NP).
Jim Davidson (age 63, left) and Rodney Ley (age 74, right) after another recent ice climb in Colorado.