My Block Of Ice Story (With A Moral)

Once when I was mountain biking out in Moab I met this guy who used to be a free ice climber. That means he would climb up large mountains of ice without any rope.

That's fucked up.

One day he climbed up this very tall very steep face of ice and as he neared the top he suddenly realized he was climbing a block of ice without any rope. He freaked out. He stayed there, hundreds if not thousands of feet above the ground, hugging that big block of ice as if it were his only hope for survival. The irony is, it was.

His friends tried to get him to stop freaking out, but it wasn't working. So he stayed there on that mountain of ice for a couple hours. Sweating. Crying. Screaming.

His friends stayed with him. They patiently waited - cause that's what friends do.

They were finally able to help get him down off the ice. And shortly after he got to the ground, he packed up his bags and moved to Moab where he now spends his life taking people on mountain bike tours. Firmly and solidly rooted to the earth.

So if you're climbing a block of ice and you're scared you might fall, bring some rope and some really good friends. You're gonna need the security of them on both your way up and your way down. And if you do it right, you won't freak out too much and maybe you'll survive to climb another day.