Drive the ice tool into the vertical ice. Doesn’t stick well? Swing again, hitting the same mark. Close the eyes as it strikes to protect from ice blowback. Bring the feet up and kick the crampons in.
Ice climbing engages every pore, every spectrum of every sense. The sound the pick makes as it strikes the ice. The scent of the sheer chill of the winter. The feel of the handle as you pull up on it, lock off, and fiddle in an ice screw.
It's a pursuit that immerses you so deeply that you forget everything else. Only the singularity of the experience exists. Time flutters by as if irrelevant.
There are several activities that can place you in a flow state - mountain biking, skiing, surfing, trail-running. I have pursued climbing in all its forms across the globe because, for me, it delivers enriching experiences and intense doses of euphoria more than anything else.
What is it that makes climbing such
