How was your Ice Festival 2013?

[Admin Al]

So how was your weekend? What did you climb? Did you get on what you wanted?

I thought it was a great weekend. There was lots of ice, it was better than expected and it got better every day.

[DLottmann]

My weekend started during the insanely warm Thursday (55 degrees), but on Friday we grabbed Standard Route and the slab to the right of HG: http://davidlottmann.wordpress.com/2013/02/02/2-day-private-ice-climbing/

Saturday was an excellent day summiting Willard via the slab right of LHMW and The Cleft: http://davidlottmann.wordpress.com/2013/02/03/ice-climbing-201-4/

Today I didn’t work so I enjoyed a day in Portland bringing the kiddo to the Children’s Museum there...

I was a bit bummed to miss the evening events but I think once Alex is a solid 2 years old he’ll be more amped for some climbing slideshows

[darwined]

Great weekend!  Mount Oscar Friday, Central Couloir on Saturday, Mount Hale and Elephant Head Sunday.  With the exception of Mount Oscar we found and climbed ice all weekend.

[tradmanclimbz]

My ice fests have been great this winter. stayed as far away from them as possible and managed to avoid the crowds

[JBrochu]

I took my daughter to Disney on Ice on Saturday, then went skiing on ice at Cannon on Sunday. (Actually Cannon was better than we expected.)

When I used to ice climb we always headed for Smuggs during Icefest.

[darwined]

My ice fests have been great this winter. stayed as far away from them as possible and managed to avoid the crowds

AAAAHHH my eyes!  I can barely see the keyboard through all the spray.

[tradmanclimbz]

Smuggs is exactly where we were on Sat. the week before when Smuggs had their fest  we were @ The Lake

[darwined]

Thanks for making my point for me.

Lots of people work hard pulling these festivals off and lots of climbers enjoy them.  You don't enjoy them(which is cool if it's your thing), so you avoid them.  Why not just avoid the "Icefest thread" too?  Just saying.

[strandman]

Ice on the knee,, a single cube in the Whiskey and then ICECREAM   

[slink]

I worked all weekend so I did not have to deal with the crowds.I probably would have gone to Smuggs also.Of course the guides put a lot of time getting these together because they draw a lot of clients and work which is good for everyone.If you have been climbing as long as some people like tradman you want to avoid crowds and getting hit with falling ice so you go elsewhere.

[darwined]

I worked all weekend so I did not have to deal with the crowds.I probably would have gone to Smuggs also.Of course the guides put a lot of time getting these together because they draw a lot of clients and work which is good for everyone.If you have been climbing as long as some people like tradman you want to avoid crowds and getting hit with falling ice so you go elsewhere.

I get it.  Why jack the thread just to be an old fart? 

[JBrochu]

Thanks for making my point for me.

Lots of people work hard pulling these festivals off and lots of climbers enjoy them.  You don't enjoy them(which is cool if it's your thing), so you avoid them.  Why not just avoid the "Icefest thread" too?  Just saying.

My opinion is that things like ice festivals suck. They are put on for commercial reasons in order to bring more people into the sport so that commercial operations can sell more gear and sell more services. Witness the steady stream of daily spamming on this forum for the past several months--total commercial sellout. People are "working hard" to sell stuff.

Since this is a community forum there is nothing wrong with sharing ones opinion about these things. (Not saying tradman shares my opinion, maybe he just hates crowds for all I know.)

Thanks in advance for all the extra negative karma points this post will be sure to generate. Maybe Al will delete them all and give me 100 positive ones like he did for the ice fest spammer.

[tradmanclimbz]

Actually I am haveing some doubts and concerns about how commercial guide companies make money on our public lands in a way that drasticly impacts the outdoor experience for the folks who just want to enjoy the cliffs without trying to make money.

[darwined]

Thanks for making my point for me.

Lots of people work hard pulling these festivals off and lots of climbers enjoy them.  You don't enjoy them(which is cool if it's your thing), so you avoid them.  Why not just avoid the "Icefest thread" too?  Just saying.

Since this is a community forum there is nothing wrong with sharing ones opinion about these things. (Not saying tradman shares my opinion, maybe he just hates crowds for all I know.)

Thanks in advance for all the extra negative karma points this post will be sure to generate. Maybe Al will delete them all and give me 100 positive ones like he did for the ice fest spammer.

That's legit.  I guess I just got a little chafed by the speed of the shift to negativity.  I don't really care for the notion of being nutz to buts at the bottom of every ice climb either.  Who gives a shite about the karma points?

[hobbsj]

Maybe I'm an old fart too as I hate the crowds with the festivals.  But he wasn't dogging ice fest, just making a joking comment about not liking those events.  As much as people post about these things being so awesome, there is a group of us that don't find them appealing.  He didn't say it sucked and its for losers and resort to name calling.  I find it refreshing to see others that don't get jazzed about a huge population coming in.  As much as it brings in business, it also destroys climbs for a while, if not for the season.  Just as much you think we're old farts (still in my 20's), we could say you must be egotistic and get validation from being seen at events.  As much as you see a positive in these, we see negatives.