My second time at Ice Fest except this time was a lot warmer. I don't know about you other states but we have a extreme lack of snow this year in Minnesnowta. But that was just fine for Ice Fest weekend we had a woodstove in the tent and it would of got the ground all muddy. I also brought two sleeping bags so I was extra toasty while sleeping.
This year someone brought along a log for hammerschlagen which is a game where you try to hit a nail into a log with as few hits as possible using the back end of a hammer. The person who puts the nail in with the least amount of tries wins.
I ended up playing a lot of hammerschlagen because it cost money to attend the climbimg clinic. That is exactly why I had to climb during the middle of the night to avoid any fees. It was pretty gnarly because it was a full moon that night and I probably didn't even need a headlamp for climbing.
I discovered a sensation that ice climbers call the Screaming Murphy's. While climbing, my arms are above my head and squeezing the handles of the ice picks. It took me awhile to reach the top and I tried to take as few breaks as possible along the way. So as you can imagine with my arms above my head for that long there wasn't much blood in them. I was informed of the Screaming Murphy's before I climbed. I finished my climb and untied the rope, then the blood rushed back into my arms. It felt like my heart was pumping hot lead into my forearms, but I man upped and didn't scream. Here is a picture of me staring at my forearms as they exploded with pain.
I'm sure many of you readers have been waiting since December 1st to see my Movember moustache. I apologize for the wait ladies here is what you have been waiting for!
ROSS YOU ARE THE MAN!!!!!!
ReplyDelete