Taking on huge vertical plains of frozen waterfalls and mountainous ice slabs is extreme adventure at its best. To find these frozen backdrops, and the weather to sustain them, climbers head for the very north of Sweden. But new routes can be found further south — in abandoned mines hundreds of meters below ground.
Will Gadd makes his way up to "the brain," a huge underground ice formation in the Åsboberg mine in Sweden. Photo: Nicklas Myrin
Ice climbing has evolved quite a bit since Swedish adventurer Andreas Spak began his ascent into the sport in the early 1990s, with a steadily growing number of active climbers and modernized gear. While more advanced safety equipment has thawed out some of the dangers inherent in the pursuit, global warming has put the sport itself in danger.
About a decade has passed since Spak first started seeing warning signs of a changing climate. “Climbers are pretty environmentally aware,” he says. “You really are in the thick of nature and the sport is so dependent on the weather. The first thing you do in the morning is check the temperature.”
Ice climbing weathers a new storm
A changing climate is proving problematic for ice climbers around the world. Spak and fellow climber Will Gadd recently went on a search for routes less likely to melt. The idea was to find ice below the surface of the earth, where the temperature remains constant for most of the year.
“It’s due to a phenomenon most people are aware of: cold air sinks,” Spak says. Swedish mines turned out to offer both the right temperature and the right level of adventure, 200 meters down.
Canadian ice-climbing professional Gadd says: “I heard rumors five years ago and started to research the mines and was fascinated by both the history and possibility for ice in a warming world.
“I’ve seen glaciers retreat, new species of trees at higher altitudes, and even bears out in the woods well into December when they should be dormant.” From his travels around the world in pursuit of his sport Gadd has an extensive first-hand experience of melting ice and shorter ice-climbing seasons. “Something is definitely changing — and faster than the reports I read suggest.”
The dangers of descent
In early 2007 the two-week adventure saw the duo take on towers of ice in two abandoned iron mines dug out over the past 800 years.
“We found ice climbing in the most amazing environment ever seen,” Spak says. “Huge pyramids rise up from pitch black holes and tunnels that probably no living creature has seen the bottom of. It’s like a scene from Lord of the Rings, without the computer-generated effects.”
Safety and security was a serious issue and the overall responsibility fell on experienced mine guide Daniel Karlsson, who has been exploring Sweden below the surface for the last 12 years.
Daniel Karlsson looks into the camera while seated on a ledge of ice, securing one of the climbers as he abseils into the mine below. The ceiling and walls of the mine are lined with ice crystals over an inch in length. Photo: Daniel Karlsson
“There are maybe 20 or so people who have climbed ice mines in Sweden before,” Karlsson says. “But what made it unique was how Will and Andreas handled it, never taking the easy way round.”
Film explores new ground
To make things even more interesting, the two adventurers also sought to capture their story on film. For Karlsson it meant managing the logistics of navigating two daredevil climbers as well as three cameramen, with half a ton of equipment, power generators and cables.
No one was injured and no equipment was damaged during the project, but one incident highlights the dangers of the adventure. “A big piece of ice fell and almost hit the cameramen – it was huge, we’re talking ten tons of ice,” Karlsson says. “It makes me shake just thinking about it now.”
Spak agrees that the climb was exceptionally treacherous. “It was stupidly dangerous. Probably one of the most dangerous climbs I’ve done. We just didn’t know what it would be like because we’d never heard anyone try it before.”
Just setting up the equipment for the film "Ice mines" involved massive planning and safety precautions. Not to mention the action the camera crew was getting ready to shoot. Photo: Daniel Karlsson
The resulting film, “Ice Mines” (2007), produced and directed by Gadd, has never-before seen footage of an adventure never before attempted. The award-winning film has toured adventure film festivals around the world and has also been shown on the Discovery Channel.
In the dark about the future
“It was a really important part of the project,” Gadd says. “I want to change my own life to be a better citizen and, if I share my experiences of a changing planet, maybe it will encourage other people to do the same.”
But according to Karlsson, the sign of warmer times is even reaching some 500 meters below ground.
“Ever since I started mine diving, I thought the ice would be there inevitably. But we have seen a complete melt in a mine in Dalarna, and it’s scary to think that a century of ice can disappear in a matter of years. Unfortunately that is not an exception.”
In time, this sport could be very different. For the time being, however, Spak believes mines could well prove to be a feasible alternative for the sport. “It’s underground, dangerous to access and climb. The future of ice climbing in a warming world is dark, for sure.”
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Christine Demsteader
Christine Demsteader is a British freelance journalist based in Stockholm. Her fear of heights means extreme sports are not high on her list of pastimes. However, she is readily keen to take up the offer of a mine diving expedition in Sweden this summer.
The author alone is responsible for the opinions expressed in this article.
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