The Tufts Mountain Club (TMC) partnered with the Vertical Ice Climbing Enthusiasts (VICE) to organize and host the sixth annual Vertical Ice Climbing Enthusiasts' Fest (VICEfest) at the TMC Loj in Woodstock, N.H. this past weekend.
According to Jeffrey Longcor (LA ’07), VICEfest's primary organizer, VICE was first organized in 2008 as a subgroup of TMC and has since grown significantly.
“Since our founding, we have grown from a small, unofficial club, working together to raise group competence and train others, to an experienced management team with proven success running large-scale outdoor events,” Longcor told the Daily in an email. “We strive to show fellow climbers and community members that high adventure in the outdoors is safe and within reach.”
Andrew Bennett, a TMC undergraduate who helped plan the event, explained that VICE hosts the VICEfest weekend primarily as a means to introduce new people to the activity of ice climbing.
“Every other ice climbing festival focuses on people who have already ice climbed ... but [VICEfest] is geared toward the college students that have never ice climbed before, that just want to give it a shot and hang out with their friends,” Bennett, a senior, said.
Longcor said that although ice climbing can be extremely difficult, the activities organized by VICEfest were ideal for helping beginners ease into the sport.
“We choose climbing areas with easy routes and easy access, which makes it an ideal experience for beginners who need instruction and coaching,” he said. “By the end of the day, most first-timers are able to reach the top of their climbs and have gained some comfort with the movements and mechanics of the sport.”
According to Bennett, ice climbing is a strenuous activity that involves the ascension of frozen waterfalls and other ice-covered slopes. Bennett explained that climbers use sharp spikes attached to their feet and hands called crampons to aid in scaling the ice.
“You have crampons on your feet and you kick into the ice, and then you have ice tools and you hammer that into the ice and you just go up,” he said.
Bennett noted that the activity does involve inherent danger, especially due to falling ice that can be kicked loose by climbers and fall on others underneath. He explained that this danger is usually avoided by spreading the climbers out along the slope.
“We are really focused on safety, and [we] work with professional guides to ensure that everything is done correctly and safely,” Bennett said.
The average height of an ice climb is about 100 feet, Bennett explained. He further noted that due to the extreme cold conditions in northern New Hampshire, slopes appropriate for ice climbing are abundant near the Loj.
“[The ice climbing slopes] are all naturally forming. They come in pretty consistently every year,” Bennett said. “Imagine icicles that get to be the size of a tree ... and you can climb it."
About 80 people participated this year, most of whom were Tufts undergraduates, according to Bennett. There are also usually some non-Tufts participants from other colleges, as well as Tufts graduate students.
“Throughout the years people have started to find out about [VICEfest] and how awesome it is, so we get some people signing up that are part of the greater Tufts community ... it’s not your typical undergrad exclusive [event],” Bennett said.
He also noted that students from Brandeis University, Northeastern University and the University of Pennsylvania have participated in past years.
According to last semester's TMC Loj Director Charlotte Clarke, this year’s VICEfest was somewhat different from years past, though still successful.
“We made a few changes going into this year’s edition of the event, but they worked well and everyone had a great time,” Clarke, a junior, told the Daily in an email.
A major change this year was that TMC utilized professional ice-climbing guides from Cathedral Mountain Guides to serve as instructors during the weekend, instead of TMC and VICE members.
“We wanted to improve the professionalism of the event,” Clarke said. “TMC partnered with VICE to make those changes possible despite increased costs, since this event is really important to us, and we want to keep outdoor activities as accessible as possible to our members.”
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