By Russ Cassady, Staff Writer

The conditions Tuesday night were definitely not ideal for many outdoor activities.

But, as snow fell through a biting wind, and the temperature fell into the 20s, two Pike County men, Brian Sohn and Josh Justice, geared up, and set out to take on a sport not many are familiar with locally — ice climbing.

But he said the seed of ice climbing was planted when he was in college in Colorado, although it seemed like something, at that time, which was impossible.

“The people who were (rock) climbers that I hung out with were always normal,” he said. “And then you’d meet the ice climbers and they were a little more intense.”

Even one of Sohn’s friends, an experienced climber, saw the sport as extremely dangerous.

“For the longest time, I thought like he did, that with ice climbing, you’re just asking for it,” he said. “So I just avoided it and avoided it.”

When Sohn returned to Pike County, he saw the ice forming on rocks left behind when roads are built through the mountains, such as that at Burning Fork, and thought a little differently of ice climbing.

Then about three years ago, he said, he and some friends began ice climbing on the local mountains.

The ice climbing opportunities here, he said, are not as extreme or dangerous as some of the solid walls of ice and frozen waterfalls that some climbers in other areas tackle.

“With the safety issue kind of dealt with, I was willing to try it out,” he said.

Before Sohn and his friends climb, they set up a network of screws and ropes, which provide an extra measure of safety. If either he or Justice had gotten in a tough spot Tuesday, all they had to do was stop, and the rope system would secure them.

There aren’t many people Sohn’s aware of who also participate in climbing, but he said that during a recent ice climbing jaunt in Pikeville, along Bob Amos Drive, he and fellow climbers found a rope which indicated someone was climbing there before them.

Sohn said his parents imparted a love of outdoor activities like hiking and rock climbing, and even hired a guide as a birthday present to teach him rock climbing.

And it was that experience he was able to build upon when he decided to go ice climbing.

Someone just starting out in the sport, though, should have some experience, or some way to learn the basics before they attempt to tackle the ice, he said.

“They should have some experience with rope systems and so on, but everybody comes at it a different way,” he said.

According to Sohn, there is a strong tradition of master-apprentice climbing partnerships, not just in ice climbing, but rock climbing, as well, and there are guides who can assist people in learning the initial steps.

Those looking to get into the sport will also find themselves looking at some cost, especially with items like the specialized ice axes the climbers use costing more than $200 each.

“This stuff is expensive,” he said. “This is the kind of thing that, growing up, I asked for one piece for Christmas over the years, one piece for my birthday. You can’t just buy it all.”

Sohn said he and his friends are just putting the conditions to their own use.

“Of course, it’s preferable to go climb in shorts and a T-shirt on a sunny day when it’s 70 degrees,” he said. “But it’s not (that way right now).

“We’re not out there trying to train for Everest,” he said. “We’re just messing around on the opportunities that the area gives us.”

For Justice, who got into the sport through Sohn, it provides a way of stress relief and presents a challenge in a setting that’s not like everyday life.

“It is like a puzzle,” he said of climbing on the ice, adding that it can also be a disconcerting and exciting activity, especially at times like when he’s climbing as the ice is melting, and he can hear the water running underneath the ice.

However, he said he has another reason for participating in, not only ice climbing, but other activities like kayaking, fishing, hunting, mountain biking and hiking.

Justice he hopes his and the others’ participation in activites such as ice climbing shows others that there are opportunities here.

Those opportunities, he said, include showing young people that there are things to do here, which don’t involve drugs, and developing an economic resource that can be, now and in the future, a way for this area to thrive.

“To me, it represents the potential we have in this area for ecotourism,” he said. “It’s our greatest natural resource. Coal’s not a renewable resource. I think that ecotourism could be a part of our comprehensive economy here.”