‘You wouldn’t believe it’s Australia’: Climbing walls of ice in our own backyard

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Adventure sports like Ice-climbing is growing in popularity Down-Under. Many Aussies are gearing up to brave the chilly storms and peaks of the Australian Alps.

Transcript

00:00John Pownall is perched halfway up a frozen waterfall.

00:06It's like a scene from the Canadian Rockies, the Swiss Alps or the Himalayas.

00:10Except John isn't overseas, he's ice climbing in Australia.

00:15It's just nuts that it's so cold here and you look around and you can't not see snow.

00:19It's really hard to believe that you're standing in Australia.

00:22A blue lake in Kosciuszko National Park, water dripping over granite rocks freezes into icy

00:27pillars that can be climbed with ice axes and crampons.

00:31It's the only reliable ice climbing destination in Australia.

00:34Phenomenal to climb up essentially a frozen waterfall.

00:38Australia's got so many things to offer and just so many of it is on your doorstep.

00:41It was just brilliant and I wish there were more places we could do it.

00:46Quite often people are quite surprised that there is ice climbing in Australia.

00:50I'd say most Australians don't actually know that.

00:52Rob says ice climbing is experiencing a boom in domestic popularity.

00:56Especially sort of with COVID a few years ago when the resorts were closed, a lot more

01:00people getting out into the backcountry skiing and snowboarding and that opened up the possibility

01:04for them to go ice climbing as well.

01:06People have been coming to Blue Lake in Kosciuszko National Park for 50 years to climb the ice

01:10here and people travel from all around the world to say that they've ice climbed on every

01:15continent on earth.

01:18In Australia, ice climbers are in a constant battle with the conditions, but there's another

01:22battle taking place.

01:24This year the Australian School of Mountaineering cancelled two courses at the end of August

01:28because of poor conditions.

01:30Even in the few years I've been here I've seen huge changes in the amount of ice out

01:34there.

01:35You know this week we've got really good ice but all it takes is one big sort of warm week

01:38and a rain event and that ice can totally disappear.

01:40And if the ice disappears, so does the sport.

01:46While there's no specific data for Blue Lake, the Australian National University says snow

01:50cover in Australia has reduced by 30% since 1954, putting the future of the sport here

01:56in doubt.

01:57There is quite a sort of expectation of Australians that we don't know how to ski or ice climb,

02:01so it's good to prove them wrong sometimes.

02:03While there's still ice, Rob will keep guiding and helping more people to experience the

02:07thrill of an adventure sport many Australians don't know exists.

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