The Ice Pit
Membership grows around secret site for ice climbing
by Adam Hardy Once winter sets in, ice climbers in the Midwest are like lovesick teens. They stare out the frosty windows of their cars and their homes, longing for what they can never have: good, tall ice just a few hours away.
Barely holding back tears, they drive to local gear shops and scratch that itch by plopping down a few hundred bucks on equipment, then go home and watch a National Geographic special.
But that's only because they've never heard of the Ice Pit.
The Ice Pit is one of northeastern Wisconsin's best-kept ice climbing secrets. And, while it was open for a short time on a pay-per-climb basis through Dairyland Expeditions, it has since been purchased by a small nonprofit club that admits new members by invitation only. Call them the Freemasons of the ice. Good luck figuring out who they are. You might be sitting next to one right now.
But here are a few clues: The Ice Pit is a dormant section of an active mining site on the outskirts of Green Bay. At more than 120 feet in height, the pit is tall by most ice climbing standards and can provide a good workout for even the most stalwart veterans. But you can't see it from the road, so don't run into the ditch as you rubberneck your way though the rural realms of Packers green and gold.
To top it all off, the site has been reported to be climbable as early as November.
"The cool thing about the Ice Pit is that it is the coldest place in the whole area, because it is a sinkhole for Green Bay," I was told by an anonymous informant. "So even if Munising (Michigan) had no ice until February 1, we are climbing at the pit the second or third week in November."
So, when your co-worker slips out the door early on that crisp fall afternoon, don't think twice about tailing him. He's got a line on the ice.
The genius who turned this crater of cold and limestone into a frosty vision of beauty is Paul Kuenn, owner of Vertical Stronghold climbing gym in Appleton and former professional climbing guide. Kuenn opened the Ice Pit for commercial use in 1997, but the idea had been germinating for quite some time.
"The Ice Pit concept came when I moved back to Wisconsin in 1980 after becoming a guide in Washington state, where I climbed at a friend's quarry
in Sussex when I was in between jobs," Kuenn said. "I was teaching rock climbing and ice climbing for shops in Waukesha, Kenosha and in Chicago, so I knew that quarries in Wisconsin had a lot of limestone with water seeping through beautifully."
But Kuenn's idea had to wait for fertile ground, which it found 15 years later.
"In the early to mid-1990s, I taught a family how to rock climb, and they
owned a quarry," Kuenn said. "So in 1996 I got a chance to look at the quarry and said, 'We have to ice climb here.'"
But not all things went according to plan. "A few weeks later a friend of mine told me that he would meet me there to climb, and he had set it up with the owners. It was Thanksgiving Day. The ice was thin and still dripping. When I showed up, my friend wasn't there but we decided to
start climbing. As I'm topping out, because I'm leading, a truck rolls up. Some guys get out with guns."
Kuenn laughs. "It turns out to be the manager of the quarry and some friends, and they hadn't heard anything about us being there. They get on the phone and put me on with the owner and we decide that we can work something out, but not before we sign some papers."
When the lawyers met, Kuenn said it helped quite a bit that he was the
only guide in the Midwest certified by the American Mountain Guides Association (AMGA), and had professional insurance to protect climbers under his care. He and the quarry owner worked out an agreement using language from a standard mountain climbing guide contract.
"In terms of liability, our insurance company thought it was great because they are used to all the climbing guides out West who have to lead climb
everything," Kuenn said. "This was a no brainer: it was top-roping and very controlled." Kuenn leased the quarry from the owner for $1,000 a year.
Once the legalities were set and the contract signed, Kuenn went to work enhancing the site. Kuenn and his team of guides bought 1,200 feet of flexible heavy-duty vinyl tubing and ran it along the top rim of the quarry. The pipe directed drainage water from a pump already in place for the
quarry. Once Kuenn got the tubing in place, it allowed a constant flow of water to evenly sprinkle down the length of limestone wall out of spigots. Under freezing conditions, this allowed for thick, safe and fun ice.
When the pipe wasn't frozen, that is.
"It was that up and down winter of '97. It could be a nightmare," Kuenn recalled. "Sometimes it would take hours of pounding the pipes with a sledgehammer before I'd get the water running after it had frozen. But that
was the biggest ice we ever had."
Rigging fixed positions for top ropes was an effort in careful planning for the elements as well.
"We used an air drill and put in 3/4-inch, 3-foot-tall rebar in the top of the quarry. We had lots of backup in case the ice grew in thickness and we needed to run cables from farther back," Kuenn said.
Galvanized aircraft-grade cables were attached to the rebar; ropes could be set from there. Unfortunately, it couldn't always provide a
clip-and-climb experience.
"Sometimes the snow would be 6 feet thick and (the cables) would need to be dug out. But once the cables were set, then you could just clip in and throw the rope," Kuenn said.
"But it wasn't always fun playing with 230-foot ropes either," he continued. "And they were static (nonelastic) because dynamic would stretch too much and you would wreck your ankles with the crampons. We knew that
people would chop them sometimes. Even though we had the plastic tube covers on the rope, people would hit the rope going down to the belayer. So it would wreck it in the middle of the rope. That got expensive."
Once Kuenn finally got the park opened, people came from all over Chicago, Detroit and Iowa to get a chance at real ice climbing without having to go to the U.P. or Canada.
One side of the pit was dedicated for experienced climbers chopping their
way up the ice in two-member teams. The other side Kuenn and his guides used for classes. More than 350 climbers visited in an average season, and 200 students took the Ice Pit classes every year paying $250 for a 10-day pass, and $95 per class.
When asked where he got the idea for this endeavor, Kuenn said that there wasn't one specific source of inspiration.
"We heard that in Ouray, Colorado, they were using leakage at the joints
of a forest service pipe," he said. "By the late '90s they were adding hoses and valves, but their 30-foot-wide steel irrigation pipes were different from our 3-inch hose, and you have to lead climb there. The Ice Pit is the first place that I've heard of where the ropes are set and it is basically an outdoor ice climbing gym. To this day no one has followed that."
And while the entrepreneurial spirit didn't make Kuenn a millionaire, he's
content with the results of his vision.
"I paid seven guys wages and had a little bit left over. It was enough to keep us all working, and that is what I call, in climbing terms, profitable. Not many climbing companies make it."
The project was officially part of Dairyland Expeditions LLC, Kuenn's long-time guiding business, which he sold along with the Ice Pit in 2003. "When I sold (the Ice Pit) in 2003, all that was left was $1,700."
Though the Ice Pit was hard work and it barely turned a profit, Kuenn didn't sell it out of disgust. "After 24 years of guiding and running around, I wanted to retire the whole outdoor thing."
Of course, Kuenn has no knowledge of who exactly purchased the site, as the transaction was laundered through several front organizations in Zurich and the Canary Islands, and all interactions were conducted under bright lights while blindfolded.
You can't use Kuenn to find out where the Ice Pit is, but you can tap his 24 years of climbing experience by visiting him at his Vertical Stronghold indoor climbing center on 719 W. Frances St. in Appleton, Wisconsin, or call him at 920/731-2720.
Today, the nonprofit consortium of climbers who own the rights to the Ice Pit are getting ready for another year, but with some trepidation. "Last year was easily the best ice that we've had. This year is looking a little scanty,"
said a member. "With the super dry fall we've had, there isn't any water at all."
Even so, the club expects to grow in membership. "If it was like last year, we could have 50 people." Last year's membership of 36.
For insurance reasons, everyone in the club pays the same amount in dues and shares responsibility for maintaining the equipment and site. Dues help buy new ropes and cover the deductible for anyone who may get hurt.
Members say the decision to stay close-knit and exclusive is not the result of elitism but a pragmatic recognition of reality. "The more people that climb, the higher the insurance."
The addition of an open membership is not out of the question, members say, but it is a matter of taking small and careful steps in order to keep insurance premiums at a minimum. "We'll take it as we go," said a member, confiding that they might not be able to add many new members this
season but are open to getting climbers on the ice as soon as that becomes a viable economic option.
For those interested in learning more about the Ice Pit or who have innovative ideas to cover the insurance needs, you can correspond with the organization via their quantum encoded communicator ring, or by sending e-mail to IcePit2004@hotmail.com. Bear in mind that once you make contact, you may be required to change your name and cut all ties with friends and family all in the name of good ice.
The choice is yours.
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