For ice climber Will Gadd, it was eight months of preparation and safety planning for an hour’s work. But what an hour it was. Earlier this week, Gadd became the first person to scale a wall of ice spray along the edge of Niagara’s Horseshoe Falls. The 47-year-old climber from Canmore, Alta., worked his way up on the U.S. side of falls in an adventure recorded by National Geographic. “The power of the falls is staggering,” Gadd told National Geographic. “It vibrates your intestines and makes you feel very, very small. I've never experienced anything like it.” Gadd was recently named National Geographic's 2015 adventurer of the year. In a series of challenging events over the past 12 months, Gadd: climbed Helmcken Falls in B.C.’s Wells Gray Provincial Park; set a paragliding record flying 800 kilometres from the Canadian Rockies to the U.S. border; and, he also climbed what is left of the ice on Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.
Photographers Christian Pondella and Greg Mionske with Red Bull captured the climb.
