Temps were dropping rapidly, a countdown that inched its way toward zero as I drove further into the La Sal mountains of Utah. Just above Moab, the La Sals paint a snow covered scenic backdrop starkly contrasting the red rock canyons and valleys of the canyonlands below. As luck would have it, I was here during an Arctic blast coming down from Canada, sweeping over the land. Frost was nipping at  bare and brittle tree limbs, rattling them like empty husks against a faint and weary wind. I was on my approach to a unique frozen water formation in a slot canyon,  a place that was as magical as the climb itself. Stillness took hold of the smooth canyon walls, not even the trickle of water sputtered a murmur as I marveled over the giant frozen ice before me. The entrance into a dark cavernous hole above, a portal into the unknown, was surely an invitation to more ice – Ice that would need to be climbed to reach the top of this narrow canyon.