2016 Outdoor Research Scholarship Recipient – Viren Perumal
It is ironic that as a 17 year-old east Indian kid that was born in Thailand and grew up and went to high school in Tennessee would find a passion for ice climbing in the Canadian rockies. This was my story and as unlikely as the start to my ice climbing story was all the pieces of the puzzle fit to finally lead me to the AMGA Ice Instructor Course in Canmore, AB. As a kid in high school I would spend hours getting my hands on anything that had to do with climbing that I could read, and the photos from magazines and gear catalogues with photos of frozen drips spoke to me. Though I only had experience with sport climbing, I was hooked and when I found an opportunity to go to a college that was near the big mountains and ice climbs I jumped on the opportunity. For 2 winters – I found my self trying to teach myself how to ice climb with a group of college buddies. With no mentorship and limited gear, our progress was slow and I spent more hours pouring over guidebooks and dreaming about big climbs than actually climbing.
Fast Forward almost 20 years – and I find myself as an AMGA Certified Rock Guide and teaching basic courses for the AMGA and even guiding and teaching ice climbing most weekends of the winter in my home in the Sierra Nevada Range of California. All this said – I am no closer to my dreams of climbing big ice lines in the Canadian Rockies.
I had been talking about doing the IIC for several years but watched as the cost of tuition rose and the likelihood became less and less. I was skeptical that a 5-day program would have much benefit on the type of guiding that I typically did for Sierra Mountain Guides. When I found out that I was awarded a partial tuition scholarship from Outdoor Research I started to plan out ways to improve and train as an ice climber. I took as many days of Ice Guiding as I could and found myself going out on days off to get laps in and increase my comfort.
I decided to register for the course in Canada since that was the venue that I thought I would be the most challenged and learn the most from. I was not disappointed. The 2 weeks leading up to the course were where the greatest growth took place. I was pushed by climbing with really solid friends on some of the classic ice lines in the Rockies. It was challenging for me since I had spent a lot of days on ice that season but mostly on lower angle ice teaching novices. Being a guide was something that I identified with and it was stressful to me that guiding was so different than being in shape as a climber. I found myself exhausted at the end of most days out but felt like I wanted to experience as much as I could in the time I had so kept pushing to climb more routes.
The course was great with many learning points. Things that I found really useful were some of the newer things that were being taught in the rock program since my rock exam in 2009 and thus this program served as a valuable continuing professional development experience. The highlight was going out with experienced ice guides and getting systems streamlined and learning new methods to teach Ice movements to my clients.
