This years Ice Fest was one of our best ever but it only happened with so many helping hands, talent, and passion.
First, we want to thank all of YOU! All of you who have a passion for ice climbing, IME/IMCS, the MWV Ice Fest and having a gosh darn good time! So thank you to ALL of the participants who took clinics, for ALL of you who checked out the demo’s, for ALL who bid on the American Alpine Club Silent Auction which helped them raise $2,000+ for the Live To Dream Grant! To IME & Craig Taylor who helped raise $2,000+ for the Mountain Rescue Service, and ALL of you who came to the evening festivities at the Theater In The Wood on Friday & Saturday nights! We do it for the climbing community whether you come from near or far- we hope you had a blast…..that is our ultimate goal!
Next, we want to thank all of our sponsors! This would not, and could not happen without our AMAZING sponsors. First, our headlining sponsors Outdoor Research & Sterling Rope for their level of support. Their positive energy and supportive personnel just blew us away and helped make the visions for the 2012 Ice Fest a reality. Sterling Rope flew Nick Bullock over from England for Friday evenings show, which may go down in history as one of the best shows ever given. Outdoor Research sent us Kyle Dempster who opened our eyes to the beauty of Pakistan, not only in mountains but in the culture and people there too. Also to The North Face who sent us Renan Ozturk and Mountain Hardwear who sent us Freddie Wilkinson, and showed us their amazing Alaska voyage and imagery from the Mooses Tooth Traverse. We also loved local hero’s Silas Rossi & Peter Doucettes short film! Last but not least, Patagonia sent us Josh Wharton who delivered a great show on Saturday night with small reminders of his New Hampshire roots. In addition La Sportiva, LOWA, Mammut, and The American Alpine Club all committed at an incredible level that help make Saturday & Friday evening festivities fantastic. But ALL our other sponsors made this event special and possible, including: Petzl, Julbo, Grivel, Beal, Edelweiss, Scarpa, Black Diamond, Rock On, Nemo, Wild Things, Eddie Bauer First Ascent, NeIce.com (we love the soup kitchen!), Neclimbs.com, Randy Rackliff from Cold Cold World, Rock & Ice, Hyperlite Mountain Gear, Dry Ice Tools, Ibex, Mont-Bell, Tuckerman Brewing Co, Frontside Grind, Flatbread, Climberism, Rock & Ice, The Nereledge Inn, and Eastern Slope Inn!
BUY LOCAL! We ask you to think about the companies and organizations listed above that you saw this weekend- and if you liked what you saw or tried during the weekend we encourage you to buy local. Buying local in the Northeast supports the Reps that came, and we believe it’s important to support the small climbing outdoor shops that have a lot of heart and soul- and of course one that hits close to home to us is IME.
Next, we want to thank all those who volunteered their time, energy, and hard work out of the kindness of their hearts. We gave special recognition to Doug Madara as once again he put in an insane amount of hours throughout the ice fest. In addition we want to thank the volunteers personally for their time, talent, and dedication. Big shout out to Nickie Sekera, Susan Ainsworth, Mark Lynch, Caleb Hollatz, Bob Wallstrom, Jordan Luciano, Todd from Jersey, Chris Froehly, Hanna Lucy, Alexa Seigel, Sam Bendroth and all the AAC volunteers, who donated time to help make this event so incredible. We heart you all big time! And anyone we may have forgotten!
Of course we want to thank all the IMCS guides and our guest guides as well. We were just blown away by the top caliber guides we had for the 2013 Ice Fest. Our IMCS guides were Brad White, Sam Bendroth, Pat Ferland, Jim Frati, Elliot Gaddy, Al Hospers, Zen Jakub, Craig John, Paul McCoy, Chris Magness, Alexa Seigel, Craig Taylor, Michael Wejchert, and Conrad Yager. They are available year round to guide, just call IMCS at 603-356-7064! And guest guides this year included John Bragg, Janet Wilkinson, Emilie Drinkwater, Erik Eisele, Matt McCormick, Kevin Mahoney, Ben Gilmore, Majka Burhardt, Silas Rossi, Bayard Russell, Freddie Wilkinson, Matt Shove, Mark Synnott, Andrea Charest, Art Mooney, Karsten Delap, Lindsay Fixmer, Alain Comeau, Josh Wharton, Pete Tapley, Peter Doucette, Adam & Caroline George. Wow! What a stellar line up we had this year!
Next we want to thank our IMCS intern Dan Riethmuller. He helped us so much the week prior and throughout the weekend! Thanks dood!
And we were honored to have the talented photographers of Little Outdoor Giants apart of the Ice Fest. They took portraits at the evening events of anyone and everyone they could at the Ice Fest! Check out all the portraits here: http://www.littleoutdoorgiants.com/icefest
Tim Keenan/Mon Voyage Neon was our amazing MC, we were so psyched that he joined us again this year. He rocked the mic, and he rocked the tunes. Thank you Tim and Happy Birthday(Sunday was his birthday)!
Finally, we want to thank Rick Wilcox and Brad White who trusted us with the amount of time we put in, our visions, and our requests of them. Rick has seen this Ice Fest happen for 20 years and Brad for 15+, and to put it into our hands with all the faith, trust, and support they give- is absolutely amazing. Thank you Brad & Rick!
And as promised our 20 thank you’s!:
THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!
THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!
THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!
THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!
THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!
-MWV Ice Fest Planning Team
Sasha Eisele
Ashley Link
Naomi Risch
Anne Skidmore
Michael Wejchert
p.s. If you see any one or thing missing please let us know! E-mail us at: mwvicefest@gmail.com