Last week, history was made by Will Gadd and Sarah Hueniken, two Canadians. What did they do? The adventurous duo attempted what once seemed impossible: scaling the 51-meter high walls of Niagara Falls. But the too-good-to-be-true story doesn’t end there. They scaled the walls in less than an hour. Niagara Falls consists of three waterfalls that border between the state of New York (USA) and Ontario (Canada). The falls flow at an incredible maximum rate of two million liters per second. In 2014, something amazing happened. Niagara Falls stopped flowing, due to the extreme cold wave in North America.
This wasn’t the first time that the waters of Niagara Falls came to a standstill. It happened before in 1848, when ice jam impeded the normal flow of water of the natural structure. What made the freezing over of Niagara Falls 2014 so amazing is that it happened twice. There’s a legend that the falls also froze in the early 20th century. However, the evidence that such an event happened is sketchy at best. The bottom line is that the two Canadians basically had a once-in-a-lifetime chance to scale the walls of one of the world’s largest waterfalls.
In an interesting twist, Niagara Falls has never totally frozen over. As a result, the task of climbing up the walls of the falls was even more deadly. Here’s the reason. Obviously the water is in smaller volumes during these times. However, even though there is less water flowing down the waterfalls, it doesn’t cease to flow. The result: brittle layers of ice, slush, and snow form. This actually impacted the trek of Gadd and Hueniken. When they sank their hooks into the fragment of snow, it didn’t sink into the frozen crystals. Instead, it merely crumbled away.
Nobody should every attempt what Gadd and Hueniken did, unless they have the proper training. Truth be told, the two explorers took great risk by attempting to climb up the waterfalls’ icy walls. Still, they accomplished an amazing feat, and will be remembered as the first people to climb up Niagara Falls. In an interview with Gadd, he shared his pride in the achievement. He explained that he felt lucky because he was able to scale a lovely natural wonder, and besides that—it was fun! He also gave credit to numerous people whose dedication made the climb a success.
Arguably the winter is one of the best times to observe the majesty of Niagara Falls. However, visiting them at this time require extra precautions. Since 1912, visitors to the falls have been prohibited from walking on the bridges that the ice creates. In addition, it’s illegal to visitors to climb the falls on either side of the falls’ border. You also won’t be able to take the boat tour on the Maid of the Mist, from October to April/May. That’s due to Niagara Falls’ icy conditions at that time. Still, just observing the majesty of the falls during this time definitely makes the trip worthwhile.