14 DAY TRIAL // Earlier this week, on Tuesday, Canadian ice climber Will Gadd became the first man ever to scale the frozen Niagara Falls. Yup, this daredevil actually climbed the icy walls of this famous waterfall in North America.
True, he was the first to make it all the way to the top, which is why his achievement is now making headlines, but the fact of the matter is that he did not do it alone. He was kept company by fellow ice climber Sarah Hueniken.
Surprise, surprise, Will Gadd and Sarah Hueniken's sponsor for this wondrous adventure was none other than Austrian company Red Bull GmbH, the maker of the world's highest selling energy drink, Red Bull.
Stunning video proves they actually did it
Suppose some of you are thinking that maybe, possibly Red Bull, Will Gadd and Sarah Hueniken are messing with us when saying that the two ice climbers really did scale Niagara Fall's frozen walls, just scroll down and check out the video below to see for yourselves.
The footage was released by the energy drink company itself yesterday, January 29, and it shows Will Gadd using nothing but two ice picks to pull his body up the frozen waterfall. Fair warning: this video is so cool it might just make you want to go scale a block of ice yourself.
Should this happen, try to keep in mind that Will Gadd and Sarah Hueniken are professional ice climbers and that we, regular folks, have serious trouble even walking down the street during the harsh winter months. Otherwise put, you definitely don't want to try and pull a stunt like this yourselves.
This historic climb was months in the making
47-year-old Will Gadd says that, last summer, he visited the Horseshoe Falls, which is a section of Niagara Falls, trying to figure out whether such an endeavor was even possible. He also talked to local authorities to make sure he had their support.
When winter came and Niagara Falls became encased in ice, he returned to the Horseshoe Falls together with Sarah Hueniken and the pair successfully climbed an ice wall measuring almost 50 meters (nearly 150 feet) in height.
As they were scaling this frozen wall, water kept rushing towards the ground at speeds of up to 100 kilometers per hour (62 miles) right by their side. In fact, Will Gadd says that he was so close to the water that he could have easily stuck its toe it it.
“At one point I was behind the water, climbing on ice that froze behind the falls. I got [a] whole lot of Niagara down my neck!” the 47-year-old said. “That climb beat me up. I may have reached the top, but Niagara won the war. At the end of the day I was hypothermic. That waterfall did a lot more damage to me than I did to it!” he jokingly added.
