Ice Climbers Scaling Frozen Niagara Falls

The first time Niagara Falls was legally climbed was in 2015 by Will Gadd and Sarah Hueniken. There are reports that others have climbed the waterfall, but to do it legally requires first getting permission, which takes months. Gadd and Hueniken are the only two climbers who’ve ever been allowed.

Gadd said the following about the permit process: “Eight months of permitting and working with Red Bull to get [approved] by the New York State park system. They said no initially, so we had to do a lot of work to alleviate their fears of us doing a human stunt trick there. Ice climbing is something you can do with a reasonable amount of safety. Eight months of that led to one hour of actual climbing – and it was totally worth it.”

Gadd and Hueniken are two of the world’s most accomplished ice climbers. “I checked out the spot we were thinking of climbing in the summer,” Gadd said. “You’d be swept away by the torrential downpour then. During a warm winter, there’s no climb here.” Gadd led the route and Hueniken followed the pitch. Gadd said after their climb, “Sarah followed it clean, so it was really a team ascent, so stoked!”

Niagara Falls Climb