In the waning weeks of the 2019 ice climbing season, a 27-year-old Tres Barbatelli stood at the bottom of the Uncompahgre Gorge wondering what he’d just done. Minutes before, he’d rappelled down into the gorge at the end of a rope that now was connected to nothing. The way back up – a route called Abridgement that had terrified him all winter – was a 150 foot wall of ice in the shadow of the upper...