Bozeman to the Dolomites: A Drytooling Adventure
It’s a hot summer day in Bozeman, Montana, and I am headed to the gym. I have some big goals, and even though it’s a beautiful day outside, I’m headed to “The Cave” in the Mountain Project. The Mountain Project has one side of the gym set aside for rock climbing and another side set up for training mountain athletes. But 99% of my time is spent neither here nor there, but rather in the 12’x12′ square in the back corner of the gym, in one of the only indoor drytooling walls in the country.
Drytooling. A form of climbing evolved from ice climbing, turned mixed climbing, turned sport climbing with sharp things. It’s weird. When I first started getting into ice climbing back in 2015, I never would’ve seen myself spending hours in a dark indoor cave hanging upside down on tools. Honestly, drytooling and mixed climbing really scared me. But after season after season of climbing without training, I think a lot of climbers find themselves wanting to get stronger- including myself. That desire leads them to the gym. For most climbers, you just head to the rock gym, where in most larger towns these days you can find at least some form of a climbing gym. But for ice climbers, finding a place to hang on tools outside of a crag can be hard. After playing and dabbling with the sport outside, I finally found my way into the drytooling gym with Kevin Lindlau and started hanging upside down on tools, playing with figure fours, and figure nines. All of a sudden, my world wasn’t just vertical but became horizontal, being able to do full 360° movement. That single day led to this summer: four months of hard training, a plane ticket to Italy, a booked Airbnb in the Dolomites, and a goal to climb an inspiring line.
Credit: Kara Vogler with Mountain Ghost Studio @mtnghoststudio
Tomorrow’s World, one of the most iconic drytooling caves in the world, sits at the base of the Marmolada and set the stage for what drytooling could be. Tom Ballard had the vision for the cave and put up line after line of steep drytooling on a near horizontal roof. In 2016, he bolted “A Line Above the Sky”. Extending nearly 45 meters with 27 draws, this route silhouettes the climber along the edge of the roof with only the sky beneath them. Tom sent this route in 2016 and gave the visionary line the grade of D15: the first in the world. The line was then repeated and the grade was confirmed in 2016 by Gaetan Raymond. Since then, this line has seen ascents by notable climbers from around the world, including Jeff Mercier, Angelika Rainer, and American Climbers Kevin Lindlau and Chris Snobeck.
We came to Tomorrow’s World in the late summer of 2022 and having never set foot in a place like this, I was intimidated, to say the least. Not only does it have a big roof that extends out into space, but the ground below the cave also falls away, creating an intense form of exposure. During this trip, I watched Kevin Lindlau take on “Line”, and was in awe of the picturesque ascent. On that trip, I sent “Edge of Tomorrow” D13, and came one move away from finishing “Oblivion” D14. Leaving Oblivion unfinished fueled a fire to return in 2023, finish the route, and maybe try something harder.
Credit: Kara Vogler with Mountain Ghost Studio @mtnghoststudio
2023 has been a big year, and I had to plan around a few big life events before coming back to Italy. In May, I graduated from art school with a BFA in Graphic Design, moved out of my house and into our car over the summer, and got married on September 30th to my partner of nine years. Returning to the Dolomites in the fall was a strategic choice to hopefully get some cooler weather, but with my newfound love for Rhino Products, I knew my skin game would be on a whole new level. Between cooler weather, the Rhino Dry Spray, and Performance, my skin was holding up better than ever before. Along with a better understanding of skincare, I was coming into this trip stronger and more experienced. Returning to Tom’s Cave in a lot of ways felt like coming home. So many days and hours spent in this cave can create an intimate experience with the place. The first week coming back to the cave was spent just getting back onto Oblivion, remembering the moves, and working through jet lag. After only 10 days of being in Italy, I sent Oblivion with energy and strength to spare, feeling like the perfect lead-up to projecting something harder.
The next few weeks were spent learning and projecting all 50 moves of “Line”. Knowing the history of this route, and wanting to enjoy the process, I took my time trying to fully embrace the process. Taking days to just practice a single move over and over again. Trying to link through sections. Marking specific holds and feet and where to put each tool exactly. Writing down every piece of beta, every move, how to place a tool, and watching videos of the line trying to memorize the climb. This route holds so much history and is a test piece for this sport. To be here and to just be attempting it felt like a privilege, because of this, I didn’t want to rush through any of the process. There was one day of linking moves that went really well, getting only 11 moves from the anchor. The following days would lead to only just over halfway through the route, creating some doubt on whether or not I had missed my opportunity physically to send the route earlier in the trip.
But on November 19th, 2023, the weather was cool with a slight breeze. I stepped up onto my warm-ups with dry hands and a calm mind. Leading into a perfect setup for a good burn. I had to reel in my goal a bit, setting the bar low to help create less pressure for the day. Stepping onto the route, everything started to flow. Each move was hit perfectly, large movements felt doable. And before I knew it, I was at my high point. The goal was ever adjusting while on route, each move was progress and was success in my mind. Knowing this, I felt positive and like even if I fell there, I would be proud of the attempt for the day. Four moves from the anchor lies the crux of the route for me. A big rightward move onto a directional hold. Full power, full wingspan, and if you hit it wrong and try to weight the hold, you’ll surely be hanging in your harness. I had made my way out to this hold what felt like a million times while projecting. Practicing it, over and over. Hanging there on my tool, with only four moves to go it felt like a wall to be jumped over. I knew I only had one good attempt in me, and after a long rest, I set up for the move and drove as hard as I could with my flag leg, and BAM, hit the crux hold perfectly. All my calmness went out the window as all of a sudden it felt like this route might happen. Trying to breathe and bring my heart rate down, I rounded the lip of the roof to the anchor. I found my feet and rested before taking the rope and clipping the final draw. Marking the first D15 ascent by an American woman, and the fourth woman to climb the grade in the world.
Credit: Joe Stylos
Disbelief and otherworldly excitement flooded me. I can’t believe I did it!! With only a few days left for climbing, it didn’t feel like the route would happen this trip and we’d be returning in the spring, but all the stars aligned and the send happened in the most beautiful cave, with my amazing husband at the belay!
Credit: Joe Stylos
As we wrap up our trip, I think a few things stood out as helping with the success of this route. One is a lot of awesome people. Including my husband, Joe Stylos who belayed me for weeks on end and supported this trip from the beginning. Kevin Lindlau my friend, mentor, and coach. Our friend Kara Vogler with Mountain Ghost Studio, who did all of the photography and videography. And last but not least the team at the Mountain Project Gym, if it weren’t for that little square of climbing this trip would not be possible! The other that changed the game for this trip is Rhino Skin Products. I think a lot of ice climbers and drytoolers don’t realize this product can be so beneficial to those of us who are climbing hard with gloves on our hands. While chalk might help with some of the initial sweat, it also can be really painful and cause friction inside gloves, and I know a lot of drytoolers who don’t use it for that reason – including myself. So discovering Rhino products and finding that they worked completely changed how my climbing sessions go. Between the Dry Spray stopping the hand sweat, Repair helping hands recover from hard days on tools, and Performance setting up the skin for a 30-minute redpoint, each one of these products has completely changed my climbing game, and I am so thankful, and so stoked to be sharing this product with this community.
Now that winter is here in the Dolomites, and we only have a couple more days of climbing left, Joe and I will finish our honeymoon here in Europe for another month before we head home to go swing some ice tools into actual ice before prepping for the summer climbing season… of more drytooling!!
Credit: Kara Vogler with Mountain Ghost Studio @mtnghoststudio
About the author: Katie McKinstry Stylos
Katie McKinsry Stylos @mountainratt is an ice climber who drytools and does art for a living. Finding herself living in Bozeman, Montana she is heavily inspired by the mountains around her and the experiences she shares with people in the community. Katie has had a major focus in the last few years of hard drytooling in horizontal roofs around the world. Katie is the first American woman to climb a D15, and the fourth woman in the world to climb the grade. She has a love for big projects that require long projecting, intense focus, and hard training. Her favorite Rhino product is Performance. Changing the way she climbs for the better and allowing sweat-free sends. Katie is a big advocate of pushing yourself but also inspiring others and sharing knowledge with the community, especially women.
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