I mean if you can find dry, clean rock in the winter, go ahead. LaFleur takes a more holistic approach to climbing. Rather than view ice climbing as an end in itself, mountaineers view it as a means to an end, a skill that enables them to scale and traverse mountains and entire ranges in all weather conditions. Maury McKinney of the International Mountain Climbing School in North Conway, N.H. is such an individual. For McKinney, rock climbing is the Old Testament and ice climbing the new.
Ice is different.
It's changing all the time. In rock climbing, technique follows awareness. Some ice climbers argue that climbing on snow and ice takes more awareness than on rock because the surface is so much more complex. Ice and snow climbers concern themselves with the outward form and texture of snow as they put boot, ax and crampons into it. Just as the Eskimos have dozens of words to describe newly fallen snow as it affects the running of their sleds, ice climbers have their own vocabulary.