Ice climbing

thumb| on Crack Baby (350 metres, IV, [[Grade (climbing)#WI-grade|WI6), Switzerland]]

Ice climbing is a climbing discipline that involves ascending routes consisting entirely of frozen water. To ascend, the ice climber uses specialist equipment, particularly double ice axes (or the more modern ice tools) and rigid crampons. To protect the route, the ice climber uses steel ice screws that require skill to employ safely and rely on the ice holding firm in any fall. Ice climbing routes can vary significantly by type, and include seasonally frozen waterfalls, high permanently frozen alpine couloirs, and large hanging icicles.

Ice climbing originated as a subdiscipline of alpine climbing, where sections of scalable ice are encountered on alpine routes alongside segments that require rock or mixed climbing. Ice climbing arose as an independent sport in the 1970s. Modern ice climbing includes a difficulty grading system that peaks at WI6 to WI7, as ice tends to hang vertically at its most severe. WI7 is very rare and usually attributed to overhanging ice with serious risk issues (i.e. unstable ice, little protection, and a risk of death). Advancements in mixed climbing in the 1980s pushed the technical difficulty of ice-climbing routes by introducing rock overhangs and roofs that can entail dry-tooling, which is the use of ice tools on bare rock.

Since 2002, the UIAA have regulated competition ice climbing, which is offered in a lead climbing format on an artificial bolted wall that employs dry-tooling techniques (e.g. stein pulls and figure-four moves), and in a speed climbing format that uses a standardized wall of real ice. Since 2010, ice climbers at Helmcken Falls in Canada have used the unique characteristics of the waterfall to create severely overhanging bolted ice climbing routes that are graded up to WI13, and are the hardest technical ice climbs in the world.

Description

thumb|left|[[Lead climbing|Lead climber on Symphonie d'Automne (135-metres, WI4), France, about to clip their rope into a quickdraw that is hanging from an ice screw that thay have inserted]]

Ice climbing uses specialized equipment, namely ice tools and crampons, to ascend routes consisting of frozen water ice, and/or frozen snow fields. the seriousness of leading an ice climbing route is considered to be greater than that of a traditional rock climbing route.

Ice climbing can also be performed as free solo climbing, which is an even riskier undertaking (the climber uses their ice tools and crampons but has no climbing protection such as ice screws); or performed as top roping which is the safest form of ice climbing and the format used for novices being introduced to the sport.

thumb|Moonflower Buttress (WI6 M7 A2), [[Mount Hunter (Alaska)|Mount Hunter Alaska]]

Chouinard and McInnes' ice axes would lead to an explosion of interest in climbing on frozen waterfalls in the North American Rockies and in the European Alps. In 2002, ice climber and climbing author Raphael Slawinski wrote in the American Alpine Journal: "By the early 1980s ice climbing, from being merely one of the techniques in the alpinist's arsenal, had evolved into a full-blown technical art. The skills gained on waterfalls also gave rise to a whole new generation of alpine climbs. Slipstream (WI4+, 1979) in the Canadian Rockies blurred the distinction between waterfall ice and alpine climbing; the Moonflower Buttress (WI6 M7 A2, 1983) in the Alaska Range applied the highest levels of ice climbing skill to a major alpine first ascent; and the list goes on. Waterfall ice climbing, though initially pursued for its own sake, ended up revolutionizing alpine climbing".

Amongst others, the UIAA runs two main competition ice climbing events, the annual Ice Climbing World Cup (which is run as a series of events in the year) and the bi-annual Ice Climbing World Championships (a single, once-off, competition).

Over the years, the UIAA has increased the regulation and use around competition ice climbing equipment, including the prohibition of leashes on ice tools (so they cannot be used as aid), and increased controls on the use of "heel spurs" while climbing (to counter their use for resting).

Equipment

Ice climbing uses items of equipment that are common in rock climbing such as ropes, harnesses and helmets, as well as mechanical devices such as belay devices. However, the different nature of the medium means that ice climbers also use equipment that is highly specific to their type of climbing.]]

thumb|Horizontal (l), Vertical (r) crampon

Ice axes or the more modern ice tools: Modern ice climbing requires double ice axes (or ergo ice tools); a key decision is whether it uses a leash or not. Competition ice climbing has prohibited leashes (as they can be used for aid), and most extreme mixed climbing tends not to use leashes. However, the lack of a leash means that the shock of any sudden "blowout" of the feet, can lead to an immediate fall.
Crampons: Ice climbers often use mono-point crampons instead of the more typical dual-point crampons used by alpine climbers, to maintain greater control and cutting accuracy. Some favor the front points to be "vertical" (i.e. like a mini-ice tool), which increases cutting power but is less stable and can "blowout" without warning; others use the traditional "horizontal" (i.e. flat like an adze) front points. This is particularly relevant on very steep ice (i.e. at or above the grade of WI4) where inefficient technique will quickly drain the climber's energy, resulting in a potential break of the "golden rule of ice climbing", which is "don't fall".

Front-pointing

Modern ice climbing is built around the technique of front pointing, which means kicking the front spike(s) of the climber's crampon into the ice to enable the climber to ascend the face. A critical part of front-pointing is ensuring that the heels are neither elevated — as often required in rock climbing — or held too low; both scenarios which can result in the front teeth of the crampon shearing off from the ice and the climber losing their foothold(s). It is also important that the acting of kicking does not itself overly fracture the ice.]]

thumb|Climber on Dryer Hose (Grade WI3+), [[Munising, Michigan]]

Ice climbing uses a WI (for "water ice") grading system.

The WI-grade is for "hard ice". Steep snow slopes, commons on alpine climbing routes, are not explicitly graded but instead, their steepest angle (approximate figure or a range) is quoted (e.g. 60–70 degree slope). Additional comment is from Will Gadd. In 2023, Climbing magazine wrote that leading Canadian ice climbers such as Quentin Roberts and Marc-André Leclerc had publicly stated that pure WI7 grades could not exist in nature.

WI8: "Under discussion".

There has been debate in the ice climbing world around whether Helmcken-WI routes are M-grade climbs.

Emmett has described Helmcken as the ice climbing equivalent of Yosemite,

M-grades

thumb| on Tequila Stuntman (M7 WI6) in [[Chamonix, France]]

When ice climbing is done as mixed climbing (i.e. there are both ice and bare rock sections), a separate M-grading grading system is used, which goes from M1, M2, M3, ..... , M13, M14, etc.

Evolution of grade milestones

thumb|Repentance Super WI5-6 [[Cogne Valley|Val di Cogne, Italy]]

The following ice climbs are particularly notable in the evolution of ice climbing grade milestones and ice climbing standards from being a skill used by alpine climbing to a standalone sport in its own right:

1979. Slipstream WI4+ Canadian Rockies. First ascent was in 1979 by Jim Elzinga and John Lauchlan; considered an important early example of the blurring between alpine climbing and pure ice climbing and the first major alpine, serac waterfall route in the Rockies.
1983. Gimme Shelter WI6 Canadian Rockies. First ascent was in 1983 by Kevin Doyle and Tim Friesen; considered an early WI7 contender in ice climbing, and the hardest ice route at the time;
1987. Riptide WI6-7 Canadian Rockies. First ascent was in 1987 by Larry Ostrander and Jeff Marshall; considered an early WI7 contender in ice climbing, and the hardest ice route at the time;
1988. Reality Bath WI7 X Canadian Rockies. First ascent was in 1988 by Mark Twight and Randy Rackliff; never been repeated and described by Albi Sole in the Canadian Rockies guide book as "so dangerous as to be of little value except to those suicidally inclined"; possibly first-ever WI7.
2002. Rites of Passage WI7+ Mount Kitchener, Canadian Rockies. First ascent was in 2002 by Eric Dumerac and Philippe Pellet; initially graded WI8, but considered one of the few routes that are truly above WI7 (pre-Helmcken Falls), and the hardest route in the world at the time.
2010. Centrecourt WI7+ Gasteinertal, Austria. First ascent was in 2010 by Albert Leichtfried and Benedikt Purner; considered one of the hardest routes in the world at the time and another of the few ice climbing routes at WI7+.

The grade milestones at Helmcken Falls are as follows:

2011. Wolverine WI11. First ascent by Tim Emmett and Klemen Premrl at Helmcken Falls; first-ever WI11 in ice climbing; bolted.
2016. Interstellar Spice WI12. First ascent by Tim Emmett and Klemen Premrl at Helmcken Falls; first-ever WI12 in ice climbing; bolted.

Free solo

thumb|Climber free soloing the famous Lipton ([[Grade (climbing)#WI-grade|WI7), in Rjukan, Norway]]

A number of ice climbers have set new grade milestones in a free solo climbing style (e.g. no climbing protection such as ice screws, but ice axes and crampons are allowed):

1997. Sea of Vapours WI6+ Canadian Rockies. Free solo in 1997 by . Sea of Vapours was considered WI7+ at the time.
2017. Beta Block Super WI7 Breitwangfluh, Switzerland. Free solo in 2017 by Dani Arnold.

In film

A number of notable climbing films have been made that feature ice climbing, including:

The Alpinist, a 2021 documentary film about the late Canadian alpinist Marc-André Leclerc, featuring his free solo ascent of several ice routes
Touching the Void, a 2003 docudrama about a famous alpine climbing rescue in the Peruvian Andes

Notes

References

External links

UIAA Ice Climbing Word Tours, UIAA (2023)
VIDEO: Helmcken Falls Ice Routes, Gripped Magazine (2023)
Grading of Ice and Mixed Climbs, Ari Paulin Base Camp Database (2023)