Ice Climbing 101

Since most people don’t know much about Ice climbing I'll go over some the gear we use. Interestingly Ice climbing requires different gear than rock-climbing does. To start of you need to have special boots called mountaineering boots that are stiff, much like ski boots. These boots retail for about $600 and up. Let me just add that I never said Ice climbing gear was cheap, we had much of our own gear, and we also borrowed some of it from the ridge roamers too. A cheaper alternative for the mountaineering boots would be to use ski boots. Ski boots can be outfitted with crampons but aren’t ideal. On top of the $600 boots your going to need to spend another $200 or more on a good set of crampons. Crampons are the spikes that you attach to the bottom of the boots. These give you the grip you need in order to climb the ice. To go along with that your also gonna need ice axes, which will run you out about $200 per axe, and you need two of them so your looking at $400. Ice axes have many uses, the main one being they allow you to climb up the ice using your hands. What I mean by that is you dig the axe into the ice and you actually hang off the axe. You will also need a special rope that can be used in cold snowy climates. Along with other gear you would use during rock climbing, such as carabineers , slings, backpacks, and harnesses. When you add all of that up you begin to understand why most people don’t Ice climb. It comes out to be a few grand just in gear you will need in order to climb ice. Another reason
is frozen waterfalls are less readable than rock. Along with the fact that Ice is always changing, meaning not all ice is safe to climb. The water fall goes through many different stages that can be extremely dangerous for climbers. Ideally the Ice would be somewhat sticky and yet hard, allowing for strong axe and crampon holds. Always wear a helmet when you Ice climb, most of the axe work is done above your head and trust me blocks of ice will fall off. You will also want to wear some sort of eye protection, due to the ice chips that fly in your face. Ill leave you with an interesting fact that most people don’t know. Ice cracks horizontally meaning it might crack straight across the waterfall and the whole thing will fall. Remember to top rope when you can, this is the safest and if the waterfall breaks you will be safe. Hanging from the top of the face rather than pulled down with the ice, like the guy bellow.

"Good judgment comes from experience. Experience is most often the result of bad judgment." Duncan Ferguson