Ice Climbing

1
Ice Climbing

• MITOC Winter School 2003
• Chrissy Guth
• With thanks to Jae Roh for some slide content,
  Hector Briceno, Robert Zeithammer, Neice.com and
  Climbing.com for pictures

2
Ice Climbing Overview

• Why you should not ice climb
• Basics
• Crampons and Ice Tools
• Taking Care of Yourself
• Basic techniques
• Common mistakes
• Safety
• Efficiency
• More Gear
• Snow Climbing

3
Hazards of Winter Climbing

• Winter, snow, cold, etc.
• Ice fall, rock fall, ice dams
• Crappy protection, long runouts
• Crampon catches during fall
• Bludgeoned or impaled by ice tools
• Avalanche

4
Basics

• Alpine Ice vs. Waterfall Ice
• Ratings
• New England Ice Scale (NEI)- difficulty
• Grade 1 through 5.
• Commitment Grade- time
• I through VII
• Mixed
• Does this really mean anything?

5
Gear Ice Tools

• Alpine- straight shaft, longer (60-80cm)
• Technical- may have bent shaft, shorter (50cm
  /-10cm)
• Picks
• Reverse curve
• Normal curve (classic) best for self arresting
  and snow climbing
• Hammer vs. Adze

6
Gear Crampons

• Most important to check fit with YOUR boots.
• Multiple sizes, different shapes
• Technical rigid or semi-rigid vertical front
  point better for hard waterfall ice
• Alpine flexible or semi-rigid, horizontal front
  point better for glaciers or snow
• Double front points more stable Mono points for
  thin or mixed
• Avoid extra attachment points (e.g. Mako
  lacerator)
• Anti-balling plates are good

7
Gear - Clothing

• Leave your fancy Gore-Tex at home
• Bring extra gloves
• Fit your harness over all your layers- adjustable
  leg loops
• Hat should fit under helmet

8
Taking Care of Yourself Staying Warm

• Two climbers can share one parka
• Hands
• Experiment w/ handling gear with gloves
• Practice! w/ gloves in living room
• Knots, tying in, belaying, clipping gear
• Keep hands below heart, relax grip
• Feet
• Dont bury your feet in snow
• Too many socks too tight poor circulation
  cold feet

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Basic Climbing Technique - Pick

• Aim Look for a pick placement
• Indentations or seams
• Not bulges they break off
• Reach high to maximize efficiency
• Fire Swing from shoulder, elbow, then finish
  with wrist snap
• Or simply Hook on features
• Listen!

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Basic Climbing Technique Crampon

• Look for foot placement
• Balanced position
• Smaller steps than rock climbing
• Look for stems, ledges, other features
• Front pointing
• Heel down, to place all front points
• Place foot, then dont move lifting shears out
  points
• Flat foot, aka French technique
• Stomp down, engaging points on bottom

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Common Mistakes

• Moving on sketchy placements the tools and
  crampons are your self belay
• Pushing instead of swinging the tools let the
  tool do the work
• Heels too high drop heels for solid crampon
  placements
• Moving feet after setting crampons
• Butt in too close to ice hang off tools, butt
  out to kick
• Over gripping tools hang, rather than hold

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Climbing Safely

• Wear a helmet at all times
• Turn away from falling ice
• Keep your face away from the tools
• Where will the tool go if it pops out?
• Remove a stuck pick by working up and down only
• Dont stack your feet
• Where will your crampon go if it slips?
• Dont glissade with crampons on

13
Climbing Efficiently

• Minimize tool placements
• Reach high to place tool, climb up until its
  below your head
• Stagger tool placements also avoids dinner
  plating and cold hands
• Exercises
• Climb with 1 tool
• Climb with no tools

14
Gear - Ice Screws

• Brands- Black Diamond Express, Grivel 360
• After removing an ice screw
• Clear the ice core immediately so it doesnt
  freeze in
• Tap the head of the screw or blow in
• Dont hit the threads or sharp end

15
Taking Care of your Gear Rope

• Watch the rope when you swing a tool or kick
• The rope may also be behind you (top roping)
• Belayers dont pull in just as the climber is
  swinging
• Keep the rope off the snow
• Wet rope frozen rope
• Keep gear clipped things fall quietly on snow

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Snow Climbing

• Snowshoes, Crampons or Nothing?
• Ascending
• Kicking Steps
• Marching on a Z
• Duckwalk
• Descending
• Plunge Step
• Glissading

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Where to Climb

• Guidebook Rick Wilcox, An Ice Climbers Guide to
  Northern New England 2 ed. (3 ed. Due this
  season)
• Conditions
• http//www.neice.com
• http//www.chauvinguides.com