Even though the ice is still not fat everywhere, it is definitely ice climbing season in many areas. Black Diamond has a good video tutorial on how to get prepared and sharpen your ice screws.
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From the category archives:
Climbing
The American Alpine Institute points out a series of videos by Canadian climbing guide Mike Barter on the pre-equalization on anchors: There is a little bit of controversy over pre-equalized anchors. Some feel that one leg of the anchor will get more force than another, which means that such an anchor could never be fully [...]
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When I lived in the Washington DC area, one of the (few) benefits was being able to get cheap flights on Southwest to New Hampshire. This allowed us to take trips for ice climbing in the White Mountains. I attended the Mt. Washington Valley Ice Festival numerous times and had a blast. The ice climbing [...]
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TreeHugger has an interesting interview with the founder of Patagonia, Yvon Chouinard.
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ChossMonkey.com points us to The Nuts Museum where enormous amount of old climbing gear is displayed in a slideshow. Along with tons of pictures of old gear, the article that accompanies the slideshow contains a history of nuts and other types of pro. In 1961, a blacksmith from Sheffield, John Brailsford, then a teacher of [...]
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The cold weather keeps me thinking of ice climbing. Here’s a video of Will Gadd climbing icebergs. A higher quality MOV video can also be found at National Geographic.
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The following is a collection of all the upcoming ice climbing festivals in 2008. January 4 – 6, 2008 Kandersteg Ice Climbing Festival The 8th annual Kandersteg Ice Climbing Festival will be held in the Bernese Oberland. Over 450 ice climbers are expected to attend this festival in Switzerland. January 9 – 13, 2008 Ouray [...]
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You can never have too much insight from great climbers on their technique. Steph Davis has an article on her blog, High Places, discussing her techniques for climbing cracks (via splitterchoss.com). The key to pure crack climbing, as with every type of climbing, is the feet. I like to start from the basics, which with [...]
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Taking place in New York’s Adirondacks, the 12th annual Mountainfest will take place this winter January 11-13, 2008. A full schedule of classes include beginning through advanced ice climbing, snowshoe mountaineering, and avalanche fundamentals.
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Petzl has posted a recall for all its Petzl Charlet Sarken crampons. Recent customer experience has shown that the front points of SARKEN crampons are susceptible to premature wearout following heavy use. This means cracking of the metal forefoot near the front point(s), followed by possible breakage if usage continues. Petzl has stopped sales and [...]
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I heard some rumors about the ice climbing at the New River Gorge, but hadn’t had a chance to actually get up there this winter. With the arrival of March and the warmer weather, it looks like I’ll have to wait until next season to get some ice climbing in locally. It’s really not that [...]
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This is pretty funny – a humorous take on the Dean Potter climbing Delicate Arch controversy. Climb like Dean – but without all of the controversy. Build a full-size Delicate Arch climbing wall in your own back yard – plans included! This blueprint is an actual public service ad (PDF link) from the National Parks [...]
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