Though, ice climbing is being placed in to extreme end of extreme sports, in some circles, even more so than rock climbing, it doesn’t have to be so extreme. It’s very much like in any other climbing activity. Extremeness depends on how do you do it and what kind of risks you’re willing to accept. If you use just top rope, use eye protection (large portion of serious ice climbing injuries are eye injuries), be very careful while selecting, approaching and building belay anchors, ice climbing is very safe. This being said, again like any outdoor climbing sport, ice climbing certainly poses a risk of death or serious injury.

So, how to get started then? First of all, you need to get basic knowledge about climbing. In essence this includes belaying and figure-eight-loop-type of knots. Once you know the basics, you should either take ice climbing class or find someone who has some ice climbing experience and can teach you the basics of ice. If you haven’t been climbing directly with training qualified ice climber, I would recommend taking few classes anyways. It’s just so much easier and safer after you have. Here in Finland for instance some climbing associations, like mine (OKS91) arranges very affordable classes (about 50-70€ / head, including equipment). I would imagine that the situation isn’t so different in other parts of the world.

Another frequent comment about ice climbing is the cost of the ice climbing equipment. It’s true that equipment is fairly expensive, especially if you’re buying full, lead climb, capable set alone. Some climbing associations, like mine (OKS91), rent equipment, which is very easy and cost-effective way to start with. In our case rental price is just about 10-20€/day. From this perspective ice climbing is actually cheaper than for instance say skiing, where lift tickets are fairly expensive.

If you’re getting in to sport deeper, you’ll probably end up buying set of equipment. Below is my suggestion of what to buy in each phase of your ice climbing career and rough estimate about price of each piece listed. In addition to listed items you need normal winter sports clothing + hiking / backpacking gear. Please note also that this is not necessarily complete list and reflects heavily my preferences. There are plenty of other good products and brands out there as well as plenty of unnecessary stuff. Many climbers also create their own accessories.

Phase 1 – absolutely needed (i.e. typically not available for rental):

• 50-70m of try treated single rope, for instance Beal, Joker 9,1 mm x 60 m, Golden DRY is a good choice –> 100-150€
• 2 long slings, Black Diamond Runner, Dynex, 10 mm, 120 cm is a good choice –> 10-15€/each
• 2 medium slings, Black Diamond Runner, Dynex, 10 mm, 60 cm is a good choice –> 7-12€/each
• 60cm of 7mm prusik rope –> 2-5€
• 1 Backpack, anything will do, if you’d like to get a really good try for instance Grivel Alpine 55 + 15 (smaller ones are good as well, but if you’ll buy larger, it will accommodate ropes and other gear you will need at multi pitch routes later on) –> 120-150€

Total: 256-359€

Phase 2 – climbing basics:

• 1 harness, Petzl Corax is a good choice –> 50-70€
• 1 Helmet with visor, Petzl Elios Vizion is a good choice, some times the helmet and visor is being sold separately –> 70-110€
• 1 Belay device, Petzl Reverso3 is a good multipurpose choice –> 30-35€
• 1 large locking carabiner, I’ve used Petzl Williams (though you should select screw gate instead of ball-lock since ball-locks tend to freeze, I don’t have experience on their triact version) –> 8-15€
• 2 regular or small locking carabiners, I’ve used Black Diamond Positron screwgates, though if you’d like light, you should turn in to Wild Country Neon keylock screwgate –> 8-12€/each

Total: 174-254€

Phase 3 – ice climbing basics:

• Mountaineering boots, I’ve used Boreal G1′s, but if you’re not going on high mountains, you might consider something lighter –> 270-370€
• Crampons, Girvel Rambo 4 is a very good choice, which incorporates double point stability in to benefits of monopoint –> 120-170€
• Crampon pouch, Grivel crampon bag has served me just fine –> 10-15€
• Ice axes, I would choose now Grivel Xmonster axes, though beginers might consider also axes with leashes –> 160-240€/pair
• A good headlamp, Petzl Tikka XP is a good choice –> 40-60€
• Gaiters, I’ve used Black Diamond GTX front point gaiters –>60-80€

Total: 660-935€

Phase 4 – practicing lead climbs and anchors:

• 5 standard length (19cm) ice screws, I’ve used Black Diamond Turbo Express screws –> 50-60€/each
• 2 short slings, Black Diamond Runner, Dynex, 10 mm, 120 cm is a good choice –> 5-7€/each
• 1 long sling, Black Diamond Runner, Dynex, 10 mm, 30 cm is a good choice –> 10-15€/each
• 5 quick draws, Wild Country Helium quickdraws are most likely the best at the moment –> 70-100€/set of 5
• 1 large locking carabiner, I’ve used Petzl Williams (though you should select screw gate instead of ball-lock since ball-locks tend to freeze, I don’t have experience on their triact version) –> 8-15€
• 2 small or medium sized carabiners, I’ve used Black Diamond Positron screwgates, though if you’d like light, you should turn in to Wild Country Neon keylock screwgate –> 8-12€/each
• 2 screw clippers, I’ve used Petzl Caritools –> 5-7€/each
• 1 climbing gloves, Black Diamond Enforcers should be a good choice –> 120-180€
• 1 Fifi hook, use for instance Black Diamond fifi hook –> 8-15€
• 1m of 7mm prusik rope –> 3-6€

Total: 505€-683€

Phase 5 – lead climbs:

• 3 standard length (19cm) ice screws, I’ve used Black Diamond Turbo Express screws –> 50-60€/each
• 2 short (13cm) ice screws, I’ve used Black Diamond Turbo Express screws –> 50-60€/each
• 5 quick draws, Wild Country Helium quickdraws are most likely the best at the moment –> 70-100€/set of 5
• Set of half ropes, preferably in different colours so that you can distinguish left from right, Beal Ice Line half ropes are just fine –> 130-160€/each
• 1 First aid kit –> 20-60€
• A large down jacket, Millet Expert down jacket is a good choice, select a large size, so that you can wear it on top of everything else while belaying –> 230-300€

Total: 830-1080€

Phase 6 – multi-pitch routes:

• Few pitons –> 5-15€/each
• Few nuts / hexes –> 8-15€/each
• Set of walky-talkies –> 50-150€
• Small climbing backpack, Grivel Manu is my favourite –> 40-60€
• 10m of 7mm prusik rope, cut and tied in to long prusik loops –> 7-15€

Total: 162-375€

Few equpment images below:

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This particular occasion happened last year in Skibotn valley, northern Norway at ice fall called “Hourglass”. It’s very beautiful late season fall, with height about 250-350 meters. Since we already had two full days of climbing behind us at Tamok valley, we weren’t there for climbing. We were just probing for possible spots for the next season.

Picture above: I’m approaching “Hourglass” fall.

Under the fall, there’s quite long and steep approach on the snow. At the bottom snow wasn’t too hard, but once we got closer to the fall, it got harder. Eventually we almost had to put our crampons on to reach the fall. So we got there, had some tea and bread, put up the gear and my friend Jari did a short probing climb just to see what to expect later on. He came down successfully and we wrapped up our gear and started our descent.

At Korouoma, which is much smaller and never has such a hard snow, we have had habit to slide down the hill by our foot with a great speed and fun. Because it’s fast and because it’s fun we decided to slide there as well. I’ve done the fast sliding fun thing couple of times successfully in Sweden at Kebnekaise as well, again with a lot softer snow. Jari took the first ride and he went down really fast, but managed to slow down with his axe. So I jumped on. Unfortunately my speed got too fast and once I tried to slow down, I just couldn’t. The slide was out of control.

I tried to turn on so that I could hit my axe on the snow, and hit it couple of times, but without luck. This was mostly because the fact that at the point I started the slide, I had grasped my axe from the middle, not appropriately from the handle. In other words I wasn’t able to get enough strength to the swing and I wasn’t able to hold my axe tight enough to stop the speed either. At this point I did my fourth mistake; I tried to use my foot to slow down. This resulted an uncontroled rolling effect. So there I was rumbling down with astonishing speed. Fastest descent I’ve ever made, and roughest. Axes were flying, my backpack was flying, and equipment tied on the backpack was flying. I couldn’t do anything.

Fortunately once snow got softer and slope less steep, speed slowed down, just few meters away from large pile of stones. In case pile would have been located higher on the slope, it would have turned me in to a bag of broken bones. I was fortunate to have just a twisted arm and equally fortunate to have a friend with heavy duty pain killers. Later on in the evening I noticed that my chest was bleeding a bit as well. It was due the small puncture that my axe had done. Fortunately there was no any serious damage what so ever (though I guess I was lucky also with the axe).

Lessons learned:

• Ascents and descents can pose risks, so one has to pay attention. Don’t play if you’re not 100% sure about the conditions and the place. Since people tend to be more careful while climbing than while doing their ascents and descents, I could almost claim that those “easier” situations can pose greater risk due carelessness.
• Be prepared to use axes efficiently also during ascents and descents. Have a good tight grasp on the axe.
• Don’t use your crampons or foot to slow down, if the speed is too fast, you’ve probably already built enough momentum to throw you rolling if you do, use the axe instead. Try to use the axe as a rudder and keep them against the snow to gradually slow down your speed.
• Helmet is a good thing, also on ascents and descents. I had mine on. The only thing I did right there.

Location details:

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Few images from the spot below:

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