Picture above: There they are, my standard rack carabiners and quickdraws.

What’s important:

• Clearclip nose – It makes it just that much easier to grab it from your harness, as well as clip off whether it’s screw, rope or webbing. Right now there’s a wide selection of light clearclip carabiners available. There’s just no reason to get anything else.
• Weight – Weight reflects directly to everything you do. In carabiners, especially what comes to carabiners used in quickdraws, it adds up fast. It’s not perhaps a reason to replace your old carabiners, but when ever you buy new ones, you should get light ones.
• No auto-locking mechanisms – Auto-locking mechanisms tend to freeze up and generate a great deal of difficulties. I’ve been in a situation where my Petzl william ball lock froze up to the point that I had to spend about 30 minutes to get it open. I’m not planning to get to such situation again.
• Smooth and acurate gate operation – It’s important while clipping, also note that if it’s locking carabiner, the screw operation should be smooth. Often the “smoothness” translates to quality and quality affects overall durability and safety of your gear.

People, especially ones that do plenty of rock climbing, talk about durability too. In my opinion it’s not as much of an issue on ice, as there’s lot less dirt – thus carabiners do not wear down as much. I actually have different set of carabiners for ice, indoor and rock climbing exactly for this reason. Well, as ice climbing is my primary sport, my rock and gym carabiners are mostly ones I’ve purchased for ice climbing… even the auto-lockers which I purchased before I knew their freezing problems.

Quickdraws and carabiners on my standard ice rack

• 3x Black Diamond Positron Screw Gate (weight 56g) – I use these for building anchors. While a bit old already, they’re pretty light and proven to be reliable good quality pieces of equipment.
• 3x Petzl Attache 3D (weight 55g) – My newer set of anchor building carabiners. Slightly larger but still lighter than Positrons. Good grip on locking screw.
• 1x Mammut Bionic Mytholito (weight 58g) – My belay carabiner. Slightly hevier than Attache, but I like having different kinds of carabiners for different purposes. As anchor building carabiners get in touch with protection and tend to develop sharp edges it’s good idea to keep them away from belay loop. The locking screw is slightly slippery, but other vice good quality.
• 1x Mammut Bionic HMS (weight 72g) – My large anchor building carabiner; the one I tie clove hitches and use for organizing stuff. Attache is kind of large enough, but this one is larger.The locking screw is slightly slippery, but other vice good quality.
• 2x Petzl Ange S (weight 28g) – Couple of extra carabiners for general purpose clipping, can use them for extendable draw or clipping things like bottles and cameras where ever I need to. Some people consider these too small, but I haven’t had any problems with them. They’re really light and clipping feel is excellent.
• 1x Austrialpin Easy Classic (weight 48g) – I use it in the fixed cow’s tail I have in my harness, which I occasionally clip to my ice tool. While not the lightest, it provides good grip and clip on and off are surprisingly easy.
• 5x Modified Wild Country Helium Quickdraw (weight 70-74g) – Newer half of my quickdraws. I replaced the original dogbone with Edelrid 8mm dogbone, because the rubber carabiner holder in original ones just couldn’t take low temperatures. Besides Edelrid dogbones are slightly lighter. Besides the dogbone problem Heliums are excellent quick draws.
• 5x Black Diamond Positron Quickdraw (weight 105g) – My old set of quickdraws. While a bit heavy, they’ve served me well. Clipping is okay and the rubber thingy that keeps the carabiner in place is durable.
• 2x Custom made Quickdraw, Mammut Bionic Wiresafe Gate (rope end), Edelrid 8mm dogbone, Petzl Ange S (protection end) (weight 65g) – I eneded up doing couple of these funky looking light quickdraws after I had a few extra carabiners, which I had acquired while in search and testing the best clear clip carabiner. While I like the shape of the Bionic Wire Safe gates, they’re a bit heavier than Wildcountry Heliums. Other vice Mammut Wiresafe Gate carabiners are equally good as other good quality light clear clip carabiners. And yes, that’s lighter than any in-stock quickdraw with full sized carabiner on rope end.
• 1x Custom made shock absorbing Quickdraw, DMM Shield Carabiners, E-Climb Dissip shock absorbing sling (weight 116g) – Pretty much the same story as above, just that I ended up using the DMM shields on shock absorber. DMM Shield works and feels pretty much like Mammut Wiresafe Gates, which according to some sources are actually manufactured by DMM.

Right now I’m relaying almost always to “ready made” quickdraws. This being said, many of my friends have recommended that I should replace a few of my quickdraws with extendable slings. Second odd thing is that I have many quickdraws. Part of the explanation is the fact that we climb using long 70m ropes, but other part is the fact that I like having a few extra quickdraws just in case. Which of course mitigates, in certain extent, the weight savings from light stuff. Well, depending on route quite often I’ll leave a few Positron Quickdaws to the ground.

Other carabiners I currently have

• 3x Kong HMS Classic (weight 86g) – My old anchor building carabiner set. While these are quite heavy compared to the lightest modern carabiners they offer clear clip nose and good build quality.
• 3x Petzl William Ball Lock (weight 94g) – Carabiners that I use mainly in indoor climbing and ocassionally in rock. They’re large and easy to handle, but pretty heavy. The quality is good though and the locking mechanism is excellent for indoor climbing.
• 2x Petzl William Screw Gate (weight 90g) – My backup belay carabiners. Quite often they still get carried to the bottom of the fall, but used mostly on indoor walls and on rock. Good quality, but heavy. The size makes it easy for organizing things.
• 1x Old Austrialpin – I used to have more of these, but they’ve gotten lost during the years. Due to the fact that it has the nose, I hardly ever use them anymore. On some top roping anchors, when putting up several of them and running out of other type of carabiners perhaps. I would definitely instruct people to stay away of nosed carabiners with the exception of very light carabiners cliped to the rope.
• 1x Grivel Gamma K2W – Came with Speedy ice screw. It’s good quality and it’s not unreasonably heavy, but has a nose. It’s not a huge issue as it’s rope end carabiner, but still prefer clear clips also as rope end carabiners.

Carabiners I consider best of the class right now

• Small non-locker – Petzl Ange S; it’s the lightest clear clip nosed carabiner, overall a good quality and pretty easy clipping.
• Full sized non-locker – Wildcountry Helium; it’s the lightest full sized clear clip nosed carabiner, besides the clipping feel is great and gate opening good.
• Small locker - DMM Phantom Screwgate; it’s either lightest or one of the lightest screw gate carabiners out there. DMM is known for its quality, so a good choice. My next anchor building carabiners are probably going to be these.

I kind of thought to list also best of class full sized and large sized carabiners, but then decided that I haven’t researched them enough to make up a well founded opinion.

Carabiner comparisons

• Light non-lockin clear clip carabiners and the ones mentioned in this article
• Light locking carabiners and the ones mentioned in this article
• Light clear clip quickdraws and the ones mentioned in this article

The web-stores that sell these things:

1. Austrialpin Easy Classic – Mountainshop, Outdoor-Ranger
2. Black Diamond Positron Screw Gate – REI, Backcountry, Barrabes, Telemark-Pyrenees, Varuste.net, Camu, US Outdoor Store, Eastern Mountain Sports, GearX
3. Black Diamond Positron Quickdraw – REI, Backcountry, Barrabes, Telemark-Pyrenees, Varuste.net, Camu, Moosejaw, US Outdoor Store, Eastern Mountain Sports, GearX
4. DMM Phantom Screwgate – Needle Sports, Barrabes, US Outdoor Store
5. DMM Shield - Needle Sports, Eastern Mountain Sports
6. E-climb Dissip - E-climb
7. Edelrid Dyneema Dogbone – Shelby
8. Grivel Gamma K2W – ?
9. Kong HMS Classic -Barrabes
10. Mammut Bionic HMS – Telemark-Pyrenees, Eastern Mountain Sports
11. Mammut Bionic Myhtolito - Backcountry, Telemark-Pyrenees, Moosejaw, US Outdoor Store, Eastern Mountain Sports, GearX
12. Mammut Bionic Wire Safe Gate – Varuste.net
13. Petzl Ange S – REI, Backcountry, Needle Sports, Barrabes, Telemark-Pyrenees, Varuste.net, US Outdoor Store, Eastern Mountain Sports, GearX, Shelby
14. Petzl Attache 3D – REI, Backcountry, Needle Sports, Barrabes, Telemark-Pyrenees, Varuste.net, Moosejaw, US Outdoor Store, Eastern Mountain Sports, Shelby
15. Petzl William – REI, Backcountry,Barrabes, Telemark-Pyrenees, Varuste.net, Moosejaw, US Outdoor Store, Eastern Mountain Sports, GearX
16. Wild Country Helium – Backcountry, Needle Sports, Telemark-Pyrenees, US Outdoor Store, GearX
17. Wild Country Helium Quickdraw – REI, Backcountry, Needle Sports, Telemark-Pyrenees, US Outdoor Store, GearX

Few closeup shots of the screws:

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1. For me it seems that I need a new set of half ropes. I’m currently using Edeldweiss Sharp 8.5  (8.5mm, 48g/m, 5.4kN, 9 falls) and I’ve been pretty happy with their quality. This being said as I’m mostly climbing ice I perhaps don’t need the edge protection and other durability features they have. As a result, I’ve been considering a lighter low impact force ice climbing focused alternatives such as: 1) Mammut 8.0 Phoenix  (8.0mm, 41g/m, 6.0kN, 7 falls) – the favorite of Aljaz Anderle , 2) Beal Ice Line  (8.1mm, 42g/m, 4.9kN, 7 falls) – the favorite of many of my friends and 3) Metolius Monster Ropes 7.8  (7.8mm, 38g/m, 5.7kN, 6 falls) – the lightest of these three.
2. A second thing I’m really looking forward to is the Petzl Ange S/L carabiners  and the quick draws based on these. Aljaz Anderle  tipped us about these few months ago and I’ve been waiting these to arrive ever since. They’re super light (S model 28g, L model 34g) and have a clear clip nose. In short they combine the best of traditional and wire gate carabiners. Unfortunately, it’s not 100% sure that they could be shipped by Christmas. Meanwhile the closest alternatives are Wildcountry Helium  (33g) – the lightest full sized clear clip nose carabiner, Mammut Bionic Wire Safe Gate  (34g), DMM Shield  (35g) – fairly light clear clip nose wire gate carabiner and CAMP Nano 23  (23g) – super light, but does not have clear clip nose.
3. New climbing boots. Well, there’s nothing wrong with the old ones, except they’re heavy and old. As I like double boots (easier to dryup if you’re spending several days in a tent), I would love to have pair of La Sportiva Spantiks . Their fit seemed to be superb, they’re fairly light (being a double boot) and they’re suprisingly acurate.
4. So far I haven’t used screamers, but many of my friends have recommended them. What I’ve heard though there are a few brands that produce screamers the Yates screamers are the ones to go. There are several different types of those; I am planning to go with “Zipper” Screamers  – they offer the greatest reduction in system peak loading.
5. Though I have a couple of good headlamps and I’ve been happy with them the new Tikka XP² Core  headlamp with rechargeable batteries, its user programmable lightning options and over 60 lumens lightning power seems tempting. I guess I’m not going to buy one, at least not quite yet, but if you need a new headlamp this one definitely deserves to take a look at.
6. I’m planning to add some new stoppers to my gear. DMM Wallnuts  are reported having superior shape over other alternatives and recommended for instance by Tapio Alhonsuo , one of the best ice climbers in Finland – that’s a good choice to go if you need passive protection.
7. It’s sometimes really cold up here. Therefore I’ve considered Ortovox’s Merino 320 jacket  to replace my traditional fleece garments and add some extra warmth during those cold days. Ortovox also features a range of excellent thick base layer merinos, Merino 240 Long Sleeve  and Short Pants  that are on my future gear list.
8. My Suunto Core  was lost last year at Kebnekaise (I still can’t figure how and when), therefore there’s a need for a new one. Though Core had a few button problems (I had my unit replaced a few times) I’m still considering Suunto. Their design and user interface are just great. Luckily, Suunto has come out with a new line of premium Sports Watches; the Elementum range. I’m planning to go with Suunto Elementum Terra . I just hope that they’ve got rid of the button problems.
9. Finally, one needs a device to capture the great climbing moments. As my trusty old Canon G1 just broke down that’s probably the first bit of new “gear” I’m investing into. A climber’s camera should be light, be weather resistant and it should take good pictures. Unfortunately light and weather resistant does not seem to go with the same package, at least not when it comes to taking good pictures. Therefore I’m going with light and good pictures alternative, perhaps added with extra water tight casing. The two I’ve been considering are Canon Powershot S95 and Panasonic Lumix LX5. Both are good cameras; can take HD video, have extremely good f-values and are light. Interestingly there’s a sister model of Lumix LX5 in Leica’s camera lineup, but I guess the extra a few hundreds do not make sense, as the hardware and optics are the same.

Then the web-stores that sell these things:

1. Edeldweiss Sharp 8.5 – GearX, US Outdoor Store
2. Mammut 8.0 Phoenix - Backcountry, Needle Sports, Varuste.net, GearX, Moosejaw, US Outdoor Store
3. Beal Ice Line - Backcountry, Needle Sports, Barrabes, Telemark-Pyrenees, Moosejaw
4. Metolius Monster Ropes 7.8 - Moosejaw
5. Petzl Ange S/L – Varuste.net
6. Wildcountry Helium - Backcountry, Needle Sports, Telemark-Pyrenees, US Outdoor Store
7. Mammut Bionic Wire Safe Gate – Varuste.net, Draussen.de
8. DMM Shield - Needle Sports, US Outdoor Store
9. CAMP Nano 23 - REI, Backcountry, Needle Sports, Telemark-Pyrenees, Moosejaw
10. La Sportiva Spantik – Backcountry, Needle Sports, Barrabes, Telemark-Pyrenees, Varuste.net, Moosejaw, US Outdoor Store
11. Yates “Zipper” - Needle Sports, GearX
12. Tikka XP² Core - Varuste.net
13. DMM Wallnuts - Backcountry, Needle Sports, Barrabes, Telemark-Pyrenees, GearX
14. Ortovox Merino 320 jacket - Snowshehperd, Pure Sports
15. Ortovox Merino 240 Long Sleeve - Snowshepherd, Pure Sports
16. Ortovox Merino 240 Short Pants - Snowshepherd, Pure Sports
17. Suunto Core - REI, Backcountry, Needle Sports, Barrabes, Telemark-Pyrenees, Varuste.net, Camu, Moosejaw, US Outdoor Store
18. Suunto Elementum Terra - Suunto Watches
19. Canon Powershot S95 - Verkkokauppa.com, Pixmania
20. Panasonic Lumix LX5 - Verkkokauppa.com, Pixmania

Here are few findings for the next season:

1. Grivel Cascade – Fresh ice axe replacement blades – These are B-rated, but should be better for ice climbing than Grivel’s T-rated stuff, which excel on mixed routes. The link is not to the Grivel site, for some reason, there are plenty of such Grivel products that aren’t there. The link is to Needlesports, they have a good set of replacement blades.

2. Grivel Double Spring Leash (2 krab version) – It is not really a leash, but flexible runner, which can be attached to the harness to avoid loss of axe.

3. Arc’teryx Gamma MX soft shell jacket - A soft shell jacket, no hood, but ideal for wearing under Goretex or other waterproof shell. There’s also hooded version available, price is pretty steep though typically well over 300€.

4. Arc’teryx Gamma MX soft shell pants - The pants part of the above jacket.

5. Arc’teryx Bucket Liner – A hat that’s compatible with your helmet.

6. Arc’teryx Gamma SV Glove - Like many others, I’ve been looking for perfect ice climbing gloves (have a stock of quite a few already), would these be finally the ones?

7. Black Diamond Avalung II – I’m not absolutely sure if Avalung would be something that I would carry while climbing ice, though there’s certainly occassionally a danger of avalanche around. Anyways, for some reason I’ve been tempted to buy one for a long time.

8. Black Diamond First Shot - An interesting tool for getting the abalakov right for those days when you’ve done it already twice and it still wasn’t good enough.

9. Grivel Speedy – A kind of ice screw quickdraw combination, resulting better safety, reduced weight and faster placement.

10. Petzl Crevasse Rescue Kit – A compact emergency kit that contains everything needed for hauling / ascending in rescue situation.

11. Exped DownMat Pump - Like the award winning down mat, but with integrated pump. I mean, the pumping was the only real problem with these, and now it seems that they have solved it.

12. MSR Lightning Accent snowshoes – I’ve been long drooling over these snow shoes. Unfortunately I’ve already got MSR Denalis and I haven’t therefore really been able to justify the purchase.

13. Valandre Freja sleeping bag – A sleeping bag for cold winter nights, still pretty light. Temperature rating up to -33 in Celsius with weight only about 1,5kg is impressive.

14. Silvretta Freeride 800 AT skis – Recently I’ve been thinking that AT skis might be good alternative for approaches and ascents. This being said though, I guess I would like to have these just because of last season I carried my snowboard around way too much (not while ice climbing ofcourse).

15. Silvretta Pure Freeride AT bindings - The perfect companion to Silvretta Freeride 800 AT skis… though if you would like to use skis with your mountaineering boots, one should propably consider Silvretta 500′s. They’ll fit almost on any boot, but for obvious reasons aren’t that good for ski-ing.

I guess I need to start working harder in order to save enough money for all of this.

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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