Ice climbing has become so popular that on any given day, even the once rarely-visited climbs have multiple parties. The boom in ice climbing is both great and a problem. On one hand, it’s awesome that so many people are experiencing it, on the other its creating issues on the climbs. Below is the Ice Climbers’ Responsibility Code, a set of five written unwritten rules for ice climbers when they’re out ice climbing. The list first appeared on Will Gadd’s Instagram, who signed off with “Play safe. Play fair. Play by the Code. Grimper à la mode. Respectez le Code.” Be Respectful: Everyone deserv ..read more

Hyalite Canyon in southern Montana is home to over 250 mixed and ice routes up to hundreds of metres long. This past winter, 26-year-old Matt Cornell and his friends added one more, The Rave, a bolt-protected line that climbs predominantly rock, with few sections of ice. Cornell spied the line in the Winter Dance area during his many visits to the 180-metre WI5+ M8 Nutcracker, which he free soloed in February 2020. He returned to Winter Dance this past January and approaching the climb from the top-down, rap bolted what would become The Rave. Manoah Ainuu on The Rave. Photo: Matt Cornell The s ..read more

Hyalite Canyon in southern Montana is home to over 250 mixed and ice routes up to hundreds of metres long. This past winter, 26-year-old Matt Cornell and his friends added one more, The Rave, a bolt-protected line that climbs predominantly rock, with few sections of ice. Cornell spied the line in the Winter Dance area during his many visits to the 180-metre WI5+ M8 Nutcracker, which he free soloed in February 2020. He returned to Winter Dance this past January and approaching the climb from the top-down, rap bolted what would become The Rave. Manoah Ainuu on The Rave. Photo: Matt Cornell The s ..read more

Ontario is a big province that takes over 25 hours to drive through from corner to corner. Northern Ontario, from Sudbury to Kenora, will consistently see local ice climbs formed from December to mid-spring. However, south of Sudbury is a different story with fluctuating winter temps creating unreliable ice climb conditions south of Toronto and east toward Kingston. While there are dozens of ice climbs from WI2 to WI5 in the area, few, if any, seem to form for longer than a few weeks every winter. As record-setting low temps have fallen onto most of Canada, thanks to a polar vortex and nor’eas ..read more

There are a number of ice routes in the Henan province of China, but the new Christmas Tree WI5/6 is the most spectacular. It was first climbed by Liu Yang and Chaun last week. You can see below why it is named Christmas Tree. It’s unknown how often the route has formed, but there seems to be a number of potential lines, including a massive cave at the base that leads to daggers. Christmas Tree was repeated in 2018 by Will Gadd and Sarah Hueniken in not-optimal conditions. Gadd said after, “I’ve climbed a lot of crazy ice formations on bolted mixed routes, but on this climb it was full madness ..read more

Ice climbing season is right around the corner. This is a good time of year to get you and your gear ready for the season. Here are six ice climbing tips from Kris Irwin, owner and guide Rockies Ice Specialists in Banff. Start hanging off of your tools Anywhere – at home, the gym, at the dry tooling crag. Now is the time to get your climbing muscles conditioned to the movement of ice climbing. Deadhangs, tool pull-ups, dry tooling, will all go along way in building the endurance and grip strength you’ll need to hang on for those long pitches this winter. Don’t neglect the opposing muscles ..read more

Ice climbing has always been a popular way for Canadian climbers to get their fix of outdoor climbing in the winter. Over the past decade, mixed climbing has grown into a sport all its own. But whether you’re mixed or waterfall climbing, good technique and planning will lead to a higher chance of success and more fun. Here are few tips that will help keep you climbing stronger, safer and warmer this winter. Ice climbing is one wild way to get up high! Here’s @matt_laird_ on Urs Hole’s fun last pitch on Cascade Mountain! Photo @climbthatpitch #grippedmagazine #iceclimbing #climbing A post sha ..read more

Raphael Slawinski has been one of Canada’s leading winter climbers for nearly 30 years and he recently visited the famous Trophy Wall above Banff for his 30th time. He is based in Calgary and works as a professor at SAIT and has repeated and established some of the most serious alpine and ice routes in the Canadian Rockies. On Feb. 12, he climbed a variation to The Replicant with Niall Hamill and Ethan Bermann. Hamill reported about their ascent on Instagram. In addition to climbing all of the established routes on the Trophy Wall, such as Terminator WI6, Sea of Vapours WI6 and their mixed var ..read more