[Bubba]

planetmountain.com

Weird ice-bouldering comp thingy  :?

[dave]

anyone else find the whole ice climbing comp scene (and drytooling in quarries etc) just a bit, well how do i put it, shit?

[Bubba]

Yeah, it just leaves me completely cold (ho ho!) but then I've never tried it so it might be the mutts nuts.

[Avoiding the Traitor]

Look crap to me, certainly it not like true bouldering (look easy).

[dave]

surely with axes in hands its just a lof of fannying about on jugs all the way!

[Avoiding the Traitor]

no crimping, sloper or even smearing !!

It a joke !!

[dave]

also, stuff like this just seems so detached from real climbing as to be a complete mystery to me:




granted i do have a plywood board in my cellar......

[Bubba]

I see it as a form of aid-climbing really.

[JR]

its proper bo fun....

[dobbin]

Isn't it a bit like chipping?

[Pantontino]

Full on dry tooling is pretty wierd and quite removed from any notion of traditional climbing - but some people love it. The first time I saw it done at a really hard (M10) level I was gob smacked at the techniques that were used (velcro pads on each shoulder to hold axes during hand swaps!, rock shoes with heel spur crampons).

I've been to the Haston cave near Cogne and it was quite disturbing. The harder routes are outrageous and I left the crag feeling a bit confused by it all. The more natural lines (i.e. linking ice sections with short rock sections) did make sense, but some of the routes had drilled placements which I thought was unacceptable. Also the wear and tear on these routes from just one ascent is quite bad.

The rock here is soft and doubt it would be of any interest to summer rock climbers - perhaps this is a justification?

Stevie Haston's routes did seem to be of the 'non-drilled'/stronger line variety and not the safe clip ups that you might think from the pictures in the mags. Some of the stuff in the main Cogne valley that he has done is awe inspiring.

I do like mixed climbing of the the Scottish/Welsh variety where there is a good mix of frozen turf/neve/ice/rock placements. Unfortunately global warming seems to have a grip on our fickle winters - the last good one was 2001, and of course the Foot and Mouth crisis did its best to spoil that great season.

Climbing classic summer routes in winter conditions is supect I know - I have done it on occasion, but I do feel uneasy about it.

Winter climbing is going through a strange phase at the moment, and I'm not sure I know what the answer is.

[vivahate]

anyone else find the whole ice climbing comp scene (and drytooling in quarries etc) just a bit, well how do i put it, shit?

yeah totally... everyone is all about their dry-tooling and whatnot nowadays. I thought this was the grit season!

climbing with axes, rubbish!

[dave]

I mean honestly:

http://www.ukclimbing.com/images/dbpage.html?id=12158
http://www.ukclimbing.com/images/dbpage.html?id=12166

wtf?

[Bubba]

Looks like a good way to get an axe in the face when it pings off at ya.

...and some winter climbers have the nerve to take the piss out of bouldering  :roll:

[fatneck]

Just got back from four days winter gully climbing in and around Fort William. First time and fantastic fun! My main point being that we went to the Ice Factor and to try out the new indor ice wall (when the snow had all but melted), and bugger me if it wasn't a really good laugh! They even have a cave section (it's actually for practicing ice screw placements) which we were able to ice boulder in. It's nothing like real climbing (i.e. bouldering), but good fun all the same!