The Icefight 2011, Rabenstein.

This past weekend was the Icefight in Rabentein, Italy (really part of Austria since everyone there speaks German, and is located on the border of Italy and Austria). It s a very small village tucked away high in the Southern Tyrol Region and is home to one of the best organized competitions I have ever been to in any capacity.

The people there are amazing. Markus was telling me that the community built the climbing structure and hosts the event purely on sponsored dollars and from volunteer work. Loads of local show up to witness the best competition ice climbers in the world compete on a self standing, well engineered tower of hard mixed climbing and man-made ice.


As a competitor, you get to spend a lot of time in the isolation zone. The more successful you are, the more time you get to spend in isolation. Another way to get to spend time in isolation is during the qualification rounds and to be the unlucky person who draws to go last out of all the competitors, that would be me this time.

Really, its best to only have a little time in isolation. It can be cold and, given enough time, one can psychologically undo oneself. It's difficult to know exactly when to warm up and when to get physically and mentally ready to go. Competition is so different than real world ice climbing in many ways since there are so many more factors and pressures that come into play. Its easy to start casting doubts and let the phantoms of failure creep into your mind. Finding a good focus is a skill. The more pressures I seem to put on myself, the worse things get. It seems like the less care about failing in a competition, the better I perform. It's hard not to care.

Learning from failures is an important part of competition climbing.

Evgeny Kryvosheytsev told me over dinner that he has been in more than 700 competitions. That's nearly a competition every day for two solid years if they were done back to back ! Markus Bendler said on the drive home that on his second World Cup Ice event his first move was to step out of bounds over a red line and be disqualified. Competitions are tough, there's just no two ways around it. Learn from mistakes or become part of the collateral damage, that's the choice. I guess that's one of the things that makes climbing so appealing, that there's always something to learn or some way to make yourself better.

Like the rest of this trip to Europe, I am fortunate enough to be able to go with friends to new climbing areas. Markus took me to some of his crags near his home in Austria. It was great to climb at yet more cool places. I'd love to spend more time climbing with Markus, but he's going to Romania and I'm going home to the States.

I've had my fill of the World Cup tour for this year and after the shenanigans in Saas-Fee, I'm not psyched about investing more time and money to go to the next UIAA World Cup competition until some issues area addressed. Maybe they will learn from watching places like Rabenstein. I like learning from the competition climbing about my abilities and my weaknesses. Rabenstien always allows me to make the mistakes so that I can become a better climber. Can't wait for next year !

After the Ice Fight

1/31/2010 - 2/01/2010

So it finally happens. One of the Russians that I was trying to talk to in Saas-Fee opened up and started talking to me more in Rabenstein. He clammed up in Switzerland after I wasted him in a foosball game during an athlete meeting, called me "professional", and walked away. But he came around again in Rabenstein and has been working on communications again. In fact, Alexi is a very nice guy and is quite fluent in English, although not so much after a long day and in the evening. That’s when he starts teaching me Russian. He’s also kind of a Patrick Swazey knock-off, especially at first glance.

Beyond that, he’s also helping Justin and me with our climbing techniques. The World Cup "Ice Competition" is definitely more about circus tricks than actual ice climbing. He’s been standing on the podium periodically in the World Competition circuit over the years and was taught how to climb by his father at the age of 4. He started to compete at about the age of 16 and has been in the circuit ever since. Luda, his girlfriend is also as impressive as a climber and her English is the best of all 16 Russians. She is also very nice and helpful and has opened up to us as well by using her fluency in English. We climbed with them for two days after the competition.

In Rabenstein the Americans and the Russians stayed in the same hotel. Most of the Russians that have talked to us to this point have only used communication for a means of obtaining information. These two have made a concerted effort on their part and we wound up spending a lot of time with them climbing as well as hanging around the hotel and sharing stories, music, and jokes.

Climbing in Rabenstein after everyone had left was a boon for Justin and I. We were able to get more time on the climbing structure there than anywhere else, getting us precious contact time with the climbing medium as well as a good workout, things we have not been able to do since we are on the road all the time and are without a home base. 45 degree over hanging terrain on sparse holds that demand good body mechanics, technique, and power is exactly what the Physician Assistant ordered.
The men’s and women’s finals routes were still up and so that what a mix of Slovenians, Russians, and Americans climbed together. I brought Justin’s speakers and iPod to make things a bit more exciting. The Tomalov brothers and Luda definitely produced by skipping holds on the routes haphazardly and seeing what they could do and how far they could go between holds.

Leigh got to do some ice climbing on the sometimes more than vertical ice on two of the towers. One of the routes was out speed competition route. Justin ran a few laps on the ice as well. I did the men’s semi finals route, the women’s finals route (with one cold hang to rewarm my hands) and got it on the second try on the first day (and straight away on the second day), and then tried to roll up the men’s final route, only to break the fourth hold. So, we called it a day, packed up our stuff and hiked the 2km and 300m elevation back up to our awesome accommodations.

This is the Tyrol region and there are many cables crossing the valley that transport milk, hay, and supplies to and from the ranch houses high above. The cows are free to roam in the summer, but are kept inside large barns that look like houses in the cold months. A small dairy next door to us has workers busy in the wee hours to have the milk out to Merano by 06:30 every day, snow or shine.

I’ll be sad that we have to leave this beautiful place. Although we do not have much contact with the outside world from our location of lodging, I could see how I could become entranced with this place and not ever leave. It’s a mini utopia. Having looked at the map and know that the vast mountains to the north would be a lifetime of exploring, skiing, and climbing, it's a tempting thought to just keep going. We are also very close to larger towns and accommodations, so it’s not that far out there, but it’s far enough. The Dolomites are nearby, but we aren't alpinists this trip.

Meanwhile, Justin, Leigh, and myself continue to have the conversation of “are we going to Romania or not.” Options abound for us in other known locations and we have to be cautious once there of pick-pockets, thieves, rip-off artists, etc., so we aren’t thrilled at the prospect of going. However, this is a climbing trip first and a ski trip second, then whatever after that. I know that I want to finish what I started, a tour of the World Mixed Ice Climbing Competition circuit. I would like to do my best this year at getting experience and then making a game plan to come back and do better. This is the ultimate personal goal in my life, so it’s time to make it happen. Being able to share this experience with Justin since we were training last fall has amplified the experience for me as well. Having a good committed climbing partner who is capable and easy to get along with is difficult to find. Being on the road with someone day in and day out and being as good a team as we have been is rare.

I’m really excited that he shares the same fervor for the sport. He will certainly have a different experience than I have had, but he is the next generation in the sport and has a ton of potential. Imagine, I trained him to climb mixed rock and ice at our local crag and then in less than 4 months went to Bozeman, Montana with me for his first ice competition. We took third as a team in our division. Now, he’s got the huevos to train hard and become a world competitor. Awesome.